We must therefore evaluate religion on the same basis as science because all belief, including religion and science, must be based on fact to be legitimately believed. Sagan maintains that religion has something which resonates deep within us. This resonance of the mystic core has two possible origins. However, this purest core is ultimately subject to rational inquiry, for religion shares it with science. There is something religious, in a broad sense, about scientific investigation because we are drawn to it by what appears to be its awesome beauty and intricacy.
Science is able to provide the answers to many such fundamental mysteries.
One of the largest roles of religion was to explain fundamental mysteries, also. However, religion merely offered fillers to keep the intellect satiated until the real answers could be found. Science, on the other hand, is what gives us the definitive, real answers. One might argue that explaining all the religious mysteries ruins their spiritual usefulness as well. Sagan, on the other hand, feels that a worthwhile myth is better when it is based on an external knowable reality.