In every religion there is an element of the supernatural, varying with the influence of pure reason over its devotees.
It is idle to say that nations can struggle to outdo each other in building armaments and never use them. History demonstrates the contrary, and we have but to go back to the last war to see the appalling effect of nations competing in great armaments.
Modernism released us from the constraints of everything that had gone before with a euphoric sense of freedom.