Kristols words speak for themselves; When a community has nothing to believe in, they are pretty much doomed to fall apart; after all, if they believe in nothing, they aren't going to believe in their government, or comradery, or decency, or hard work, or anything that a "community" needs to survive. Without any key central belief, the society will either erupt in violent anarchy, as during the French Revolution, or succumb to outsiders (or insiders) as did the Roman Empire. Or, even worse, they will find something to believe in thats worse than nothing; as is the case with rebellious-teen cult worshippers, urban gang life, or even the rise of the Nazi Party after the economic desolation of Germany. So one can say with a fair amount of accuracy that when a community loses its belief, it leaves itself totally vulnerable to all sorts of corruption. Bertram Russel and Socrates both recognized the power of thought which didn't limit itself to daily "pragmatic" trivialities; They capitalized on how how narrow vision greatly robs a person of potential depth and knowledge, and without it we are basically animals who act like animals because there is nothing to keep us civil. So, in a nutshell, meaning and belief are what keep us out of our id's and keeps society from becoming a primal jungle.