If we transport ourselves
back to the ages in which the religious life flourished
most vigorously
we discover a fundamental conviction
which we no longer share…

In those ages one as of yet knows nothing
of natural laws;
neither the earth nor the sky are constrained
by any compulsion;
any season, sunshine, rain can come or they can fail to come.
Any conception of natural causality is altogether lacking.

All illness, death itself is the result
of magical influences.
The whole of nature in the conception of religious men
a sum of actions by conscious and volitional beings,
a tremendous complex of arbitrarinesses.

To him nature
must seem the domain of freedom, of caprice,
of a higher power, indeed as it were,
a superhuman stage of existence,
a god…

How can one exercise an influence
over these terrible unknown powers,
how can one fetter the domain of freedom?
The believer in magic and miracles
reflects on how to impose a law on nature
–in brief, the religious cult
is the outcome
of this reflection.

Human All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by R. J. Hollingdale, aphorism 111

I remember when I was a young boy I accompanied my grandmother to a Sunday evening church service on a sweltering hot summer evening.  We were seated in a pew at the back.  I was satisfied to be some distance from the altar, as I recall the service involved handling of poisonous snakes.  It was better to be far away from that activity.

Several years ago when visiting with relatives in my state of birth, North Carolina, the fervor of a prayer circle seeking divine healing for a seriously ill family member was unforgettable.  I felt the sincerity of those around me, but as an observing outsider with no expectation of any reversal caused by divine attention.

Let’s transition to another topic which I think is related to religion. I have wrestled to understand the spread of the ironclad allegiance of many Americans to the serial molester of women, indicted felon, insurrection conspiracist, – Donald Trump.  None of the behaviors mentioned is in doubt, as they are affirmed by multiple witnesses. The act of fomenting insurrection was viewed by millions on television.

When I consider that it is the 21st century human world and society that is perceived as the domain of unfettered, irrational, dangerous powers instead of nature, then perhaps then I understand the power wielded by Trump, and the ritual power inscribed in his brand.  Is he the high priest promising to tame the irruption of accelerated change, disruptions due to application of technologies, and the published intention of autocrats in Russia, China and Israel to pursue war to achieve their aims? Is Trump a divinely appointed ruler, the “businessman” who understands the occult mysteries of financial markets, one promising to suppress the contamination of illegal immigration, of independent minded women, the indolent undeserving underclass, to put an end to the abomination of ‘woke’ public education?

I understand now…

And I do not believe the age of human sacrifice is behind us.