Religion 45 



race was possible, and could even be promoted, by the 

 subordination thereto of the individual's survival. In 

 its essence, therefore, the idea was as mysterious, as 

 death-compelling, as any terrible wild beast of the 

 jungle, as any unknown obscure scourge which militated 

 against his own survival. For the race, it was as life- 

 giving as any friendly power which helped toward race 

 survival. The idea demanded sacrifice. Man, there- 

 fore, deified it as a sacred duty. And to deify an idea 

 is to make a religion out of it. For you will find that 

 the sanctions of religion ever go to reinforce the dictates 

 of morality. In fact, morality without religion (for so 

 man seems to be constituted) appears bound to become 

 a dead letter in the course of one or two generations of 

 mankind. Conduct on a man's part which is thought 

 to militate against the survival of family, tribe or nation, 

 comes to be regarded not only as unmoral but as sinful; 

 as deadly, blighting sin. In other words, such conduct 

 is frowned upon by the God in man, by the supreme 

 evolutionary ideal of love in mankind, of this universal 

 instinct of race preservation. Conduct on a man's 

 part which is thought to help forward this survival 

 comes to be considered not only as morally correct 

 but as religious. In other words, it is approved of by 

 the God in man, again the same supreme ideal of love, 

 of the universal race instinct which so wisely places 

 race survival at the forefront as the all-important thing 

 in life. 



