elieve what we believe, not because we have been convinced by
such and such arguments, but because we are of such and such a
disposition._

C. E. M. JOAD.

_The mind of the ordinary man is in so imperfect a condition that it
requires a creed; that is to say, a theory concerning the unknown
and the unknowable in which it may place its deluded faith and be at
rest._

WINWOOD READE.

_Generations followed and what had been offered as hypothetical
theological suppositions were through custom and tradition taken for
granted as unquestioned truth._

LLEWELYN POWYS.

The Martian has had his attention drawn to the statement that religion
in some form or other has existed from most primitive times down to the
present day. The theologians point to this as a proof of the existence
of a supreme being. An investigation of this assertion leads the Martian
to the conclusion that religions have continued to exist mainly because
of the power which inherited superstitions wield over mankind. Men are
born with a marked tendency towards superstitions.

Certain isolated families of men are born with an inherited tendency
towards tuberculosis. Most of these are born, not with an active
tuberculosis, but some as yet imperfectly understood tendency, a defect
in their protoplasmic make-up that renders them an easy prey to the
tubercle bacillus if they are exposed to it. Similarly, generations of
men have been born with a weakened mental vitality towards superstition;
a weakened mental capacity that renders their minds an easy prey to that
fear which manifests itself in superstition, creed, religion--the
God-idea. It was Karl Marx who remarked that, "The tradition of all the
generations of the past weighs down like an Alp upon the brain of the
living."

Since the days of our racial childhood, our beliefs have been handed
down from generation to generation, and they have persisted since in all
ages it was forbidden to question their existence. Man has persuaded
himself that it is so just because he has said it for so long and so
often. The force of repetition is great; it is, in fact, taken by a vast
majority of men as the equivalent of proof.

Most men have to accept their religions ready made. Their daily tasks
leave them no time or opportunity for a personal search. The toil for
bread is incessant, there is not sufficient leisure to verify the
sources of their religious beliefs. M