98 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



ductivity — however nobly these latter may display 

 themselves to us. 



What, then, are the feelings and the needs which 

 have brought mankind to religious thought, and to 

 faith in the widest sense? A moment's consideration 

 shows that the most varied emotions stand at the 

 cradle of religious thought and experience. 



In primitive peoples it is, first of all, fear that 

 awakens religious ideas — fear of hunger, of wild ani- 

 mals, of illness and of death. Since the understanding 

 of causal connections is usually limited on this level 

 of existence, the human soul forges a being, more or 

 less like itself, on whose will and activities depend the 

 experiences which it fears. One hopes to win the 

 favor of this being by deeds and sacrifices, which, ac- 

 cording to the tradition of the race, are supposed to 

 appease the being, or to make him well disposed to 

 man. 



I call this the religion of fear. 



This religion is considerably stabilized — though not 

 caused — by the formation of a priestly caste which 

 claims to mediate between the people and the being 

 they fear, and so attains a position of power. Often 

 a leader or a despot or a privileged class whose power 

 is maintained in other ways, will combine the function 

 of the priesthood with its own temporal rule for the 

 sake of greater security; or an alliance may exist be- 

 tween the interests of the political power and the 

 priestly caste. 



A second source of religious development is found 

 in the social feelings. 



Fathers and mothers, as well as leaders of great 



