[jason taylor]

Fraser's Golden Bough posited a social evolution from magic to religion to science. Magic he defined as emphasizing pseudotechnology dependent on ritual, and religion he defined as attempts to commune with superhuman spirits. Of course similar rituals are used for the first two simply because ritualism is a type of art and follows patterns. But when used for religion they would be for a different purpose. Religion X lights lamps to remember how their fathers were delivered from the tyranny of the evil Whatevers. Magic Y lights lamps because dark spirits are afraid of light. On this reasoning, the silly DnD style fantasies with wizards looking like mad scientists may have a glimpse of the truth.

In practice of course the evolutionary model of culture is flawed and all three are found in any culture. Not every culture has science in the sense of the scientific method but every culture has technology. It is however useful as a model. In a culture that emphasizes the "magical" though, the gods have weaknesses to exploit. Egyptian priests thought they could enslave their gods by knowing their true names.