Page:The Relations of the Advanced and the Backward Races of Mankind.djvu/27

 Arab and Berber blood, unite themselves with the blacks of Sudan and Central Africa. In Morocco one sees every type of feature and every shade of colour, from the light yellowish-brown pure Arab to the jet-black negro, and all seem to stand on the same social level. But this result is largely due to religion, of which a word must now be said.

Religion, which in some countries has forbidden and in others has encouraged the mingling of diverse stocks, is an influence far less powerful than colour. It seldom creates a feeling of personal repulsion. Like language, it can be changed; and when one race is so far beneath the other that the man can force the woman to embrace his faith, it becomes a very slight obstacle. In the ancient world people changed their gods lightly, because polytheism permits one to adopt new deities without abjuring the old ones. When a woman quitted her tribe, she passed naturally to the worship of the tribe she entered, as Ruth says to Naomi: 'Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'

In the pre-Christian world, everybody respected everybody else's religion, save in extreme cases, such as that of those Egyptian Beast-gods, whom the philosophic Roman found disgusting. When monotheistic or metaphysical religions came on the scene, things altered. To one who holds such a faith, other faiths are false or pernicious. He will have no dealings with them. The Fire-Worshippers of Iran were the first