Sigmund Freud noted that arguments stemming from the intellect or from morality are weak when pitted against human passions and desires,20 which is why campaigns to “just say no” or practice abstinence will never work. It has also been proposed that this imbalance of reason and emotion may explain the tenacity of religion in societies: world religions are optimized to tap into the emotional networks, and great arguments of reason amount to little against such magnetic pull. Indeed, the Soviet attempts to squelch religion were only partially successful, and no sooner had the government
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