《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体信念呈现的宗教形态》第5节
It is thus a very useless commonplace to assert that a religion is necessary for the masses, because all political, divine, and social creeds only take root among them on the condition of always assuming the religious shape--a shape which obviates the danger of discussion. Were it possible to induce the masses to adopt atheism, this belief would exhibit all the intolerant ardour of a religious sentiment, and in its exterior forms would soon become a cult. The evolution of the small Positivist sect furnishes us a curious proof in point. What happened to the Nihilist whose story is related by that profound thinker Dostoiewsky has quickly happened to the Positivists. Illumined one day by the light of reason he broke the images of divinities and saints that adorned the altar of a chapel, extinguished the candles, and, without losing a moment, replaced the destroyed objects by the works of atheistic philosophers such as Buchner and Moleschott, after which he piously relighted the candles. The object of his religious beliefs had been transformed, but can it be truthfully said that his religious sentiments had changed?
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段要驳斥一个流行观点，即“群众需要某种宗教信仰”。在他看来，这种说法是肤浅的老生常谈。他真正想证明的是：并非群众主动寻求宗教，而是任何政治、社会或神圣的信念，若要被群体真正接受并扎根，就必然、也总是会披上一层宗教形式。这种形式之所以会被群体自动采用，是因为它能有效地绕开讨论和质疑。群体根本不具备理性辩论的能力，他们只能全盘接受或全盘否定，而宗教式…