The Washington times., 1913-10-25
IN WHICHCLASS
DO YOU BELONGo

The proposition which puts 1t up to
every Individual to give his reason for
a certain state OF mind. is somewhat of
knockout. Our states of mind are usu-
ally the outcome of very gradual adap-
tation, so that it is difficult to indicate
the various determining causes Of the
outcome Moreover. with most of US,
religion has its basis more In our emo
tons than IN our reason-and how can
We define the inner reaction that makes
q man prefer 4 Bach fugue while an
other one thrills at Waldteufel waltz
What is II that prompts some souls to
an instructive love Or worship while
others are constitutionally bent to
curse God and die?" Behind all Ihe
mystery of life lies some great deter
mining destiny which gives. We per-
ceive, natural religious bias to GER
tain temperaments. Such people never
give up church-going. They really en-
Joy the practice, and piety in such types
is not virtue, but simply an innate
tendency. Henry Drummond divided
saints; that is, people who had no
temptation to sin. CO yirtuous people;
that is. those who are good In spite Of
temptation. CD Wicked people; that Is,
those who made no effort to be good.
It Is not the purpose now to discuss
reasons why this obvious disparity ex-
lists, for that would take US Into the
realm of speculative theology and
metaphysics. We will concede the fact
that there are few saints and, per-
haps, for the sake of argument, may
place In this class the naturally re-
ligious persons who enjoy churchgoing
and need no whip to keep them at 1t.
The great mass Of humanity evidently
belongs in group two. where Drummond
placed the ''Virtuous;" that Is, they are
struggling to be good. With the con-
stitutionally Wicked" we shall not deal
in this discussion, since they are, for
the present at least, through strange
immediate religious consciousness. They
have yet to be converted" The dis
cussion has to do with people who have
had at some time In their lives, a def
mite religious training Of one sort or
another, have perhaps at some time
been members of a church, but, through
a gradual undermining Of faith or care
lessness, have ceased their churchgoing
and may now be classed among re
ligious derelicts."
A review of the reports of the United
States Census Bureau upon the ques-
tion of religious bias in TINS country.
revealed in 1906 the fact that with a
reputation of over 30.000, 900, the United
States had about 60.00000O non-communi-
cants of any church whatever. The
figures were:
Protestant communicates, 20.2s7. AZ;
Catholics, 12.07S,142 No exact estimate
Of the number Of those protesting Ju-
daism was arrived at for reasons given
at length in the report. and Moham-
net5dans. BuddlIists, Brahmins. etc,
were included in the list of non-corn-
nrlnicants It would he. Of course.
false inference 20 state that foregoing
statistics indicate a two-thirds Hajor.-
ty of non-church-goers In this country'
for a larger percentage of all Protestant
congregations Is made up Of non-conl-
ruunicants Yet the grand total certain
~ does indicate a surprising tendency
and what every one asks today. when
ever a discussion OF the modern state
Of religious opinion arises Is: Why are
these things so? Why is the world so
full of religious derelicts whom the
most energetic soul-saving stations
have never rescued? Is the world be-