262 POSTSCRIPT

THE FUTURE OF RELIGION
1919164531

EVEN the briefest survey of the stages in social evolution is sufficient to demonstrate the importance of religion as a factor in human progress. To us religious belief has appeared as a product of human volition. Man's gods have been constructions of his imaginative intelligence, given objectivity by an effort of his own will. Religion has not been a mere by-product of social evolution, however; it ranks as a genuine achievement of the human will and plays an essential part in its progressive realization. It renews man's confidence in the power of his own will after repeated failures, and gives him hope and courage for a new venture. It serves as a defense for ground already gained in the expansion of human personality and points the way to new conquests possible in the realm of spirit. Nor should

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the fact that the objects of religious belief are projections of the human will lead us to think that they altogether lack the reality possessed by other objects. Our study has shown us that the natural universe, with its multitude of existing things and many interacting forces, is likewise a construction of man's intelligent volition; is similarly a matter of faith with him. Religious belief gains reality, just as all other beliefs do, through a process of verification. Such verification comes in the results of action. If a belief, when acted upon, enlarges the scope of personal life and opens to the agent a more varied field for further activity, it is to that extent realized. For any course of action is itself a question put to Reality, and such a result as just suggested is a sign that Reality gives its sanction to the belief which prompted it. This is the test to which religion has constantly been subjected in the course of human progress, and no one can deny that it has stood the test successfully.

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But there are degrees of completeness and of finality in verification. Thus a belief may stand verified because when acted upon it increases the control of conscious personality over the conditions of its activity, and later have to give way to another and different belief about the same object, which when put in practice still further increases the range of man's personal activity. In such cases the first belief possesses in comparison with the second only a provisional truth, a temporary validity. Now it must be confessed that religious belief has in stage after stage of human progress played this part of provisional truth, has time after time appeared as a temporary expedient, extremely valuable, absolutely necessary, in fact, to tide the human will over difficult places in its road of progress, but destined in every instance to give place to other and contrary beliefs about the nature of the world and the behavior of its forces. Thus the savage, when the fruit upon which he depends for his food-supply

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fails to ripen, may make sacrifices to the deity which presides over vegetation, in the hope that he may supply other fruit of bush or tree. The belief which prompts him thus to act steadies and strengthens his will, while he searches the wood for other food; thus it is verified. But when man's advancing intelligence enables him to undertake systematic agriculture, his belief in the efficacy of natural causes to produce the desired results supersedes this primitive religious faith. The work of religion is not done, however; for upon a higher level we find it springing up anew. When unusual drouth interrupts the expected course of growth and fruition, man prays to God to send the needed rain, relying upon his promises to aid those human beings who obey and serve him. This more developed religion is in its turn superseded; man no longer prays for rain when, through the exercise of inventive skill, guided by the conclusions of exact science, he is able to devise improved methods of agriculture which

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produce good crops in spite of deficient rainfall. Such facts as these, patent to the student of human progress, lead one inevitably to ask if religious belief is not essentially provisional in character, and if its object, the divine, is more than a vague adumbration or at best an imaginary symbol of natural processes as yet undiscovered but nevertheless requisite for the realization of man's will and the completion of his world? This question comes home to us most sharply when we ask it concerning our religion of the present day, for it seems safe to suppose that the religious beliefs of modern civilized society represent religion in the fullest development to which it has yet attained. Must we believe that our own religion at its best is only an expression of our ignorance of forces which we nevertheless recognize as influencing human destiny, along with the determination to discover and utilize these forces? When we thus make the question one of the truth of

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present forms of religion, we are compelled to recognize the existence in civilized society of variant tendencies in religious belief. Most prominent, perhaps, are two types which we may call prudential and mystical. Prudential religion relies upon God, as a being of power and purpose, to provide man with the material goods of earthly existence. Mystical religion appeals to God, as a being of transcendent purity and holiness, to free man from the limitations of earthly existence, and to elevate him to the sphere of abiding spiritual reality. These are, of course, the forms of religion previously described as characteristic of the "natural" and "supernatural" life, respectively. It will assist us in understanding the present religious situation if we review the leading characteristics of these two forms of religion. Prudential religion springs from man's desire to provide for his own comfort and security during the period of his natural existence. This he attempts to do by

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utilizing the resources of his physical environment. He takes heed of the more obvious processes of nature--the course of the seasons, the germination, growth, and fruition of plants, the nutrition and reproduction of animals, planting and gathering his crops, pasturing and breeding his flocks and herds. He becomes familiar with the more accessible materials--wood, stone, and iron--making tools and building himself houses and barns. But these natural forces and agencies prove untrustworthy; through their uncertain and incalculable action his plans are set at naught, his prospects ruined, his health and very existence are placed in jeopardy. The drouth destroys hIs crops, the pestilence kills his herd, fire and storm devastate his dwellings. In this emergency he has recourse to religion to renew his confidence in his own ability to insure future well-being in the presence of an uncertain and sometimes hostile environment. The Deity in whom he believes is not the "mysterious power" of the savage,

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however; He is endowed with personality and possessed of definite purposes which He is interested in realizing. With such a God it is possible to bargain or, if the term be preferred, to covenant. The man who obeys His will, acknowledging His sovereignty, and worshipping Him according to the prescribed ritual, He will protect from accident and calamity, will preserve in health and prosperity. For, besides being powerful, God is just--just in the sense of paying what is due in the way of reward or penalty. The reward of those who obey the divine commands is at first supposed to come within the limits of earthly existence. But experience proving that fortune does not discriminate between be1ievers and unbelievers in this present world, the divine judgment with its ensuing rewards and penalties is postponed to a future life. But the relation maintained between God and man is the same in both cases. Mystical religion springs from man's yearning after a spiritual good, for the cul-

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tivation of his own soul through the knowledge of absolute truth and this perception of ideal beauty. To such spiritual ends we find him turning when, through repeated failure, he is led finally to despair of obtaining any certain natural good. In contrast to wealth and reputation and pleasure, which are at the mercy of a fickle fortune, these spiritual goods appear to depend solely upon the choice and inspiration of the human will. Thus man comes to place over against the natural world, which he repudiates as worthless and disappointing, a supernatural realm, which he regards as his eternal home. But it is difficult for him to maintain his faith in the supreme reality of such a supernatural realm. The natural world presses in upon him; hunger and cold, sickness and death constantly obtrude themselves upon his attention. To strengthen his faith in the supernatural good to which he has devoted himself, he again has recourse to religion. God is this time so conceived as to impart superior and

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abiding reality to the supernatural world and the spiritual life. He is characterized by his personal purity, which raises him out of any contaminating contact with the natural world and its many evils. To power and justice are now added holiness as his distinguishing attribute. Such a God can enter into relation with the world of human affairs only through mediators who bridge the abysmal gulf between the natural and the supernatural. Through the assistance of such mediators, however, man may return to God; he may at once begin the life of supernatural reality, of spiritual bliss. Naturally, individuals thus saved from the world will desire during the rest of their earthly existence to withdraw from human society in order that, undistractcd by worldly affairs, they may taste the joys of the heavenly vision. Turning now from the past to the present, we see both these types of religion existing in our civilized societies. Much of what passes for Christian faith is either pruden-

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tial or mystical in character, or a mixture of both. But the student of social and moral evolution is bound to conclude that these two types of religion have lost their value for civilized man and, consequently, are doomed to disappear from modern society. This is not because the needs which evoked them have disappeared; man labors no less arduously to provide for his own future security and comfort; he seeks no less earnestly the higher spiritual goods. But he has found other and more effective means of satisfying these needs than those furnished by prudential and mystical religion. Modern man secures his own natural existence and well-being, not by bargaining for divine protection against natural ills, but by gaining mastery over natural forces through his own experimental science, inventive skill, and technical proficiency. He does not rely upon divine providence to protect him from shipwreck at sea; he makes a compass, constructs a steamship, invents the wireless telegraph. He does not

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expect to avert drouth by prayer; through scientific research and experiment he so improves his methods of agriculture that a decided diminution of the rainfall does not ruin his crops. He does not attempt to check epidemic by religious sacrifices and processions; he discovers the cause of disease, learns how to destroy malignant germs or prevent their communication. With regard, secondly, to the spiritual goods whose acquisition mystical religion pretends to insure, modern man has learned that these are attained not by individuals who withdraw from worldly pursuits and devote themselves to supernatural concerns, but by those who avail themselves most successfully of the spiritual resources of their fellow-men, as these are developed through personal association and co-operation. Hence modern society aims so to organize its activities that the insights, the inventions, and the appreciations of all can be appropriated by each one and made contributory to his personal development. To

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this end it establishes popular education and promotes free discussion, it encourages research and rewards invention, it fosters art and stimulates wholesome play. It is evident that these two undertakings, the control of nature through the application of science to industry and the development of man's personal powers through the organized activities of society, are the purposes of democracy. In fact, taken together, they constitute the programme of democracy. For democracy is more than the abstract ideal of equality. It is the ideal of a society which provides for the free personal development of all its members. But it is also a method. Material necessities and comforts it proposes to produce and distribute through the co-operative industry of its citizens; no privileged class is to be permitted to live in idleness, supported by the labor of the remainder. And it proposes to find means of spiritual culture in this very co-operative industry. For no class is to be exempted from toil and given

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leisure for thought and enjoyment; hence, if spiritual values are to be realized, they must be found in the performance of the common task. But this turns out to be their true source, since industry can become genuinely co-operative only on the basis of mutual understanding, mutual helpfulness, mutual sympathy, and out of these arise knowledge and power and love of beauty, the choicest gifts of the spirit. Democracy is thus the modern method of fulfilling those needs which prudential and mystical religion arose to satisfy. No wonder that democracy has appealed to many minds as a substitute for religion or, perhaps better, as itself a religion! That it is a substitute for prudential and mystical religion, thus supplanting them both, seems indubitable. If religion can have no function beyond ministering to man's need for natural security and spiritual culture, its work appears to be already done and its eventual disappearance inevitable. Or, to put the matter differently, Unless neW needs arise, which no existing agency, nat-

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ural or social, can fulfil, religion has no further part to play in human history. Have such needs arisen? More definitely, has democracy, in providing a method for the fulfilment of man's needs, natural and spiritual, created new needs which only religion can satisfy? An attempt to answer this question will bring us at once to what is truly the religion of the present--the religion of modern civilized society. It represents the highest development of the religious consciousness; it has already been described as the religion of the universal life. On what force does democracy depend for the accomplishment of its task of promoting the personal development of its members? Clearly, upon the thoroughgoing co-operation of its members, upon the absolute devotion of individuals to the comprehensive social good. Such complete co-operation of mankind in the work of subjugating nature and cultivating the powers of personality can be obtained only at the expense of the private interests of individuals. Every great enterprise which aims to increase

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man's control over natural forces lays its tax upon the health, takes its toll of the lives of the individuals employed; the construction of a great canal, railway, bridge, or tunnel, is expected to involve many casualties among the workers. So also with invention and discovery; the discoVerer of a new serum pays with his own life; those who first employ a new remedy jeopardize their own health and safety. The cost to individuals who participate in the work of spiritual enlightenment and progress, if less obvious, is none the less real. They may not risk their health or their lives, but they are forced to give up private preferences and individual ambitions as dear to them as life itself. One who labors for the spiritual advancement of humanity cannot allow his own taste and talents, in science or in art, to interfere with his social responsibility; nay, more, he must be prepared to Suffer misunderstanding and even opprobrium on account of his devotion to social progress and reform. Such devotion of individuals to social

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welfare as democracy presupposes thus involves real sacrifice on their part--the endurance of pain, privation, and even death itself, in the service of society. Is it reasonable to expect from human individuals a willingness thus to devote themselves to a social ideal, the capacity for sacrificing their private interests to its service? On one condition only--that the mass of men are convinced that the larger social life, the life of human personality in its universal aspect, is more permanent, more potent, more real than the existence of the natural individual or his private interest. If such is the true view, then it is evident that the individual who surrenders his private interests, spends his strength, and shortens his natural life in devoted service of society, gains, not loses, in personal development; since through his very suffering and sacrifice he raises himself to a higher plane of reality, that of universal spiritual life. But this cannot be proved; it must remain a matter of faith. On the existence of this faith democracy is altogether

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dependent, but is of itself powerless to produce it. Here, then, is the new need created by democracy, which religion can alone fulfil--the need of faith in the superior reality of the social community, the community of persons united through mutual understanding, service, and sympathy, over that of natural individuality, with its narrow interests and exclusive ambitions. Here, too, is the function of religion in a democracy--that of giving supernatural sanction or, better, spiritual reality, to those social values which have become supreme in the course of human progress. That form of present-day religion which promises to dominate the future is neither prudential nor mystical, it is ethical and social. What particular forms it may take as time goes on cannot, of course, be predicted. But it may serve to make more definite the meaning of social religion if we try to state the fundamental doctrines which such a religion must proclaim in order to discharge its function of upholding

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the reality of social values. Such a religion must teach, it would appear: 1. An immortality of the human person conditioned by his devotion to inclusive social ends and consequent identification with the life of the spiritual community. The future life, as an occasion for reward or punishment, has ceased to interest the modern man or move him to action. No more powerful moral dynamic could be imagined, however, than that supplied by belief in an immortality which may be won--an immortality which offers an opportunity for further personal development to those individuals who in their earthly existence have devoted themselves to universal ends. 2. The existence of a spiritual community made up of those persons who during the period of their earthly existence labored faithfully for the universal human good, and who, after death has removed them from the earthly scene, constantly inspire men to deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice in the

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service of society. The leaders of this community are the great moral teachers and heroes of the race; prominent in it are the saints and the sages, the patriots and the martyrs, who through the long centuries have striven to benefit their fellow-men; present, also, are all those who in obscure and humble station have faithfully discharged their social vocation. 3. The immanence and efficacy of God as the guiding spirit of social progress, the leader in the work of human betterment, who strives and suffers with us in the cause of universal evolution. And now we come to the crucial question--the question that is ever hovering in the mind of one who considers the "enlightened" religion of the present as the outcome of age-long religious evolution. Must we suppose that this final form of religious belief is also but a temporary expedient destined to disappear at the time when a wider experience has furnished man with a scientific knowledge of the facts of the social

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consciousness, its true character and manner of growth? Before venturing to suggest an answer to this question we should inquire what sort of facts would, if known, render unnecessary the social religion of the present, and how such knowledge could be acquired. Now, if the preceding argument be sound, this knowledge must be that of the permanence and continued development of conscious personality in its universal social aspect. Such knowledge as this will be gained only when the experience of those individuals who have striven and suffered for inclusive human ends during their natural existence, and thereafter continue to participate in the labors and satisfactions of social progress, is communicated to their brethren whose outlook is limited to the visible world. Is it probable that human science will devise methods for receiving such communications? Sir Oliver Lodge believes that he and his fellow-workers in the Society for Psychical Research have already received preliminary communications

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of this kind and that these communications, increasing in number and significance in the near future, promise to furnish men with new sources of power and inspiration. The painstaking work of such investigators in a difficult and suspected field deserves our admiration, and their opinions should receive respectful attention. As yet they have not convinced many persons whose acquaintance with the phenomena under investigation and with the conditions of scientific verification generally renders them competent judges. The majority of us remain sceptical, probably from a conviction, strong if not explicitly justified, that such facts as these, if they are ever made known, will not be communicated through the channels which are being sounded by the Society for Psychical Research. But suppose that such knowledge should be acquired, either in this manner or in some other. Will it mean that religion is finally discredited and superseded? Nay, shall we not rather say, confirmed and completed? For in that case

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what religion has for so long seen with the eye of faith will at last have been empirically made known--that Spirit is the ultimate and prevailing reality.