conceive
the one without conceiving--and rejecting--the other?

The fundamental opposition between magic and religion I take to be that
religion is supposed to promote the interests of the community, and
that magic, so far forth as it is nefarious, is condemned by the moral
and by the religious feeling of the community. It is the ends for
which nefarious magic is used that are condemned, and not the means.
The means may be and, as we see, are silly and futile; and, for
intellectual progress, their silliness and futility must be recognised
by the intellect. But, it is only when they are used for purposes
inimical to the public good that they are {96} condemned by religion
and morality as nefarious. If therefore we talk of a fundamental
opposition between magic and religion, we must understand that the
fundamental opposition is that between nefarious magic and religion;
neither religion nor morality condemns the desire to increase the food
supply or to promote any other interest of the community. Whether a
man uses skill that he has acquired, or personal power, or force of
will, matters not, provided he uses it for the general good. The
question whether, as a cold matter of fact, the means he uses are
efficacious is not one which moral fervour or religious ardour is
competent by itself to settle: the cool atmosphere and dry light of
reason have rather that function to perform; and they have to perform
it in the case both of means that are used for the general good and of
those used against it.

I take it therefore that what religion is fundamentally opposed to is
magic--or anything else--that is used for nefarious purposes.

The question then arises whether we have any reason to believe that
magic used for nefarious purposes must have existed before religion.
Now by nefarious purposes I mean purposes inconsistent with or
destructive of the common good. {97} There can be no such purposes,
however, unless and until there is a community, however small, having
common interests and a common good. As soon as there exists such a
community, there will be a distinction between actions which promote
and actions which are destructive of the common good. The one class
will be approved, the other disapproved, of by public opinion. Magic
will be approved and disapproved of according as it is or is not used
in a way inconsistent with the public good. If there is a spirit or a
god who is worshipped by the community because