fding believes, the
word "god" originally meant "he who is worshipped," and gods are
worshipped by the community, then fetiches, as they are nowhere
worshipped by the community, are in no case gods.

The function of the fetich is anti-social; of the gods, to promote the
well-being of the community. To maintain that a god is evolved out of
a fetich is to maintain that practices destructive of society have only
to be pushed far enough and they will prove the salvation of society .
. . 105-137

PRAYER

Prayer is a phenomenon in the history of religion to which the science
of religion has devoted but little attention--the reason alleged being
that it is so simple and familiar as not to demand detailed study. It
may, however, be that the phenomenon is indeed familiar yet not simple.
Simple or not, it is a matter on which different views may be held.
Thus though it may be agreed that in the lower forms of religion it is
the accomplishment of desire that is asked for, a divergence of opinion
emerges {xvii} the moment the question is put, Whose desire? that of
the individual or of the community? And instances may be cited to show
that it is not for his own personal, selfish advantage alone that the
savage always or even usually prays. It is the desires of the
community that the god of the community is concerned to grant: the
petition of an individual is offered and harkened to only so far as it
is not prejudicial to the interests of the community. The statement
that savage prayer is unethical may be correct in the sense that pardon
for moral sin is not sought; it is incorrect, if understood to mean
that the savage does not pray to do the things which his morality makes
it incumbent on him to do, _e.g._ to fight successfully. The desires
which the god is prayed to grant are ordinarily desires which, being
felt by each and every member of the community, are the desires of the
community, as such, and not of any one member exclusively.

Charms, it has been suggested, in some cases are prayers that by vain
repetition have lost their religious significance and become mere
spells. And similarly it has been suggested that out of mere spells
prayer may have been evolved. But, on the hypothesis that a spell is
something in which no religion is, it is clear that out of it no
religion can come; while if prayer, _i.e._ religion, has been evolved
out of spells, then there have never been spells wholly wanting in
every religiou