Today, religion and science serve entirely distinct functions, and this split creates a dilemma for religion.

Religion, like ancient myth, puts the universe into human terms for the purpose of ensuring compliance to a "way of life", which in turn is a solution to the game of life presented to the village by the chaos and violence of the jungle. Science, like ancient myth, models physical and chemical behavior to enable engineering, which is also a solution to the game of life. But as science advances, it becomes less and less comprehensible to all persons, receding farther and farther away from describing the universe in human terms that all persons can understand. As science advances in this way, it becomes less and less suitable and useful as a substrate upon which roles and rules (way of life) can be expressed to teach and program and train the persons of the village.