The San Francisco call., 1906-08-30
Tear Mask Of Ideality From
Sweet Dolly Of Haddon.
FROM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT.

lie Blanc-Smith, who has been al
lowed to rummage freely among the
papers discovered in the stable loft.
has just written book about Haddon
Hall, in which, incidentally, he gives
US the mangled remains of Dorothy
Vernon that have been spared by the
rats
A discussion now running in
London newspaper on the question,
Are we growing less religious?" has
elicited an interesting letter from Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle The literary
knight takes the ground that statistics
of church attendance or figures as to
the number of people practicing
various forms of ritual afford no data
on which an answer to the query can
be postulated.
Il have known" he says, most ad-
mirable persons who did these things,
and | have known most wicked ones.
Never yet have | known a person who
was good because he went to church,
or evil because he did not And vet
in most OF your letters such practices
are taken as a test whether religion
is waning or increasing There is no
relation between them
The true tests OF progress in true
religion. he insists, are the following:
I'd Is there kinder and broader
view of such subjects enabling all
men of all creeds to live in anlity and
charity? (2) Are the criminal statis-
tics better? CD Are the drink returns
better, showing that man is acquiring
greater animal self-control? (4) Are
the illegitimacy returns better, show
ing the same thing? 60 Is there
more reading, more demand for lee
lures, more interest in science, show
ing that the mind is gaining upon the
body? co. Are the savings banks re-
turns better, showing thrift and self
denial? CD Are the trade returns
better, showing greater industry and
efficiency? (8) Are there more chari-
table institutions, and does man show
more clearly his sense of duty toward
the lower animals?'
There is he adds, "a form OF
religion calling itself Dogmatic faith,
which has done far more harm to the
human race than pestilence or famine
Directly to its door must be laid not
only the blood stained history OF
Mahometanism, but all the murderous
doings which have in turn disgraccd
every sect OF Christianity. X All
sects have been misled by men oi
the same acrid frame of mind and
have incurred the same blood guilt
ness. | only know four cults-the
original Buddhists, the Quakers, the
Unitarians and the Agnostics-whc
can, | think, say that they have nc
blood on their hands Certainly the
Atheists cannot, for their excesses ir
France, in the Revolution and also ir
1870, have been as bad as those of the
churches.
And what has been the root cause
of it all?' he asks. Saying you be-
lieve what your mind cannot grasp
and what your free reason would fire.
quently reject A makes his proofless
assertion and calls it his faith. B has
the right to do the same. Then A
and B hate each other with holy
hatred, and there is the epitome Of
the blacklist chapter of the history
of the world. We, who are like ship
wrecked mariners upon this little raf
of world, moving upon the face o.
the infinite ocean, have enough to dc
to live kindly among ourselves with
out quarreling bitterly about tha
which is beyond the horizon
Sir Arthur evidently believes tha
his faith can't be wrong whose life
is in the right But that is not TIL.
view of theologians, who draw ;
broad distinction between religion
and morality.