Understood. But the stance I take has forced me to identify as an atheist not because of a lack of belief so much as because of a refusal to worship.

As to the parental analogy, not so much, as the parent's right to command obedience disappears when the child becomes an adult and this is implicit from the beginning of the relationship, whereas the 'Gods' demand obedience for all eternity.

Better to posit what rights we would have over a species which, though recognisably intelligent, is less advanced than we are?

Or from another angle, if and when we create a true Artificial Intelligence - self-aware, able to learn independently and form its own opinions and judgements -will we have the right to demand obedience from it?