The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-02-28
Sc R N ON B Y
REVEREND
BROW

There is no attribute or expression
of human life that has OF can have
such transcendent significance as re
llgion. The scientist just as truly aS
the theologian or the preacher will
assent to this proposition The great
est thing we know anything about
or can know Is religion That does
not mean that the greatest thing in
the world is something which this
man or that or the other calls relIg.
lon. | don't mean that the greatest
thing In the world Is the Christian
religion or the Buddhist religion or
the Mohammedan OF the Jewish or
any other religion that can be named
Each of these religions is or has been
n great thing in the history of man
! kind. But no system OF religion IS
the same as religion itself Religion
Itself Is not system, it is q fact. an
experience AS a fact or an eXperi-
ence. II IS the SublimeSt thing in the
world knows anything about. But syS-
TENS, theoloGies. creeds. bibles, and
| so on are merely by-products Of re-
! HSion-they are not religion itself
| Indeed. religion is limited and belit-
! tied when you qualify it by some par,
ticular name. No man ever was re-
llgious merely because he was a Bud
dhist or Mohammedan or a Parsee
or Jew or Christian. 4 man may
be either of these or all of them. and
not really be religious at all: not know
the rudiments of religion. Whether
one 10 a Buddhist or a Mohammedan
or Parsee or Jew or Christian
is determined by one of two things
birth OF belief. And the same prin.
ciple applies TO religious denomina.
tions. Whether you are a Methodist
or Baptist or a Presbyterian or o
Catholic or q Quaker or a Mormon or
Unitarian or Lutheran or a free
thinker depends. In the vast majority
OF cases on birth or belief. You are
this or that or the other either because
You were born in a certain family or
community or nationality or race, or
because you believe or think you be-
lleve certain things. Take any hui
man babe, of any race you like, and
place that babe within some other
environment and let it grow up i'm
that environment, and all the chances
are that it Will become the sort OF
person, so far as beliefs are concern
ed. which the environment makes 1t.
Ii you had been born In India in the
family oil a Hindu, you would In all
probability have been a Buddhist or
a Brahmin Born In Japan or raised
there from infancy In a Japanese
family, you would have become a
Shintoist or a Buddhist. Raised from
Infancy In a (otbnIIr 70 a
have been n Catholic: In a Methodist
family, you would have been a Metho-
dist; and so on. But neither birth
nor belief can make one religious.
Religion does not grow out OF beliefs
nor out OF birth in a certain moral
or intellectual environment. Rellg-
Ion Is matter of knowledge. The
religious man is he who can say: Il
know" Jesus illustrates the principle
by the story OF the blind man who
had been cured OF his blindness. The
unanswerable argument of the man
was: "One thing l know. that where
as | was blind, now | see" 1t was
not a question OF belief with him
1t was question OF knowledge, OF
fact. Religion belongs not to the
sphere Of belief OF opinion, but to the |
sphere OF Consciousness.
Religion Greatest Thing.
Religion, then. is the greatest thing |
a human being can know or be con. |
sclous Of II Is the greatest expert |
ence or knowledge possible to hu. |
man life And religion is possible |
TO every human boing-onc may say.
i think. that because ii Is common |
human possibility. the highest OF all. |
II is the right and the highest and
the highest and most sacred right, of |
every human soul Nothing else can |
compass with this right. And so tho |
highest and noblest service that can !
occupy the minds OF lives of men and
women Is that of making this right |
the possession of every human being. |
But I think there will not be much |
difference OF opinion among us as to |
the face that no considerable num- !
Der of people are really gaining. this |
greatest treasure Of life. On the con- |
trary. Is IL not true that millions OF |
people are not even aware that Tclig- |
ion Is even 4 necessity, much less the !
highest possibility OF life. We read |
that there arc so many million Bud |
dhists. 30 many million Mohamme.
dams. go many million Jews, so many !
million Christians. and so on. But
we don't even think that this means |
there are so many million religious
people. Indeed. though we are told
there are thlrty-thTce million church |
members In this country we know |
that does not mean thnt there arc |
thirty-threo million people in this
country who know religion as the |
supreme fact OF life. We know that |
Isn't 30 Everybody knows Il isn't !
true. We all know that membership |
in churches, acceptance of creeds,
TO rites, and all tho rest
do not and cannot put people In pos
session OF religion.
What is II TO be religious7 How
docs religion become n fact in ones |
lifc2 Wo have seen how simply and |
rudely religion had its beginning. that !,
1t was mans attempt TO understand |
the meaning of the world In which |
he lived and TO fulfil his rightful func-
tion in that world. That is the per.
petual cndeayor OF religion. But a
definition has been given OF religion |
which can hardly be improved upon. !