Know anybody still sacrificing/petitioning Baal, Anubis, Zeus?

That came from the movie "Clash of the Titans". The premise of the whole movie was to punish man and make him suffer because humans didn't pray enough or worship the gods enough and the gods felt slighted and had less power. If someone is passing off quotes to a movie as their own philosophical incite.. . I would be wary.

If we understand that the memes collectively known as gods aren't real them it's axiomatic to note that lack of observance means that the memes cease to exist.

Who knew that radio had finally come to Broken Hill?

That was the last season of the show Stargate SG1. Gods who were ascended beings who used to be early human beings that occupied the universe millions of years ago, and found a way to become powerful, and got their power when humans of today worship them.

Just look what happened to the mighty OZ.

No. The power comes from total commitment to a total system ideology (an ideology which purports to include and explain everything), from "true belief" in such an ideology, and from being lin the midst of a cohesive group of such believers.

Religions, Governments, Authority, and Money all cease to wield any power once people stop believing in them.

There are no god(s) so praying to them has no effect except on the mind of the person praying.

...huh. Makes me wanna run a Planescape campaign.

The many forms and labels of self-fulfilling prophecy. The idea has been voiced for many centuries.
My favorite example...from Monsters Inc. Monster society relies on children's fear to power it. No fear = no power....or so they've always been taught, to the profit and advantage of the greedy capitalist Monsters running the power corp.

Gods did NOT create humans in their own image. Humans created gods in their own imagination. Therefore, humans can rid themselves of gods by simply forgetting about them.

This sounds like Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
There's an infinite number of deities that can swell up to full power if given attention but mostly they start out as a bit of ego hungry for attention.

I agree and I also do not know the person's name. In my lifetime I have heard of god even filling people's teeth in a religious service. People believed it. All it took was prayer. I doubt that the filling was true but believers just keep on making things up.

Sort of like saying that when you stop believing in Santa Clause he disappears (except in the displays in the stores) .

You will find the same ideas in the writings of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.

Many Christians say:

Pray as if it all depends on God;
work as if it all depends on you.

So, when any group does that,
they will make some of their prayers get answered, by themselves.

So, during those times, their imaginary god seems effective.

If they stop praying, and stop working,
we know what happens.

Families fall apart,
folks have money troubles like crazy,
and end up dead from smoking, or morbid obesity, or overdose of prescription drugs.

This is why I like keeping a list of daily chores,
so that I avoid pitfalls.

No tobacco is on my list, no heavy drugs, and I weigh myself each day, to remind myself to avoid slipping into deadly levels of morbid obesity.

I'm only five feet nine inches, and weigh 240 pounds.

Monday, I plan to call my doctor, and schedule a routine visit.

So, you see, dedicated Christians are the same as sensible atheists.

The only difference, is the Christians pray, and do sensible things,
while sensible atheists simply do sensible things.

Well, sometimes the Christians vote for Republicans.

For that reason, I wish I could truly preach, on social media, and every which way,
preach atheism and voting for Democrats, both together.

But my family would see my messages, and give me hell.

Oh well.

Makes sense to me. He's not really implying that god's are real but that the power generated by belief in them is.

Really? Now religious crap is conflated with philosophy? There are no known gods. How did this person demonstrate any claim made? This person actually believes that gods existed and that peoples prayer gave them power and they dissapear without prayers. Wow I never am surprised by peoples bullshit.

Makes perfect sense.

Makes sense to me.