The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people.

The dissolution of the nation destroys the national religion, and dethrones the national deity.

The land of a god corresponds with the land of his worshipers.

The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people.

In better times the religion of the tribe or state has nothing in common with the private and foreign superstitions or magical rites that savage terror may dictate to the individual.

But we must not forget, this ritual expressed, certain ideas which lie at the very root of true religion, the fellowship of the worshippers with one another in their fellowship with the deity, and the consecration of the bonds of kinship as the type of all right ethical relations between man and man.

Belief in a certain series of myths was neither obligatory as a part of the true religion, nor was it supposed that, by believing, a man acquired religious merit and conciliated the favour of the gods.