Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-06
Eminent Opinions on Course of
the French Government.
SYMPOSIUM OF THE TEMPS
Scholars of All Creeds Contribute to
the Discussion.
THREEC0UNTRIEs HEARD FROM
France, England and Germany Dis
cuss Personal as Opposed to
Dogmatic Religion.

PARIS, January. 6.-The Temps has be-
gun the publication of most interesting
series of opinions from distinguished pref
ates and savants. engaged in the critical
and historical study of religion regarding
the effect of the separation of the church
and the state in countries like France
upon the religious life of the people
Scholars of all countries and creeds in
GLIDING CATHOLIC, Protestant. IsraeIite and
Greek orthodox. have been invited to con-
tribute brief articles. .t.~
The Temps assumes that separation in
wolves the upsetting of the principle OF
religion. is a matter of individual con-
science and leaves the state unfetteyed
by the moral doctrines of the church. It
asks what savants think regarding this
principle. especially from the standpoint
Of exegesis and Christian history. -.
Three High Authorities, So.
Today three replies were published.
They were those of Able Lofsy a distin-
guished French modernist whose works
recently were interdicced by the Vatican:
the Rev. T. K. Cheyne, canon OF Roches-
ter and Oriel professor of Interpretation
at oxford University. and the celebrated
German critic, Rudolf Eucken. professor
Of philosophy at the University OF Jena
Able Loisy considers that separation is
only another step in the crisis Of the
Catholic Church, which began with Prot
estant reformation in the sixteenth CEN
fury and was continued in the philosoph-
ical movement Of the seventeenth and the
scientific movement of the eighteenth cen
| tury.
Upon it's Interior development will de-
pend the fate Of the CATHOLIC faith" he
says. -
He rejects the idea that civil society
can be divorced from the religious con-
| victions Of the people and adds: w..
Legislation in country like France
must eventually correspond to the donni-
nant mental and moral attributes of the,
| people, and France will retain whatever
| Is vital and living in the moral and re-
| ligious traditions of Its Catholic past"
Prof. Cheyne's Views.
| Prof. Cheyne considers the principle that
| religion is something each individual must
| acquire as a fundamental part Of Christ's
| teachings. He says that the historical
solution Of disestablishment varies in DIFF
| ferent countries. AS a broad churchu,an
| he approves of the state gently" con-
trolling ecclesiastical affairs. In the time,
of Christ, when the Jewish Church was
united with the Jewish state, separation
| would have been premature, yet there
| was far more independence in the Jew
! ish Church than In the modern Catholic
Church, where he had not found the lib
| erty of religious thought, which he con-
sidered necessary for a convinced disciple
Of Christ. .S...s,.....
In the Anglican Church. he says, there
| is more liberty, and as the church 10
developed liberty would be increased. The
time might come in England when sep
aration would become natural and neces-
sary. - 4
| "As / am a man sof science" ne con-
cluded, my. sympathies are with the
due respect for the ties which stiH at
tach US to the past. II Christ did not
free himself from the tenets Of the jewish
| Church why should we seek to break
with the Anglican Church until the time
to do so has palpably Gomez"
Individual Thought.
Prof Eucken terms the separation of
| the church and state In France the most
| important and most interesting fact of
our time. He says that the authority
of religion has been strong enough in the
past to save 1t from all assaults because
| the masses were Indifferent. Now, when
| the people think that the irreconcilable
conflict between the old and new concep-
tions, in spite of all efforts to stifie it,
must be settled. religion must have es-
tablished itss rights before the forum Of
modern thought. .f
with the support of the state gone,''
he says, lit must live upon the convic-
| lions of individuals; 1t is driven toward
self criticism, toward radical revision; 1t
must discard the epherneral. keep the
eternal and harmonic the eternal with
the ideas of our times. If 1t seeks a
frank reconciliation with modern culture
it should not fear. Modern culture leaves
many essential questions in profound
obscurity; it awakens many desires: it
cannot be satisfactory No one listening
loftily to the mysterious voice of the
present can fail to recognize the yearn-
ings for an interlife, the growing ten
dency toward a religion. but religion
altogether changed. -.
What will become of the old religion
will depend upon the spiritual force it's
representatives infuse into it. Unsus-
tanned from without 1t must live upon
truth There is nothing so injurious to
religion among the intellectual. as the
conviction that 1t contains uneradicated
errors. Nothing can make It's truth
grow like the ground Of liberty on which
henceforth 1t will be built