New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-12-22
pr11cIOy AND MORALITY.

The decline in cnurcnROiHS II S'i't'-'-'
nv religious writers to mean corresponding
decline in character and moraiS' II 'i'
inevitable or even generally the case the ques-
ton of churchgoing would become Il hiaI'el VI
vital concern not alone to the churches but TO
tho neonla at large But although Christianity
is admittedly an ethical force among the great
es+ nerhaps, in the world to-day, 1t is not so
oIaar that a rejection of its claims always I'M
Mics a rejection of the moral obligations whlch
lie enshrned in its dogmaS. Professor GOODWIN
Smith has declared that were Christianity 10
he finally repudiated the world would expert
once a bad quarter of an hour. Nevertheless.
this is his opinion of the final result:
Whatever turn may ultimately be taken by
our convictions about q hereafter, society VIII
uphold by law social influence rules necesSai,
10 its own security and convenience mere: II
NAV even upheld them more vigorously. perhaps
cruelty if it is convinced that the present life Is
all The natural affections, parental coh1usai
and social will also retain their force
ca also Professor Morris Jastrow, of the Uni
versity of PENNSYLVANIA, in his book, just Issued
1.-The Study of Religion" declares that though
the bond between religion and morality Is very
cIose religion and ethics are really two streams
having an independent source. but flowing tow
ard each other until they unite and eventually
become one For this reason, he says, 1t Is pos
sible to conceive of religions that do not foster
morality And, of course, ii follows from thls
that men may reject the dOgmatic setting OF
religion while at the same time strenuousiy
holding to the moral law which has come to be
implicated in it.
AS TO the views of these distinguished men it
NAV be said that they are merely abstract opln-
ions entitled to no credence in the face OF the
widely held belief TO the contrary. Yet it Will
be admitted by candid Christians that in every
community there men no longer Christians
whose moral character compares favorably with
that OF the best church members. Many such
nom Christians, indeed, are actively identified
with movements for the betterment of the race,
and their zeal for righteousness appears to be
in no respect less than that of their Christian
brethren, with whom oftentimes they work
ing in close harmony. The existence OF such
men is a matter of common knowledge, and
even the most orthodox must rejoice that men
who, for whatever reason, reject Christianity
continue to acknowledge the obligations OF
morality.
AS to the case OF those who cease to be church
| goers, some interesting facts brought out by
a clergyman of n Western city who has gathered
statistics about those who have dropped away
| from the local churches during the last ten
| years. He finds that out of 679 adults now liv-
| ing who have ceased 70 go to church during that
| period 239 were originally poor church members,
| ranging all the way from notorious evil livers
| TO Indifferent wordiings. Since these $50 have
! formally withdrawn from the church their
| moral condition has in no wise changed, except
| that a few of them are somewhat more open in
| their defiance of the moral law. OF the remain
ing 44O eighteen have deteriorated morally since
| they left the church. Nearly all of them. ii is
| declared, are persons of unusually weak charac-
1 for sil nv tat tp do md
| one of them confessed that while he was
| member of the church he was kept from evil
courses not by his belief in Christianity but by
| the desire not TO recreant to the faith he
| professed. Sixty-three persons have apparently
| led better lives since they left the church
| though the change has not been at all marked
| and one of these sixty-three declares that he is
| better man now because he wants to show
| his church friends that unbeiief does not imply
| immortality. The remaining 359 of the $40 back
sliders are morally pretty much the same as
they were before. They continue to be repu
| table citizens, and impeled by the same
| motives of self-interest, touched occasionally by
| unselhsh impulses, that appeared to govern
| them when they were members of the church
| 1t would perhaps be too much to assume thai
the results of this particular census would be
| true of the non-churchgoers of other communi
| ties. There may have been special circum
stances in the city where it was taken tina
tended to make the result favorable as to the
| non-churchgoers; for favorable it certainly is
1t is desirable therefore. that some such investi
CATION be made in other communities, as only il
this way can the question be finally decided
whether rejection of the teachings of religion
does or does not result in moral deterioration
| and it would be better If it were made by meI
| representing the church, as in that case relig