“Egrek said, ‘Ters Uzamish, is cutting off heads and spilling blood a clever thing to do?’ ‘Of course it is,’ he replied.

There are, it seems, people even in this country, even in this century, who honestly, unironically believe that there is an intelligent, self-conscious force above and beyond humanity and that this force — generally thought of as male, and generally called God — has a will that it exercises over us and everything in the universe. (2000.09.01)