The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-11-23
RELIGION
BY c. c. Pierce

tribes--the hoodoo and voodoo ven
doris and dispensers and fakirs,
priests and humbugs of ALI. times
who have claimed to have special
pull with the unseen powers-down
to the Billy Sundays, and some other
orthodox tricksters and wiseacres of
the present time. men who have felt
themselves specially called to mis-
lead their fellowmen for personal
advantage and gain have invented on
the one hand a big god and On the
other a big devil, which they have
skillfully used mostly for the pur-
poses of revenue only. fn
Those who have had the gall to
claim that, in some unaccountable
manner they have been invested with
about all that is worth knowing about
these things have appealed to the Gu
pidity of mankind on the one hand
and their fears on the other, and
the dividends have been large.
Between paying these self appoint
ed guides for telling us what TO do
to win the favor and escape the dis
favor of God, or paying them on the
other hand to tell us how to escape
successfully the snares and the fires
OF the devils, there has many times
been but little left with which to IL
quidate our obligations at the froc-
cry store, come Saturday night.
All Europe has been looked upon
as n type of Christian civilization. II
there has been one thing which more
than another, the traveller did see in
Europe it was that the people there
had been erected with which to wor-
ship God, and practically every one
had, sometime in their lives, had re-
peated over them certain mystic
words by some specially appointed
person; and had had conferred upon
him certain ritualistic rites which
we're to act as a sort of charm which
was TO guide his life Alright here and
hereafter.
And yet all the religion and all the
worship into which this ushered the
individual and the nation seem for
some reason, not to have lodged in
the hearts of either the rulers or
the rank and file of humanity, the
potent and fundamental ideal that
ua ,ra 70 Inya n,,r naiobhor n, our.
selves. AS the outcome of this. prac.
tically all Europe is swept with a
war, unparalleled in its beastliness
and savagery. which Is not only a
disgrace to any known religion, but
standing impeachment of the hui
man race and modern civilization.
II these nations, after all their
religious training, have been bad
enough to do this thing. Is 1t not
natural for us to ask IL they would
not have done better had they had
no formal religion at all? Is not a
great deal of the awful blot which
has today disgraced Europe, the out
come of the falsehood and make be-
lleve which lies at the heart of much
of the SO called religious teaching
of the age? II religion is to iold to
certain ancient dogmas of uncertain
} authorship and dubious history; II 1t
Is to spend our lives and our strength
in seeking to placate some unseen
deity or devil; II It is to profess
much and practise little; II II Is to
observe certain forms and ceremon'
les which are nothing more than
modern corruptions Of ancient super
l stitions and idiocies; II II is to sap
the lifeblood of our fellowmen, to
build splendid temples with which
to WORSHIP some high monarch or de-
/ ity seen or unseen; II II Is to turn
\ from these things to crush and to
. butcher our fellow beings, either in
. savage and bloody warfare or in the
more refined but little less cruel and
a efficient warfare of the modern econ
. omic struggle-then let us have
J. something, can II what you will, that
y win make us happy or at least de.
e cent
!, If, on the other hand, religion is
s. do as you would like to be done by;
u II II Is 10 live simple, natural, honest
and kindly lives; II It Is to feel a
j unity with our fellowmen and all
: men; II IT is to practise, not Simply
to preach, brotherhood: II II is 10
II love our families and our fellowmen
e everywhere; If 1t is to feel free from
IS a nameless dread OF those things and
u those forces which we do not under
= stand; II II is to live out our own
Ideals honestly and freely; II It IL
Il TO eat the fruits OF our own toll and
. rob no man OF what is fairly ais
d II this is religion, give us more o.
II It.
a. Let us each find our religion in thu