The tendency is perfectly understandable, because, for primitives as for the man of all pre-modern societies, the sacred is equivalent to a power , and, in the last analysis, to reality . The sacred is saturated with being . Sacred power means reality and at the same time enduringness and efficacity. The polarity sacred-profane is often expressed as an opposition between real and unreal or pseudoreal. . . . Thus it is easy to understand that religious man deeply desires to be, to participate in reality, to be saturated with power .
Every human society is an enterprise of world-building.
This craving for community of worship is the chief misery of every man individually and of all humanity from the beginning of time. For the sake of common worship they've slain each other with the sword. We can never possess absolute certainty. The plurality of interpretations of religion is a fact, as is the resulting conflict of interpretations. The great pluralists of religion are those who so affirm plurality that they fundamentally trust it, yet do not shirk their responsibility to develop criteria of assessment for each judgment of relative adequacy.