The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-12-02


 christianity has been ostensibly in vogue for nineteen centuries, but he asks that the real christianity be con- sidered, not the churchianity which passes muster fer the doctrines of 1 Christ
 It is no wonder that Shaw looks askance at modern christianity as exemplified by churches and preach CTS. Christ preached the religion of love and poverty, and feeding the i hungry, and self abnegation, and 1 humility, and passive resistance, and warned against covetousness and avarice, Aand scorned the perse- cutors of men, women and children. Those are the keynote of his doc trines. There is no way of denying l it. His contempt for those who ac- cumulate vast treasures who exploit the laborers, who ruin the lives Of little folks, who affect sacerdotalism ] find repeated expression. He has again and again warned that whoso would follow him must get rid of all that they had, must be prepared to suffer persecution for conscience sake, and he epitomized his teaching | in the Sermon on the Mount.
 Is it too much to say that practi cally all his teachings are honored by the majority of his followers in | the breach? And is it too much to say that had his teachinsg been liter ally observed by those who claim to 1 be his followers there would have been no such thing as the misery the suffering, the vice, the crime the wars and Instructions now uni versally witnessab ble?
 Undoubtedly not; and Shaw's po- sition is certainly intelligible and clear. But equally obvious it is that | christianity as it is contained in the gospels is utterly impractical today. In a world where wealth production and wealth accumulation is the be- all and end-all of human existence, how is it possible to follow the in- i centives of every day life and still do as Christ said we must do if we are to be saved?
 What we do see is a ludicrous in- sincerity and an hypOcritical devo- tion which affects to reconcile the worship of God with that of Man. mon. Today the pillars of the christ | ian religion are men of great wealth and great power. Christ's vicar on earth has to consult a Morgan, ac- cording to the press dispatches of a few years ago, in the investment ot ! the great wealth finds its way to his l treasury. The pastors seek those churches where accompanying the call is a bigger stipend. The Billy Sundays who would reform the world would have their guarantee of 50 many ten thousand dollars before they would take hand in the l Lords work! A General Booth who would save mankind starts life al outcast non-comformist preacher il, | the purlieus of London and dies in a mansion with an accredited wealth control in millions sterling!
 The scene where Mary Magdalen, | +Lo FoIlo, ,uo,nap comac in cOnta ct with Christ is historic. He saw in her condition one who had loved much. Today look at the way their christian sisters turn up their noses and hold back their skirts when in the vicinity of the hapless social outcasts of their own sex! In all the world the religion of love has be- come loveless. An arrogant priest hood and a calculating charity is the twentieth century exposition of tha; Sermon on the Mount.
 Yet it is evident that only through sympathy and fellow feeling and the kindlier deeds betwixt man and man can civilization continue. It is quite certain it cannot exist upon bayo- nets. It is quite certain that it must live by some adaptation of those doctrines taught by Christ to mod ern social conditions. It is quite cer- tain that religion cannot exist half false and half true. half believed in and never acted in. It may be bet ter a life of faith diversified by doubt than one of doubt diversified