ABSTRACT
This chapter describes daylight that syncretism and religious pragmatism are necessary and normal traits in the religions that live on the primitive apprehension of existence. The term 'syncretism' has always more or less had the connotation of expressing the illegitimate mingling of different religious elements. This peculiar conception of syncretism could only grow in a Christian atmosphere and has actually grown there, for the word and the concept are a result of theological controversies in seventeenth-century Protestant theology where it is legitimate and obligatory to speak about illegitimate mingling, because an absolute standard of reference is implicitly assumed. The spirit of syncretism, relativism, pragmatism and subjectivism that runs through the veins of the naturalist religions has of course various and different incarnations. Primarily there are its practical forms in the life and practice of the millions. However, there are various rationalized forms in the shape of the many religious philosophies, which all contain a justification of religious life and purpose.
