Can Religion Be Secularized? by S. B. Horton

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · May 30, 1912

Can Religion Be Secularized?

By S. B. Horton

DR. WALLACE RADCLIFFE, at the New York Avenue Presbyterian church, Washington, D. C., recently preached on the subject of "Forming a Cabinet." He referred to the "five principal men of King David's cabinet;" namely, "the man of policy," "the man of loyalty," "the man of learning," "the man of action," and "the man of religion." He declared that "religion is never out of place. It should always be at the head of the table. It is the test of policies, the interpreter of law, the governor of rulers.

"If the ten commandments have no business in the United States Congress, so much the worse for that Congress. If the golden rule is not admitted to the party caucus, the caucus writes its doom. If the Book of religion is excluded from the schools, the schools give an immoral and threatening citizenship. If the nation dishonors the day of religion, it solicits the ruin of the republic."

The dark ages were the result of attempting to secularize religion and impose the requirements of a religious life through civil law. Sunday laws failed to save the Roman empire from corruption and final ruin. Real success in the religious life depends absolutely upon individual acceptance of the gospel; and, as the true religious life begins with the entreaties of the Holy Spirit, that agency should be appealed to and depended upon, rather than the incorporation of sacred things into police regulations.

Christ, the reformer, went to the individual; and his true Vicar upon earth, the Holy Spirit, approaches the work of conversion and righteousness in the same manner. Why should not his professed followers labor in the same way to-day?

Washington, D. C.