Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-10-26
Reliaion as Parasite.
From the st. Paul Dispatch.

from the ST. Paul D1Spatch.
G.. Loves Dickinson, the man who
wrote the anonymous Letters from a
Chinese Official" but who wrote also
the more dignifed book, "A Sympo-
sum-" declared in the latter-for both
books contain criticism on American
way and means-that religion in
America is a parasite without roots"
OF course Americans resent this, but
any acquaintance with the deeper
rooted sense of religion in England and,
indeed, in all the strictly British coun-
tries, might lead one to suspect that
at least from Mr.. Dickinson's own point
of view as an Englishman, there was
much truth in the assertion.
The announcement yesterday in Min
neapolis, before the Presbyterian syn
Cd, hat one-half of the converts to
Presbyterian faith during the past
year in Minnesota have not MATERIAL
lied, AVE not added to the sum total
OF the membership, but have wandered
off under the pressure of "worldli-
ness, may or may not be testimony to
the statement hat religion is a para
site without roots" but we are rather
inclined to. think it is. And last week
from another denomination, the Meth
odist, we learned that there, also, had
been n falling off in the number OF
converts and the number of members.
This was not the revelation of a state
secret, but a calm facing of the fact
which everyone acquainted with
church affairs had come to notice, and
we do not suppose that it is a fact
confined singularly to these two Prot
estant denominations, but that it is
true also Of all the others. 1t is q
condition of affairs which may well
give one pause. We doubt If it is al
together hopeless; we do not believe
that 1T is anything more than a tenn
porary transitional state, and we be-
leVG that good and well hainp fa hp-I
yond. But our general hopefulness
SHOULD not blind us to the particular
crisis Of the present.
The first difficulty would seem to be
that we have altogether and too sue
cessfuily divorced state and church.
This was an absolute necessity in our,
American beginning. America was for,
tunately founded by that very class
Of men from the old world, England
and the continent, who sought freedomI
in religious affairs and the right to-
their individual conscience. They did
not secure it, Of course; we all know
that. No sooner had they colonized a.
small spot on the great American con-
tinent that one conscience attempted
and usually succeeded in overriding all
the other consciences, and particularly
lie one kind of conscience dominates
each colony. We worked out Of tina
condition, very largely through divorce
irg church and state in practice, until,
Today we are absolutely in the divorced
state, n both state and church suf-
FER. And the people nave suffered mostl
of all. We by no means advocate a re-
turn to a state church. The solution,
will come in some other way. MattersI
of government lave already felt a fnet
wave of moral enthusiasm, and what
is better, the very foundations are be-
ing reconstructed, so that instead of
Smpermanent waves, there may be per-
manent good, decency and honesty, as.
the foundation stones of municipal andi
state and national life. Some such re-
form is certain to overtake the church..
We could wish it would come not alone
in the churches but in the state, morel
particularly in the public schools and
that religion which is not denomina-
tional should win for itself a place
in the curriculum. Does anyone doubt
that much of the dignity and serious-
ness Of attitude of an Englishmant
toward his country, comes from the
Iaingling of religion and government
in his early school training? And the
chapel service which every college Of
oxford or Cambridge holds each day.
which has unfortunately not been APP
preached by the very p~erfunctory,
chapel service held in American col
leges, has had a large part in inclin-
ing the mind OF the undeveloped stu,
dent to higher things and even toward
FORMAL devotion. We could wish our
American sense of religion to be vol
untary, spontaneous. But we are con-
WINGED that the formal observance has
it's important part. The parasite will
give place to the living truth when the
first service to the state, performed by
the child in it's attendance at school,
becomes religious as well as civil.