The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-13
rELIx ADLER, 61 TO-DAY, HAS.
 CHURCH FOR THE CHURCHLEss

The4latter half of the last century was period of religious unrest and transition. Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel and other scientists of the revolu- tionary school had announced theories as to the origin of life that seemed doctrines of all supernatural relig- ions. Cemte's religion of humanity had adherents in all civilized coun- tries. Ingersoll in America, Brad laugh in England, and a host of ora tors and writers throughout Europe and America, won wide fame and thousands of followers The sinfidel," !" once a social outcast, became the agnOstic, who, in company with some of the greatest thinkers of the time, openly confessed ignorance of "the Unknowa ble,'' and was not ashamed. Thus it came about that many earn est men and women sought to pro- vide new basis for morals, an eti1i- cal system independent of belief or disbelief in the supernatural Aband oning the faith of their fathers men yet remained gregarious animals with spread all over the world. Some of these churches for the churchless were but variations of old creeds, others were openly antagonistic to all supernatural beliefs, while a third group inculcated moral principles
 
 the ancient degnas. Among the lat ter the most successful was the So-. ciety of Ethical Culture, founded in New York in 1878, and which now has affiliated societies in many cities of America and Europe.
 Dr. Felix Adler. the German-Jew who established the ethical culture many, sixty-one years ago today, Aug IS. 1851. His father was Samuel Ad- Ter, an eminent Jewish rabbi famed in Germany and America for his learning. When Felix was six years old the family emigrated to America, and settled in New York City, where Felix and his brother Isaac were edu- cated, the latter becoming a. distin- guished physician. Felix Adler grad uated from Columbia, with the degree of A. B. at the age of nineteen, and, like his brother, was sent back to Germany to complete his education. He studied at Berlin and the +Univer- sity of Heidelberg, receiving the de- gree of Ph. D. from the latter institu- ton in 1873. He was only twenty three when he was appointed pro- lessor of Hebrew and Oriental litera- ture at Cornell University. Dr. An drew Dickson White, the scholarly author of "A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christen- 'donl,'' was then president of Cornell. The Ithaca university, more than any other in America, has been profound ly affected by the theories of evolu- ton, and to such an extent that by some ultra orthodox people it was referred to as "a hotbed of infidelity'' Spending two years in this atrnos- phere, the young son of Rabbi worked out new and evolutionary oasis for human relations, and in 1876 founded the New York Society for Ethical Culture in order that he might teach his theories and give them practical effect. An eloquent orator as we'll as a scholar and a thinker. Dr. Adler speedily gained large following, and large halls were taxed to hold the crowds that gather ed at his regular Sunday discourses Millionaires and mendicants, people of all faiths and of none, black men as well as white, a veritable com mopolis of >nationalities, made up, the audiences. In 1877 Dr. Adler pub. lished Greed and Deed" in which his views were given wide circula- ton, and has since written many other contributions to ethical re- ~Search.