Writing in the New Statesman Tom Holland said that the more he studied ancient history, the more he saw that
pagan gods and followers did not value human life equally, routinely upholding the
strong and rich above the weak and poor.
He suggests that
God breathing life into the man of dust (Gen 2:7) can be likened to the «vivification» of a
pagan cultic image, and has «nothing to do with infusing a Platonic soul» (p. 75)-- a statement which seems too
strong to me.