ABSTRACT
Religion and science are human activities with both practical and theoretical sides. There is at present a certain degree of conflict between them, and this will undoubtedly continue for some generations. The Pentateuch contains some very good applied science in the sanitary laws of Moses. The palaeontology of Genesis is also correct in many points; particularly in describing a period of the earth's history before the origin of life and only later on land, man being the last creation. Chemistry is not haunted by the phlogiston theory as Christianity is haunted by the theory of a God with a craving for bloody sacrifices. The simpler of them believe in a vast and complex system of myths, and attempt to gain their personal ends by placating various deities. The more intellectual do not pretend that the myths are true, or that the ritual has any effect other than a psychological influence on the participants.
