It is to mistake tactics for strategy, and strategy for tactics; the means for the end, and the end for the means. In particular with the Christian God, anyone who thinks He is likely to welcome into His heaven a selfish little wretch, who thinks only of himself, has drunk so deeply of religion that he has lost all judgement. He has lost all judgement not only in the secular world, but in the heavenly world too; not only in the largely mechanical world of cumulative genetic selection, but in the world of the spirit and artistic creation too. He might as well busy himself rooting out the Pelagian heresy in Italy, while the German tribes are breathing fire and slaughter throughout the length and breadth of Gaul. And in the Day of Judgement, if he ever has a day of awakening, he is likely to find his God is not over-pleased!

And one of the advantages of having a vision of the Universe and man’s place in Nature is that it makes it a great deal easier for the citizen to lead a normal life as a member of the community.