The Detroit times., 1916-09-21
by WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM 7. EIGIo.
Count Okuma the great Japanese
statesman. once expounded TO me
his belief that the ultimate world |
religion would be compound Of
Buddhism. Confucianism and Chris
tianity. The Grand Lama OF Tibet
told me that in 400 years The whole
world would be Buddhist. The Sheik
nj Islam explained 70 me why Mo
hammedanism Is destined TO be the
universal religion Abbas EYendi,
one memorable night in Egypt. ex
pounded at length 20 me his the
Ortes about rho universally or Be.
haism This idea OF world religion
which all men would one day ~
ccpt. has an especial allurement Tor
most thoughtful persons To the
intelligent Christian II is inwrought
In HIS faith He cannot believe In
Christ az all unless he believes that
Christ designed His Message and
His salvation for all mankind every
where. It was for preaching an ex
tra-Judean gospel that Jesus was
crucifled His vision, like that Of
His great Apostles, was OF a world
redeemed, TRANSPORTED and unified
in a new brotherhood of love, ac-
knowiedging God as Father.
Some faiths are local. They are
like certain plants, which cannot
grow except in a restricted region.
They make no claim 10 uniyer7ality,
and no attempt at world wide propa-
cation Shintoism. the ancestral
faith OF Japan. IS one such It has
no missionaries and seeks no con
vcrts II Is solely a national faith.
Present day Zorastrianism. or Par
sceism IS another such II has no
provision for proselytes. Nor IS
Judaism missionary: IL does not
look toward n winning OF the world
10 It's beliefs Neither is Confuciau-
ism missionary. indeed. IL Is not.
properly speaking, a religion. The
elemental religions OF primitive peo-
pies. like animism. and shamanism,
as we'll as certain mystery cults Of
tho Near East do not contemplate
the religious conquest OF mankind
The faiths that claim the whole
world are few. Most rcsolute and
successful among them Is Christian
ity.
More than one college student. I'm I
an examination. cited "Confusion /
ism" as y prevailing faith! Perhaps /
they were not so far wrong The
average modern man or woman
seems to be confusion worsc con
founded. The common progress.
sive" or liberal" thought upon re.
ligion is as nebulous as Cape
Cod fog. Clear, strong. thoro think
ing upon religion is not the charac
terlstic OF our day.
Only three faiths are really con
tending for world dominion-Chris-
tianity, Mohammedanism and Budd-
hism, and in the case OF the last its
present missionary activity is al
most wholly defensive, TO Offset the
lnroads OF Christianity No serious
thinker contemplates for an instant
the incursion OF Buddhism into the
western world, any more than he
considers the likelihood of real
spread OF Behaism. As for Islam,
its field OF conquest Is practically
limited TO the non-Christian lands
Rarely--very rarely--a Christian
becomes n Moslem, but there is no
where any perceptlble drift in that
direction.
buddhism is eclectic II has ever
been willing 10 select from other
faiths, and to conquer by absorp-
tion II has no absolute standards
This tendency TO concession is one
of It's weaknesses; for intelligent
man wants an absolute religion, 10
which he must conform and which
will not conform TO him
Islam makes too many conces-
sions TO the flesh 10 satisfy a race