Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-02
RELIGION
is RACIAL
DIR. 3. E. HOWARD is AGAIN IN
HIS PULPIT
"sINcERITY, NOT FORM, MAKES
TRUE FAITH"
"No' Creed Is the Only True One"
He DecIares-"Progress
Changes Our Be-
liefs"

'What is the True Religion?' was the
tonic of Rev. Burt Estes Howard yes
terday morning at the Church of the
Unity DR.. Howard has returned from
a two months vacation which he spent
in the library at Stanford university,
compiling data on German history, on
which he is a we'll known authority.
DR.. Howard said yesterday
1--WE are set squarely before the ques-
ton of religion and religious values. The
world has known many religions each
Of which has made ardent claims for
superiority over the others, and very
strenuous efforts for it's dominance over
the thought and belief of man. The
fires have died out on many an altar In
the long past, and the gods that once
f1ourished and ruled over human fate
have vanished with the religions that
gave them birth and a place in the
worlds pantheon.
do religions suffer the same fnexor-
able change which has put its stamp
upon worlds and things and life of beast
and bird and man? Is there any one
religion to which we can come with
the full assurance that this is the final
towering of the stalk, and that beyond
this there is no other? Is there a single
form of faith which can assume that
it, and it alone. is the only true faith
which men everywhere inuSt hoiu AL
their souls good?
"a celebrated writer has written a book
called The Ten Great Religions. Which
of these ten is the true religionG
(which Is Perfect?"
"Is it the religion of Buddha with its
millions of adherents or the religion of
Confucius. or of Brahma, or Of Islam,
or of Judaism, or of Christianity? Which
| of them can lay claim to possessing the
truth. the whole truth and nothing but
the truth?
"That all religions possess truth we
must concede If we are honest in our
Judgments; that no religion possesses the
whole truth we must admit If we Delleve
in a growing world; that every religion
is made up of truth and error is ap-
parent. when we consider that every re-
ligion comes into the world through hu-
man agencies and must therefore partake
of the liabilities of those agents Tne
discussion is nightly simplified, however,
when we begin to apprehend that all
religions contain truth, but that no re-
ligion that was ever framed, or that
ever will be framed, is the true religion
"It will help us to get the mists out
of our eyes IL we will appreciate the
further fact that the value OF religion,
like the value of everything else In the
world is purely relative. 1t is absurd
to talk of final values In growing world.
1t is foolish to speak of absolute qualities
in world that is in state of hux
What is true today may not be true
tomorrow. not because there is inherent
falsehood in it, but because the relative
conditions in which 1t is placed have
changed.
Outgrow Creeds
eve outgrow methods of thinking just
as we outgrow methods of doing. We
olltgrow religions just as we outgrow
a. thousand and one things that form
at any time an integral part OF our lie.
Mark you, I did not say that we out
grow the religious instinct-that some
thing likest God within the SOUL but l
do assert that over and over again the
world has outgrown the forms in which
religion has exploited itself for season,
and the world will outgrow the forms
in which religion now utters itself. ANY
other conception does violence to the law
of progress.
..Now the truth of thing does not
depend on the fact of 1t, but on the
practical value of the thing set forth
as true. Here is the point at which the
real value of religion emerges-not in
its logic, not in the nice balance of Its
dogmas, not in the cleverness of its sys-
tenn nor in the exact fitting of Its parts
with one another, but in the way 1t
touches life. in the grip it secures on
mans character, in the results of 1t when
believed.
THE test of religion is the kind of
man it produces. The proof of value lies
in results. Religions, like everything
else, are to be judged by their output.
Whether what a man believes in fact
or not has little to do with the case.
The important thing is the motive power
that his life gets out of his belief.
Theology No Test
"You cannot get fair estimate of any |
religion from its creed or theology. The
point where it's value emerges is not
there but in the character 1t creates
The worth of any religion lies in it's
moral dynamic in its ethical efficiency,
in its power to mold men, in its lifting
capacity Not by it's spirituality or by
the lack of it, but by it's righteousness
Is a faith tested. The best test, the only |
test of truth, is life. A thing may be
true, but it does not become truth till
it issues in some mans act, till 1t beds
itself in human conduct. So we must
measure religions by the practical product
of them.
ut is not differences in religion that
account for differences in men, but diff |
ferences in men account for differences
in religion. l am persuaded that each
race produces from within itself, mod
flied, to be sure, by contact with other
the religion which Is best adapt
ed to it's peculiar needs. For that race
and for that time 1t is the true religion
1.-The question of religion, then, is a
question of relations. That is the true
religion which serves to utter at the time
the spiritual and moral impulses and