ABSTRACT
Primitive religion continues to exist in the bosom of all religious life. In mature religions there is always a tendency to regress to the mentality of primitive religion, a tendency which has bedevilled religion throughout its long history. The cultic elements proper to primitive religion, to the extent to which they are present in the mind, prevent the development of conscience, which is the source of mature religion and healthy personality development. There is a difference between primitive religion prior to the Axial Era and the regression to primitive religion from mature religion. The notion of primitive religion in the pure state is a logical category and not to be found in reality. In primitive cultures today there is always an admixture of the values of advanced societies. The natural environment out of which the tribe scoops its living is its ecological niche; this is its world.
