"'Nehalennia...did what gods are supposed to do, gave courage and solace, made men a little more decent that they would otherwise have been, and sometimes opened their eyes to beauty.'" (Time Patrol, p. 634)
That is not what gods have always done. See here. But it is the best that we can make of them. Beauty and courage replace horror and fear. The following mythological passage begins not with dreadful gods but with a man, a hunter who meets a gentle goddess. Anderson shows us religion evolving and maturing with the spread and growth of civilization.
Ave Stella Maris!
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