ods represent false conclusions from misunderstood facts. No one now
believes that the visions seen during sleep are proofs of a wandering
double. No one believes that it is necessary to supply the ghost of the
dead with food, or with weapons, or with wives. We do not believe that
the wind, the stars, the waters are alive or are capable of being
influenced by our petitions. All the phenomena upon which the god idea
was originally built are now known to be susceptible to a radically
different explanation. And if this is so, what other foundations have we
on which to build a belief in God? There is none. There is only one
plausible reason for the belief in God, and that is the reason advanced
by the savage. When we get beyond that we are not dealing with reasons
for holding the belief, but only with excuses for retaining it.
Unfortunately, thousands are familiar with the excuses, and only a few
with the reasons. Were it otherwise a great deal of what follows need
never have been written.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Both the words "supernatural" and "God" are here used somewhat
loosely. In fact the conception of the supernatural arises gradually,
and as a consequence of developing knowledge which, so to speak, splits
the universe into two. So also with the belief in God. There is clearly
an earlier form in which there exists a kind of mental plasma from which
the more definite conception of God is subsequently formed. On this
topic the reader may consult "The Threshold of Religion," by R. R.
Marett, 1914.

[2] For the importance of this in the history of religion see Fustel de
Coulanges' "The Ancient City."

[3] The perpetuation of this earlier stage of religion in China and
Japan appears to make the transition to Free-thought easier than in
countries where religion has under-gone a more advanced evolution. In
both the countries named, the better minds find it quite easy to treat
their religion as merely the respect paid to ancestors, and thus divest
it of the supernatural element. In Christian countries there is also the
attempt to restate beliefs in terms of current morality and sociology,
but the transition is more difficult.

CHAPTER III.

HAVE WE A RELIGIOUS SENSE?

In all discussions of theism there is one point that is usually
overlooked. This is that theism is in the nature of a hypothesis. And,
like every hypothesis, its value is proportionate to the extent to which
it offers a satisfactory explanation of th