Religion runs like a red thread through all of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk's thinking and writing and affected, at least indirectly, many of his public actions. In his opinion, life without religion was unthinkable; it provided a secure basis for national existence and for an ethical personal life. Yet in spite of the importance he assigned to religion, wrote R. R. Betts, "he never tells us what religion is. An admiration of Jesus and a somewhat vague belief in Providence seem to be the substance of his theology. To him religion is primarily ethical and practical."¹