We Do Not Need a New Religion
The St. Louis Globe Democrat, though far from being a religious paper, thus fittingly rebukes the demand which has recently arisen in certain so-called Christian quarters for a new religion. The Democrat says: “Science has not provided a substitute for conscience, and has not yet furnished a plan of salvation. . . . The evidences of Christianity do not depend upon technical points of that kind. . . . The fundamental principles of that religion do not require vindication according to the methods by which the scientists analyze and determine physical problems. They are their own vindication for the most part, and their results prove them to be sound and wholesome. . . . We do not need a new religion; but we do need more of the one that already exists, and that has been thoroughly and profitably tried. Science has its place and its beneficial use in the world; but it cannot supply material for another and better form of religion. It does not deal with spiritual truth in any definite sense, and its opportunities do not lie in the direction of the forgiveness of sin and the adjustment of man’s destiny beyond the grave.”