New-York tribune., 1917-12-30
The Bible Must Be Read With "SuSpl.
cious Discrimination" TO AvoId
Untenable War Applications j.

, -ooi -,,-,. rtzecs OF religious Development.
l. con,ains n ycry .r.crn...rg and instructive
documeptary record ofttia gro"w OF re-
ligious IDEAS and ide@.1 a.oAT the Hebrew
people. beginning with them ~ the crude ana
s.ri-sayage staees'oe their history and re
hecting their changing conceptions OF the
dcities they worshipped and their relations
20 them and 70 one another. Ia fast, the rec
ord makes 4 plain that they believed thst
every nation lad god of its own; thst the
god OF every nation vas its champion in Us
conflicts with the other peoples. These ma
tions, led by their respective gods, were al
ways at var With orc another. and If the
Bible is held 20 be a. infnllible book VIC find
in II plenty OF justification FOR war.
"The vast majority OF readers OF the Bible
are, OF course. wholly uneriticGl; they accept
those parts which chime with their IDEAS or
predictions, and set aside TIC rest. They
are assured that Il Is all infsllblc. and that
authorizes them 20 claim infaiiioiiity for the
texts and propositions which serve their pur-
poses.
ain fact, It has always been true that when
nations 90 10 war they Immediately conhne
their devotional reading mainly 20 the Old
Testament. All those whose trade Is war and
who cannot be ignorant Of the real character
OF NNc UOOk kAtf arc aeaAArs NtFNA ffNN%'+'-
upon the ignorance Of 'he multitude and
find in the psgarism CT this ancient litera'
ture the authorization of war.
SsTHIs fast-and-loose method Of dealing
j with tho Bible has bad much 70 do
with the perpetuation OF militasistlc nation
alum. I. has kept the minds o. men con
frsed with respect TO the real nature OF this
book: II has helped to bind upon the Snure"
blindinr superstition which has been the
cause of much hatred and cruelty. Inc mur-
der of Seryetus by Calvin was deiehaed py
quotations from commands OF God 70 ex,er-
inmate the Canaanites; the burning OF nun
dreds Of thousands OF innocent women IN thS
Middle Ages on the charge OF witeneraft was
justified by an explicit Bibliea! conmano,
and there has never beer war so orutai tns'
abundant sanction could not be FOUND IN 'he
Old Testament for It's atrocities
"Thus the Bible has been used By the
Church 20 darken The minds and fomeht
the hatreds and suspicious o. men IN sueh
way as 70 keep alive and perpetuate lhe
rilitaristic nationalism which Is the iinme-
diate cause of war. IL is the fault' the crime,
~ tho Church that the Bible has beer used
in this way-that it is used IN THIS way a..
over the world to-day. For We suppose tnss
not one in ten of the people in the Protestant
rvo noelical churches or Sunday schools or
America to-day know the truth about the
Biole.
"It would do the people no harm 70 know
,he truth about the Bible. IL might do
them gres. deal of good. 1t would be IN
gtructive and useful TO show them wna'
strange and half savage ideas people used TO
have about Cod aud His kingdom, lad how
li..le by iit.le, they have been led away from
( these ideas and up TO higher morality ana
purer spiritual faith. The Bible will show
them all that. Il you will only tell the truth
about the Bible. But il you give 1t to them
qs an absolutely inerrant book historieaiiy'
eth,cally. religioualy, it is about the most most
dangerous book you can put into 'ne'r
hands"