Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-17
The Religious World


ism," he consistently proposes to root it
out of every parish in Christendom. Lib
eral minded Catholics will no longer be
free to formulate their views and dis
cuss problems of religious faith. The
radical plan of campaign is reported TO
be as follows:
1. Catholic professors of the modern
school are to be removed from educational
institutions, and "orthodox" theology and
philosophy are to be emphasized in all
Catholic schools and universities
e. Books and newspapers OF modern
ist" tendency are not to be read by either
clergy or laity A censorship COMMITTEES
is to be established in every diocese TO
determine what publications are free from
this taint.
8. The clergy are forbidden to take
charge of any publication without the
bishops consent, and the work of eccle-
siastical writers will be closely super
vised.
4. Catholic congresses will be permitted
to assemble only on exceptional occa-
sions.
s. A special council to combat the
"modernist" heresy will be established in
every diocese.
Prof. william James, an ex-professor
at Harvard writing of New Thought"
in the American Magazine. says:
eve are just now witnessing very
copious unlocking of energies by ideas
in the persons of those converts to New
Thought Christian Science, 'Metaphysi-
cal Healing or other forms of spiritual
philosophy who are so numerous among
us TODAY The ideas here are healthy
minded and optimistic; and 1t is quite
obvious that a wave of religious activity,
E, analogous in some respects to the spread
of early Christianity, Buddhism and
Mohammedanism is passing over our
American world. The common feature of
these optimistic faiths is that they all
tend to the suppression of what Horace
Fletcher calls fearthought' Fearthought
he defines as The 'self-suggestion of in
feriority'; so that one may say that these
systems all operate by the suggestion of
power And the power, small or great,
comes in various shapes to the individual
power, as he will tell you, not to
mind things that used to vex him, pow
er to concentrate his mind, good cheer,
good temper-in short, to put 1t mildly,
more elastic moral tone.
"The most genuinely sanity person l
have ever known is a friend of mine now
suffering from cancer of the breast-l
hope that she may pardon my citing her
here as an example of what ideas can do.
well woman for months after she should
have given up and gone to bed. They
have annulled all pain and weakness and
given her a cheerful, active life, usually
beneficent to others to whom she has az
forded help. Her doctors, acquiesclng In
results they could not understand, have
had the good sense to let her go her own
way.
How far the mind cure movement Is
l 1. d,.Ay orr n
| intellectual notifications it may yet un-
dergo no one can fortell 1t is essentially
a religious movement. and to academical-
ly nurtured minds it's utterances are taste
1 less and often grotesque enough. 1T also
insures the natural enmity of medica1 pol
iticians. and of the whole \trades union
wing of that profession. But no unpreJu-
diced observer can fail to recognize lts
| Importance as a social phenomenon To
day, and the higher medical minds are al
ready trying to interpret it fairly ana
make it's power available TOT 'heir o"h
| therapeutic ends"
| Robert Blatchford, the English Social
ist in his paper, The Clarion, makes the
following announcements:
| at do not believe that Christianity or
Buddhism or Judaism or Mohammeoah-
ism is true l do not believe that any
one of these religions is necessary l DO
not believe that any one OF tneH aiiorus
a perfect rule of life.
| 81 deny the existence of a Heavenly
Father. I deny the efficacy of prayer.
7 deny the providence of God. l deny
the truth of the Old Testament and the
New Testament 1 deny the truth of the
Gospels. I do not believe any miracle
ever was performed. I do not believe that
Christ was divine. do not believe that
Christ died for man. / do not peleVe
that he ever rose from the dead am
strongly inclined to believe that ne never
existed at ALL .
az deny that Christ in any way or In
any sense ever interceded for man or
saved man or reconciled God to man or
man TO God / deny that the love or the
helm or the intercession of Christ or
Buddha or Mohammed or the virgin
Mary is of any use to any man.
"I do not believe there, is any heaven
and | scorn the idea of he'll"
AS consequence the British press Is up
in arms and is solidifed by Mr.. Biatcn-
| ford's further revolutionary utterance
that ''before socialism can triumph re-
ligious faith must be destroyed.
The following rhyming description or
Rishop Ingram of London, who recently
visited this country, is from Lonoon
Punch and tallies with the mans reputa-
tion:
From morn till evening. from evening till
| night,
I preach and organize. lecture and write.
| And all over London my CATERED legs ny
Was ever a bishop so busy as l!
When writing my sermons, the best of my
work'll
Be done in the trains on the Underground
circle:
tion.
Between charing Cross and Mansion House
station.
For luncheon I swallow sandwich Of ham,
| AS rush up the steps of a Whitechapel tram
| Or with excellent appetite I will discuss
| half-penny bun on a Waterloo bus.
| No table is snowy with damask for me;
My cloth is the apron that covers my knee;