There's APP for that: Symbolist Religion

[Pharaoh Cat]

Melmoth will relate to this.  That excites me, because usually no one relates to this.

APP stands for Atheistic Psychological Polytheism.  Another name for it is Symbolist Religion.  I coined both terms.

Assumptions:
(1) In objective reality, no God.
(2) In subjective reality, any God we want.
(3) Subjective Gods can have any attributes we like.
(4) Multiple people can have multiple subjective Gods without offending logical consistency.
(5) One person can have multiple subjective Gods either in parallel or in series without offending logical consistency.
(6) Subjective Gods can be used to symbolize elements of objective or subjective reality, around which one wishes to orient one's life.
(7) Devotion to Symbolist Gods can focus concentration, harness emotion, organize thought, stimulate creativity, and fortify discipline.

All of this can be done in a manner very far from somber.  For example, let's say I want to cultivate a spirit of vengeance in myself, so as to better contend with some miscreant who pissed me off.  Well, Marvel Comics has a Spirit of Vengeance, named Zarathos, better known as the fire-skulled aspect of that recent movie hero, Ghost Rider.  If I were a devotee of Symbolist Religion, I could take Zarathos as my subjective God and by any means of worship I happened to like, I could ritualize and sacralize a relationship with Zarathos, and thereby gain the benefits listed in #7 above.  When the forementioned miscreant was properly neutralized, I could relegate Zarathos to the basement of memory till next I need his hot head, if ever I do.

Like I said, Melmoth will relate to this.  If anyone else does, all the better.  Hear the good news, any whose ears can discern the sound.  There's APP for that.

[Melmoth]

Melmoth will relate to this.  That excites me, because usually no one relates to this.

You know me too well, sir.

Actually, I'm sure there must be Christians who view their own religion in this kind of way. Myth, allegory, symbolism... Religion fails miserably as a rational hypothesis, a proposition about the literal nature of the universe, but when taken as more of an art I think it comes a lot closer to having a real, practical purpose. It's just a creative manipulation of concepts. And proclaiming that "God probably does not exist" becomes a little absurd in this case. It would be tantamount to walking into a theatre and shouting, "That's not really Hamlet! All empirical evidence suggests that he's just an actor! And he's not really in Denmark but on a stage in present day Bath! It's so obvious - I can't believe you idiots fell for it!"

It'll be interesting to see what other people make of it.

[Recusant]

As I've been a jocular devotee of various mythical figures for decades, I suppose that I could be classified as a follower of this path. Also, I think that many La Veyan Satanists and some pagans might be considered to fall under this rubric as well. Nicely explicated, Pharaoh Cat.