CHAPTER V
THE PERSISTENCE OF RELIGION
We believe 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 proto- 115
