Men crave certainty, since certainty encourages dashing, bold initiatives, and approves the ruthless confidence of the heroic quest. In the real world, certainty is rare, but it is provided in abundance by religion. Thus it is that religion sanctions awful absurdities and calculated cruelties which would otherwise -- in the real world -- be fatally beset by a hesitant anxiety -- a troubled and reluctant doubt. (Observation # 381)