26 Science Religion and Reality 



" Art and Religion alike spring from unsatisfied desire." i How 

 much truth there is in this somewhat vague statement and how 

 much exaggeration we shall be able to assess later on. 



There are two important contributions to the theory of 

 primitive religion which I mention here only, for they have some- 

 how remained outside the main current of anthropological interest. 

 They treat of the primitive idea of one God and of the place of 

 morals in primitive religion respectively. It is remarkable that 

 they have been and still are neglected, for are not these two 

 questions first and foremost in the mind of anyone who studies 

 religion, however crude and rudimentary it may be .? Perhaps 

 the explanation is in the preconceived idea that " origins " must 

 be very crude and simple and different from the " developed 

 forms," or else in the notion that the " savage " or " primitive " 

 is really savage and primitive ! 



The late Andrew Lang indicated the existence among some 

 Australian natives of the belief in a tribal All-Father, and the 

 Rev. Pater Wilhelm Schmidt has adduced much evidence proving 

 that this belief is universal among all the peoples of the simplest 

 cultures and that it cannot be discarded as an irrelevant fragment 

 of mythology, still less as an echo of missionary teaching. It 

 looks, according to Pater Schmidt, very much like an indication 

 of a simple and pure form of early monotheism. 



The problem of morals as an early religious function was also 

 left on one side, until it received an exhaustive treatment, not only 

 in the writings of Pater Schmidt but also and notably in two 

 works of outstanding importance : the " Origin and Development 

 of Moral Ideas " of Professor E. Westermarck, and " Morals in 

 Evolution " of Professor L. T. Hobhouse. 



I is not easy to summarise concisely the trend of anthropolo- 

 gical studies in our subject. On the whole it has been towards 

 an increasingly elastic and comprehensive view of religion. Tylor 

 had still to refute the fallacy that there are primitive peoples 

 without religion. To-day we are somewhat perplexed by the 

 discovery that to a savage all is religion, that he perpetually lives 

 in a world of mysticism and ritualism. If religion is co-extensive 

 with " life " and with " death " into the bargain, if it arises from 

 all " collective " acts and from all " crises in the individual's 

 existence," if it comprises all savage " theory " and covers all his 

 1 J. Harrison, Themis, p. 44. 



