Twenty-five years ago Professor Barker criticized the typical D&D handling of gods and religion, a criticism that is still valid today. Beyond that, though, he describes how real-world religions arise and evolve (using Egypt as one example), and how GMs can make more "realistic" religions for their games. His essay meanders a bit, with some typos and one malformed sentence (noted by the editors), but otherwise is a fascinating and enlightening look at the art of world-building.