In my great and unmatched wisdom...

[Greyblades]

Actually, he's the Apostle John - the one who was supposedly immortal. He may also have been Mohammed, and Charlemagne, and Hitler (or Goebbels).

In any case, the Emperor's view of religion appears to be his cynical reflection of his view of Mankind.

Empy is one of the few in the universe to have some understanding of the effect of faith on the warp; that being it fuels the creation of/sustains the chaos gods. By eliminating religion from the galaxy he hoped to starve the four gods to the point they became incapable of interfering with his vision of humanity.

Essentially his stated views on religion are excuses to reach a different goal, he doesnt state his real goals because the chaos gods have turned temptation into an art form and for most mortals ignorance is the only defence pre emperor worship.

Also as much as I love Graham McNeil, he's not a theologian, the black library writers dont have the knowledge to properly portray the viewpoint of a person who literally watched christianity from start to finish with his own eyes, if not interfered with its formation outright.