Religion in This Country to an Outsider.
A French writer has recently published a book on religion and society in the United States. He writes with no prejudice, rather with commendation. He tells us that morality, not dogma, is considered essential; that the Christianity of America is an evolved Christianity; that it is evangelical in the sense that it “keeps the figure of Christ before all, even when it does not recognize His divinity;” that “the worship of humanity is established in America without displacing the worship of God, almost in the same manner as, sixteen [hundred?] years ago, Christian images were insensibly substituted for pagan idols on rustic altars;” that “therefore it is not Protestantism;” it is an American religion. A religion of this character—and none can truly deny that it is quite prevalent—is not Christianity. It is as truly pagan as the national religions of old.