The Emperor was wrong

[Brother Captain Kezef]

Master of Mankind does a wonderful job of explaining the Emperor's animosity towards religion. Explaining how chaos could take advantage of faith, insinuate itself and corrupt it. It shows how a person could fall to chaos without even knowing it.

 

It's a valid argument, but the biggest damn mistake he made.

 

Faith and religion is an inherent part of Human nature, the "Imperial Truth" was doomed to fail. If the big E had set himself up as a God-King from the start he'd of had far less problems.

 

Also, is he not a hypocrite? He humiliated Lorgar for worshipping him as a god yet accepted and even encouraged the priests of Mars to see him as their god.

 

I find this whole issue fascinating and one of the biggest plot holes of the series. The Emperor is so freaking old, knows Humanity, knows our history and still makes such a huge mistake in trying to suppress the human need for faith.

[Noctus Cornix]

I don't personally agree with that sentiment.

 

While I would personally believe that faith is part of our nature, the idea that religion is ingrained in our being is an entirely subjective point of view that could potentially delve into a topic that could easily get this entire thread melta blasted in a heartbeat.

 

Faith has two definitions. One is the belief in some form of deity or in a religious doctrine. The other is a complete trust in someone or something. While I do not believe that the former is a necessity of our species, I believe the other is. Humans are sociable creatures that are typically drawn to the appeal of becoming part of something greater than then, to be connected with others in some community with a common goal or ideal. 

 

The Imperial Truth is that common goal. We commonly disregard the Imperial Truth as just a 'no religion' stigma with little depth to it, but there's so much more to it than that. It is a crucial identity, an absolute belief in the capabilities of mankind and the potential of our species when we follow our ambitions together. That's the core value. Together. No longer are we torn assunder by warring ideals and political systems. We are no long tied to conflicting faiths or segregate our species over trivial quibbles of ethnicity or personal belief. We are human beings, one species. Mankind, looking skywards driven by the knowledge that we are capable of so much more. The very galaxy itself can be ours. The Galaxy will be ours. That's what the Imperial Truth is, a core and absolute belief in mankind's ambition to defy our limitations. 

 

Personally I would hardly call him a hypocrite. He never struck me as 'encouraging' the priests of Mars but the priesthood of Mars is such a really self-contained aspect of the Imperium, or rather ally to the Imperium (as the Aquilla suggests) Not every tech-priest believes the Emperor is the Omnissiah and this is a hot topic for philosophical debate as seen in Mechanicum. That and, let's be honest, there's a reason why the Emperor has a need to make sure there's a fear for technology. Because people who don't keep their advancements in check can really make some catastrophic stuff in the pursuit of ingenuity. Example: The Men of Iron that enslaved humanity. Allowing the cult of Mars to exist and revere him as a God or Messiah just helps cover so many potential problems. Keeps them in check and makes sure no body goes over the deep end if he says that's off limits. Hell, I doubt he could stamp out the Machine Cult of Mars if he wanted to. Certainly not when he had only really a planet's worth of an army and the resources and foundries of Mars are absolutely essential to his warmachine.. So I'd say consider it more as a tolerating their self-contained  'faith' rather than actively encouraging it.

 

As a Word Bearer player, Lorgar got what was coming to him. He was actively spreading an entirely different credo that directly conflicts with the Imperial Truth. He's spreading it and filling human minds with this stuff by the millions when it's the exact opposite of what the Emperor wanted. Yeah, he needed a swift kick in the ass, even if the Emperor could have handled it a bit better.

 

The Emperor had his faults. That much is obvious. He allowed his greatest generals to mistake him for some paternal figure rather than their absolute master and allowed their petty pride and individuality to bring humanity to annihilation. But I believe in the Emperor's plan, his core vision was brilliant and Master of Mankind only proved that to me. 

 

Just my two cents.

[DukeLeto69]

I have said is before on other threads. I KNOW this is NOT the way of things because it is already becoming clearer what BL and the authors intend AND because this too DUNE like but I have always liked the idea that...

 

1. The Emperor was double bluffing and by denying his god hood and persecuting those who try to worship him he actually encourages the secret growth of the cults that do worship him (throughout history religion grows through repression as the devout fight to hold onto their beliefs). There is also the case that the more the Emp denies his divinity the more the masses consider him divine (although that is a bit Life of Brian).

 

2. There is no way a super powerful being with psychic powers of the magnitude that the Emp has would not be seen as a God by normal human beings! No way! He would know that!

 

3. Throughout ancient mythology there are stories of the power of the Gods receding as less people believe in them. It is through the worship and veneration of the Gods that the Gods receive their power. Personally I like the idea that The Emp NEEDED to be worshipped by quadrillions of human beings to give him the level of power he needed to take on the other Gods in the Warp. That the Emp truly is now part of the pantheon fighting the eternal war and that his power waxes and wanes in relation to the level of devotion the mortal realm affords him.

 

4. With each of the four "existing" Gods they are powered by worship and the emotions etc relevant to them (or vice versa, they are created by those very emotions to be the extreme embodiment of those emotions) but they do not reflect the full gamut of all human emotion... What about innocence, genuine love etc. Couldn't there be Gods powered by what we would think of as positive emotions?

 

5. Finally I also think there will be more Gods added to the pantheon (I have deliberately not called them the Chaos Gods as that implies they are all bad but they would not perceive it as such, Khorne does not think he is evil or bad, he is just the manifestation of war and murder and arguably warrior bravery) based on the fact that there is an eight pointed star (yes I know GW borrowed that from Moorcock) but Iike the idea that the Emp represents God number 5 and there will be 3 more yet to come!

 

As I said just my own musings and clearly not what GW/BL etc intend.

[shandwen]

The more the Black Library shows of the big E the more we see he lied and used everyone for his own ends (which we don't quite know what his end was but can probably assume that he wanted what equates with being a chaos god).

In MoM we see him claiming to reshape the psychic presence/backing of humanity, but we see how he divided humanity inyo smaller groups he could manipulate and destroy as their purpose passed.

I doubt that the imperial creed was ever ment to be permanently enforced, and I agree with Noctus.

[Icarus1138]

I think it's safe to say Humanity has an ingrained proclivity for religious belief. Every culture that arose independent of outside influence still developed some form of communal spirituality, it's a part of who we are as a species. Not necessarily as individuals (obviously), but as a group. Whether that part of humanity is good, bad, or mixed is something I'm not going to address, nor should anyone here. 

 

Building an empire based, in part, on the absolute denial on that part of the human experience is going to add a great deal of stress to the society. In more specific 30k terms, telling all of your people that gods and spirits don't exist is not a great way to prepare them for a potential conflict with humanity's greatest foe: Chaos. Not just on the battlefield, imagine how hard it is to deal with chaotic corruption when all of your officials and law enforcement agents are required to not believe in demons. The Emperor has a well-known contempt for religion. I think his imposition of his personal beliefs (by force, no less) on all of humanity didn't do his rule any favors.

[JH79]

From a few mentions in First Heretic i came away with the perspective that the 4 main Super Powers / Beings of the Warp (are they really Gods?) are fuelled by human religion / faith / worship etc etc... Kill all religion / worship / faith and you kill the 4 big bad douch bags who really are spoiling the party for everyone. Simples and effective.

[Loesh]

From a few mentions in First Heretic i came away with the perspective that the 4 main Super Powers / Beings of the Warp (are they really Gods?) are fuelled by human religion / faith / worship etc etc... Kill all religion / worship / faith and you kill the 4 big bad douch bags who really are spoiling the party for everyone. Simples and effective.

 

The mistake is the belief that they feed off religion, they don't, Tzeentch barely has worshipers of any kind in the typical sense of the world. They feed off human emotions, because they are humanity. I think we focus too much on his censure of Religion, stopping religion was step 1, it was their largest source of power, The Eldar didn't have to worship or even know what Slaanesh was to be annihilated by it,  to actually stop the Chaos Gods one has to change the fundamental nature of the human race. What does that entail? We don't know, we'll likely never know, it could be as perfect or horrific as one might imagine.

 

As far as the Emperor being wrong, if you are in the Warhammer 40k universe you are always wrong on some level, it's the nature of the setting.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

 

From a few mentions in First Heretic i came away with the perspective that the 4 main Super Powers / Beings of the Warp (are they really Gods?) are fuelled by human religion / faith / worship etc etc... Kill all religion / worship / faith and you kill the 4 big bad douch bags who really are spoiling the party for everyone. Simples and effective.

 

The mistake is the belief that they feed off religion, they don't, Tzeentch barely has worshipers of any kind in the typical sense of the world. They feed off human emotions, because they are humanity. I think we focus too much on his censure of Religion, stopping religion was step 1, it was their largest source of power, The Eldar didn't have to worship or even know what Slaanesh was to be annihilated by it,  to actually stop the Chaos Gods one has to change the fundamental nature of the human race. What does that entail? We don't know, we'll likely never know, it could be as perfect or horrific as one might imagine.

 

As far as the Emperor being wrong, if you are in the Warhammer 40k universe you are always wrong on some level, it's the nature of the setting.

 

 

The only way to protect a species from chaos is the Necron option

[Indefragable]

I think it will only get messier and more complicated as the series(es) go on. 

 

The whole idea of an "atheist crusade" is hilarious in-and-of-itself and would make a great Monty Python skit were it not so deliberately grimdark. 

[Marshal Rohr]

It's not a plot hole. Believing in anything feeds the warp. There is no positive attributes for faith in 40k. It's all bad.

[Indefragable]

It's not a plot hole. Believing in anything feeds the warp. There is no positive attributes for faith in 40k. It's all bad.

 

Celestine? 

[Brother Captain Kezef]

It's not a plot hole. Believing in anything feeds the warp. There is no positive attributes for faith in 40k. It's all bad.

 

This is the biggest misconception about chaos. People link the power of chaos to the power of belief.

 

The chaos powers are fed by primeval emotion not faith. The first murder gave birth to a daemon, not any belief associated with that act but the emotional response to the act itself.

 

Belief in the Imperial Truth is, by definition, a form of belief so would that not feed the warp by your logic?

 

The history of the Human race is the history of faith, as a species we form belief systems. Every culture, without exception, forms a belief system and this is not just limited to conventional religion but extends to many other forms of belief. Belief in luck for instance is a form of faith at it's most basic heart.

 

I'm not talking here about organised religion but the fundamental need in the Human condition to have faith in the unknown and unknowable.

[A D-B]

Assume, if you will, that it's not a plot hole. That it's something about about faith then, specifically, that makes the emotions and deeds already happening far, far worse. More dangerous? Far more common? Infused with a certain vim? Well, who knows. But if the main thrust of his drive is "a plot hole" consider the angle that it isn't, and there's something in the subtext afoot.

 

(And as to the smaller point about human cultures always developing "faith" in the unknown and unknowable, even outside of religion: the fact "we've always done it" doesn't mean it's good, or something the shepherd of an entire species wants to continue doing. The more we come to understand cognitive biases even on our own personal levels, and how media/language/our surroundings influence us without us knowing it, is increasingly overwhelming proof as to why we're far more effected by things than we realise. But that's not the point of the post.)

[Brother Captain Kezef]

Assume, if you will, that it's not a plot hole. That it's something about about faith then, specifically, that makes the emotions and deeds already happening far, far worse. More dangerous? Far more common? Infused with a certain vim? Well, who knows. But if the main thrust of his drive is "a plot hole" consider the angle that it isn't, and there's something in the subtext afoot.

 

(And as to the smaller point about human cultures always developing "faith" in the unknown and unknowable, even outside of religion: the fact "we've always done it" doesn't mean it's good, or something the shepherd of an entire species wants to continue doing. The more we come to understand cognitive biases even on our own personal levels, and how media/language/our surroundings influence us without us knowing it, is increasingly overwhelming proof as to why we're far more effected by things than we realise. But that's not the point of the post.)

 

Hmm, ok, I'll concede that to use the phrase "plot hole" is perhaps a poor choice.

 

Perhaps it's also judging 30k by 40k in which the Big E became a god anyway.

 

However I just can't get my head around why someone that old, that powerful and who knew the Human condition intimately wouldn't harness the Human need for faith rather than try to suppress it.

 

Afterall he has no problem doing the same thing with the Adeptus Mechanicus.

[Loesh]

Assume, if you will, that it's not a plot hole. That it's something about about faith then, specifically, that makes the emotions and deeds already happening far, far worse. More dangerous? Far more common? Infused with a certain vim? Well, who knows. But if the main thrust of his drive is "a plot hole" consider the angle that it isn't, and there's something in the subtext afoot.

 

(And as to the smaller point about human cultures always developing "faith" in the unknown and unknowable, even outside of religion: the fact "we've always done it" doesn't mean it's good, or something the shepherd of an entire species wants to continue doing. The more we come to understand cognitive biases even on our own personal levels, and how media/language/our surroundings influence us without us knowing it, is increasingly overwhelming proof as to why we're far more effected by things than we realise. But that's not the point of the post.)

 

I mean I can think of something really bad associated with religion in the context of 40k specifically that isn't even necessarily tied to the intensity or lack thereof of emotions in religion. Namely that the Chaos Gods can physically manifest and that the Chaos Gods have enough sentience and similarity in parts to sow the components of an organized religion across worlds, said religion could manipulate how people perceive the warp, create or show them the sort of unwords and ritual incantations of the gods, and exploit the limited understanding humanity has towards their immensely complex forms towards their own ends. If an organized religion of Chaos were to emerge(And we haven't even truly seen what that is like on a galactic or even segmentum sized scale.) the sheer amount of physical manifestations could render them unstoppable just by convincing a large amount of humans to do something really really bad.

 

Consider the war in the webway, consider the numerous contingencies against Chaos in the universe, consider the insane amount of very corrupted Dark Age of Technology tech laying about. If one of these evolved from any one of the Terran religions(Even a religion of himself.) into something doing the bidding of Chaos, regardless of name and with the power of fanaticism to spread across worlds, they could break something vital that held Chaos back. The damage the Webway did to Terra was immense when the project went wrong....imagine two of those, three, four, five, if there's enough humans the Eldar/Necrons/Whatever won't be able to stop it and Chaos would be vomited out everywhere.

 

This is why, in my eyes, the breaking of Cadia is where things are going to go really downhill very fast. Chaos incursions have either been beaten back or only capable of creating small holdouts in the past, but with several sector wide incursions that the Imperium doesn't have the resources to deal with....with actual strongholds in the Materium....there is a billion and one ways that Chaos can rip it's way into our world and become nigh unstoppable.

 

[A D-B]

 

Assume, if you will, that it's not a plot hole. That it's something about about faith then, specifically, that makes the emotions and deeds already happening far, far worse. More dangerous? Far more common? Infused with a certain vim? Well, who knows. But if the main thrust of his drive is "a plot hole" consider the angle that it isn't, and there's something in the subtext afoot.

 

(And as to the smaller point about human cultures always developing "faith" in the unknown and unknowable, even outside of religion: the fact "we've always done it" doesn't mean it's good, or something the shepherd of an entire species wants to continue doing. The more we come to understand cognitive biases even on our own personal levels, and how media/language/our surroundings influence us without us knowing it, is increasingly overwhelming proof as to why we're far more effected by things than we realise. But that's not the point of the post.)

 

I mean I can think of something really bad associated with religion in the context of 40k specifically that isn't even necessarily tied to the intensity or lack thereof of emotions in religion. Namely that the Chaos Gods can physically manifest and that the Chaos Gods have enough sentience and similarity in parts to sow the components of an organized religion across worlds, said religion could manipulate how people perceive the warp, create or show them the sort of unwords and ritual incantations of the gods, and exploit the limited understanding humanity has towards their immensely complex forms towards their own ends. If an organized religion of Chaos were to emerge(And we haven't even truly seen what that is like on a galactic or even segmentum sized scale.) the sheer amount of physical manifestations could render them unstoppable just by convincing a large amount of humans to do something really really bad.

 

Oh, totally. But I think that goes without saying as it's the main thrust (and mentioned in TMoM a fair whack as the "religion needs to go" angle), whereas this thread seems to be looking for answers around that, which is fair enough.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

 

 

Assume, if you will, that it's not a plot hole. That it's something about about faith then, specifically, that makes the emotions and deeds already happening far, far worse. More dangerous? Far more common? Infused with a certain vim? Well, who knows. But if the main thrust of his drive is "a plot hole" consider the angle that it isn't, and there's something in the subtext afoot.

 

(And as to the smaller point about human cultures always developing "faith" in the unknown and unknowable, even outside of religion: the fact "we've always done it" doesn't mean it's good, or something the shepherd of an entire species wants to continue doing. The more we come to understand cognitive biases even on our own personal levels, and how media/language/our surroundings influence us without us knowing it, is increasingly overwhelming proof as to why we're far more effected by things than we realise. But that's not the point of the post.)

 

I mean I can think of something really bad associated with religion in the context of 40k specifically that isn't even necessarily tied to the intensity or lack thereof of emotions in religion. Namely that the Chaos Gods can physically manifest and that the Chaos Gods have enough sentience and similarity in parts to sow the components of an organized religion across worlds, said religion could manipulate how people perceive the warp, create or show them the sort of unwords and ritual incantations of the gods, and exploit the limited understanding humanity has towards their immensely complex forms towards their own ends. If an organized religion of Chaos were to emerge(And we haven't even truly seen what that is like on a galactic or even segmentum sized scale.) the sheer amount of physical manifestations could render them unstoppable just by convincing a large amount of humans to do something really really bad.

 

Oh, totally. But I think that goes without saying as it's the main thrust (and mentioned in TMoM a fair whack as the "religion needs to go" angle), whereas this thread seems to be looking for answers around that, which is fair enough.

 

 

Aye, I mean the Emperor went with the "God" option in the end due to no real choice.

 

Yet we see in the HH novels that it was heading that way regardless, several human characters as paid up members of the "Emperor is a god" brigade.

 

I do get THoM's point, it is hammered home what happens when religion goes wrong with the priest-king of maulland sen. It's an excellent case study in how chaos can corrupt a faith, twist it and use it without anyone even realising it.

 

What I can not fathom, may be revealed in later novels perhaps, why the Emperor would chose the least effective option. Suppressing faith is an impossible feat, our history teaches that.

[Loesh]

 

Aye, I mean the Emperor went with the "God" option in the end due to no real choice.

 

Yet we see in the HH novels that it was heading that way regardless, several human characters as paid up members of the "Emperor is a god" brigade.

 

I do get THoM's point, it is hammered home what happens when religion goes wrong with the priest-king of maulland sen. It's an excellent case study in how chaos can corrupt a faith, twist it and use it without anyone even realising it.

 

What I can not fathom, may be revealed in later novels perhaps, why the Emperor would chose the least effective option. Suppressing faith is an impossible feat, our history teaches that.

 

 

Our history lacks psykers however, it lacks a galactic military, and it lacks all the resources that come with an empire of that scale. Spreading faith takes time and while Great Crusade-era Imperium is not quite the Orwellion horror we all know and love it should come as no surprise that the Emperor was not a very nice man. Iterators were trained to brainwash populaces, and what he could not brainwash he could crush. I got the impression that while the Emperor is an impressively intelligent human he still needs the Mechanicums expertise, the need for the priests of Mars in a relatively intact state is all that stayed his hand.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

It's not a plot hole. Believing in anything feeds the warp. There is no positive attributes for faith in 40k. It's all bad.

 

Celestine? 

 

 

Studio. 

[Marshal Rohr]

 

It's not a plot hole. Believing in anything feeds the warp. There is no positive attributes for faith in 40k. It's all bad.

 

This is the biggest misconception about chaos. People link the power of chaos to the power of belief.

 

The chaos powers are fed by primeval emotion not faith. The first murder gave birth to a daemon, not any belief associated with that act but the emotional response to the act itself.

 

Belief in the Imperial Truth is, by definition, a form of belief so would that not feed the warp by your logic?

 

The history of the Human race is the history of faith, as a species we form belief systems. Every culture, without exception, forms a belief system and this is not just limited to conventional religion but extends to many other forms of belief. Belief in luck for instance is a form of faith at it's most basic heart.

 

I'm not talking here about organised religion but the fundamental need in the Human condition to have faith in the unknown and unknowable.

 

 

The Imperial Truth does feed chaos. All belief feeds chaos. Even stuff like luck you mentioned, feeds chaos. Its part of the 40k universe. 

 

Also, the 'need for faith' is a evolutionary biological trait developed by humans because we have the mental capacity to ask why something happens with no immediate evidence of the thing that made it happen. The wind is a giants breath. The sun is a glowing chariot. The earth is flat and or the center of the universe. The Cowboys will win a super bowl. We conceive ideas to explain things we dont have the ability to. Animals dont do this, and only learn from experience. 

[Brother Captain Kezef]

 

 

Aye, I mean the Emperor went with the "God" option in the end due to no real choice.

 

Yet we see in the HH novels that it was heading that way regardless, several human characters as paid up members of the "Emperor is a god" brigade.

 

I do get THoM's point, it is hammered home what happens when religion goes wrong with the priest-king of maulland sen. It's an excellent case study in how chaos can corrupt a faith, twist it and use it without anyone even realising it.

 

What I can not fathom, may be revealed in later novels perhaps, why the Emperor would chose the least effective option. Suppressing faith is an impossible feat, our history teaches that.

 

 

Our history lacks psykers however, it lacks a galactic military, and it lacks all the resources that come with an empire of that scale. Spreading faith takes time and while Great Crusade-era Imperium is not quite the Orwellion horror we all know and love it should come as no surprise that the Emperor was not a very nice man. Iterators were trained to brainwash populaces, and what he could not brainwash he could crush. I got the impression that while the Emperor is an impressively intelligent human he still needs the Mechanicums expertise, the need for the priests of Mars in a relatively intact state is all that stayed his hand.

 

 

I mean the concept of suppressing a belief.

 

It's never really been possible and by suppressing a belief you tend to just make it stronger or, worse, turn it into a defensive and sometimes militant aspect.

 

This is one of the reasons I like Lorgar and The First Heretic so much. It's the irony of the whole thing and the classic response to suppression, it's an extremely well written novel.

 

Was it arrogance on the Emperor's part? Did he truly think he could force Humanity into the mold he'd forged for it? Perhaps this is the heart of everything, simple pride and arrogance.

[Loesh]

 

 

I mean the concept of suppressing a belief.

 

It's never really been possible and by suppressing a belief you tend to just make it stronger or, worse, turn it into a defensive and sometimes militant aspect.

 

This is one of the reasons I like Lorgar and The First Heretic so much. It's the irony of the whole thing and the classic response to suppression, it's an extremely well written novel.

 

Was it arrogance on the Emperor's part? Did he truly think he could force Humanity into the mold he'd forged for it? Perhaps this is the heart of everything, simple pride and arrogance.

 

 

Well yes not to us, but we didn't have access to people who could read minds or the luxury of being able to destroy a planet without harming our empires much on the Macro scale, the problem is that the desire to rebel came from a Primarch rather then a human.

 

And that is much harder for an empire of that size to deal with.

[Memento Of Prospero]

The problem with these theories is that they run on assumptions that are not factual. Gods and religion are merely simplistic tools to explain phenomenons we do not comprehend. It suppresses the need for knowledge, logic and in the end critical thinking.

 

In that sense, the Emperor is no more a God than the Chaos Gods. They are simple entities that are currently unknowable, in a universe we know nothing of the founding or origins nor the extent of it's internal dynamics. We do not know it's history in any meaningful way. All we know, dispite the thousands of pages written on the subject, is conjecture and hearsay. All of it.

 

The Emperor's goal is not to eradicate the chaos gods by making humanity faithless. It is increase humanity's resistance to the corruption, and bring down what is fed to the warp to a minimum output. And to do that, you have to get rid of the easy road to enlightenment - make a race that wields knowledge, and can think for itself and sustain a healthy sceptiscism along with mastery of emotions.  Dispite all their claims, the denizens of the warp do not manifest on their own, they need willing participants, and to appear as gods is the easiest way to obtien compliance (THE PUNTS!) They have proven themselves vulnerable to their own failings.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

 

 

 

I mean the concept of suppressing a belief.

 

It's never really been possible and by suppressing a belief you tend to just make it stronger or, worse, turn it into a defensive and sometimes militant aspect.

 

This is one of the reasons I like Lorgar and The First Heretic so much. It's the irony of the whole thing and the classic response to suppression, it's an extremely well written novel.

 

Was it arrogance on the Emperor's part? Did he truly think he could force Humanity into the mold he'd forged for it? Perhaps this is the heart of everything, simple pride and arrogance.

 

 

Well yes not to us, but we didn't have access to people who could read minds or the luxury of being able to destroy a planet without harming our empires much on the Macro scale, the problem is that the desire to rebel came from a Primarch rather then a human.

 

And that is much harder for an empire of that size to deal with.

 

 

The thing is, in many HH novels we see human characters, from diverse backgrounds, following the Lectitio Divinitas. Once this thing started, would the Emperor of been able to stop it?

The problem with these theories is that they run on assumptions that are not factual. Gods and religion are merely simplistic tools to explain phenomenons we do not comprehend. It suppresses the need for knowledge, logic and in the end critical thinking.

 

In that sense, the Emperor is no more a God than the Chaos Gods. They are simple entities that are currently unknowable, in a universe we know nothing of the founding or origins nor the extent of it's internal dynamics. We do not know it's history in any meaningful way. All we know, dispite the thousands of pages written on the subject, is conjecture and hearsay. All of it.

 

The Emperor's goal is not to eradicate the chaos gods by making humanity faithless. It is increase humanity's resistance to the corruption, and bring down what is fed to the warp to a minimum output. And to do that, you have to get rid of the easy road to enlightenment - make a race that wields knowledge, and can think for itself and sustain a healthy sceptiscism along with mastery of emotions.  Dispite all their claims, the denizens of the warp do not manifest on their own, they need willing participants, and to appear as gods is the easiest way to obtien compliance (THE PUNTS!) They have proven themselves vulnerable to their own failings.

 

That is a very good point, I just wonder how practical the whole thing really is.

[Marshal Rohr]

Its very easy to suppress belief. Look at church participation statistics and self-reporting atheists across the western world. Richer societies, less religious, its a law of nature. 

 

Edit: Granted this means the Imperium should be a turbo religious society, as it is in 40k. Which makes the portrayal of human life still being pretty crap during the great crusade all the more silly.