I like it. Does anyone on their death bed wish they'd prayed to their god more than they did?
Begs the question of how truth in a religion is born? Is it born in people or inbred? We all know it isn't born out when they stop believing it is truth.
(Arthur C. Clarke was not only a pivotally important author, he was also a really nice man--I met him once at Caltech, and he's one of the "good guys" I have always remembered with fondness.)
I went through a science fiction phase when I was a teen, and of course Arthur C. Clarke was on my reading list. I could see myself headed back in that direction one day.
Like we, not far from the beginning of our evolution, have "truth" wrapped up. The "one funeral at a time" meme indicates that the real enemy of truth is the presently-accepted 'truth.'
"Overall, our results suggest that once in control of the commanding heights of their fields, star scientists tend to hold on to their exalted position a bit too long." ("Does science advance one funeral at a time?" http://www.nber.org/papers/w21788.pdf )
Is that ad hominem-style comment supposed to support some view?
This isn't a black/white, either/or issue. I am quick to acknowledge that religion is riddled with prejudices and blinkered, ego-comforting illusions. But I also acknowledge the Pandora's Box-like possibilities of myopic technology. Just as science is not the same as its questionable applications, so is spirituality not the same as religious institutions and emotional hijackings.