Edited sentence: "  None are masters of their own fate." takes this philosophy to its ultimate conclusion.Flame-throwers are activated, burning the escapee to death (although whether answering 'Yes' would have resulted in the same or not is unknown).It is also worth noting that the final scene implies that, in the world of the Cube, there is no separation of Church and state.Perhaps God is supposed to represent the most superior power that every character in the story answers to.Symbolically, this may be related to burning at the stake, immolation, or similar methods of execution used in medieval times for crimes of heresy, witchcraft, or blasphemy.The Siamese fighting fish owned by the cube technicians is a captive.The assumed punishment for atheists results if the answer is 'No' to the aforementioned question.The film contains many metaphors for imprisonment, claustrophobia and "answering to a higher power.The question later asked of the escapee, "Do you believe in God.The superior technician (Jax) also presumably answers to a higher power.The technicians apparently running the Cube are equally captives and at the mercy of unseen masters.Those imprisoned within the Cube are captives and at the mercy of powers they cannot see.Thus, by denying the authority of God the prisoners can also be considered to be denying the authority of the state