My interpretation is that, without a devil figure, religions based on a good vs evil dichotomy have little left to “rid yourself of” (sins, temptations from the devil, etc) in order to achieve salvation and eternal life. In order to make the good side look good there tends to be the bad side to make comparisons with. If there was no threat of burning in some torture chamber for eternity I would bet that quite a lot of people wouldn’t identify as Christian anymore. I’ve heard first-hand, countless times people saying things such as “well I may be wrong but if I’m right at least I won’t have to burn forever”, like a “better safe than sorry” approach. Without a Satan to be terrorized by we could have stayed as naked Pagans.
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