New-York tribune., 1918-01-27

wv US in a political, economic.
aesthetic and moral way"
writes Walter A. Aagard in @The Ma
tion," zone thing is perfectly clear-that
quantitatively it is to religions gain" And
he continues:
AMore people thronging the cathedraIs
Of Europe now than in the piping times of
peace; more men (including major generals
and clergy in high places assure that God
Is on our side, and more of US have the viii
to believe them; the question of what God Is
doing in the Great War is sadly pulling
simp mple-minded folk and troubling sensitive
minds
ave find from the letters and published
books Of soldiers at the front that they arg
now for the first time grasping the signlf-
canoe Of life IN a discovery of God Emory
Fottle, addressing women's clubs, Boy Scouts
and potential volunteers with the artistry of
simple and effective Oxonian pathos. assures
US that the men 'over there aren't content
any longer with the inherited religion; every
thing must be made over for them IN that
crucihle. including God
Even Mr. Wells, who came scoffing when
the war began. now remains to pray. We are
furnished with the unique and not altogether
welcome sight of that vigorous futurist sud-
denly getting religion and persuading him.
self that he is justified in so doing because
bis variety is as and revolutionary ms
any social Utopias or discoveries about men I'm
the moonI
Quantltatively a gain, I say, but hardly
gain IN quality Far surely no new and
subtle conception of God has grown up IN
mems minds because of this world chaos
There are still the two God Ideas. as of oIds
God the Judge and Avenger, who shall punfshV
our enemies; God the Suffering Redeemer,
through whom find salvation The stall
wart clergymen of many a wealthy parish are
crying to God the Avenger whom we will
recognize as the God of our fathers in very
truth. the God of David, who is to confound
the knavish tricks of those whose cause we
hate
Mr.. Wells. on the contrary, has of sud-
den rediscovered God the Redeemer. It's a
pity Fox before this even the most con.
servatlve OF US were IN the heaIthfui process
OK getting rid Of the ancient paraphernalia of
salvation through some one else's sufferinps
we had actually begun, for instance, as Bouck
White puts it, to see Jesus as mot the tort
ured God, but the Joyous comrade, the friend
Oh Hi simple Souls; not the theologian. SPIN
ming barren sophistries, but the man of
genius, the lover of warm life, and warm sum
light, and all that is fresh and pure and beau
tiful.' We were getting concerned about a
practical Christianity, caring to know what
Jesus actually asked men to do, sensbly an
preciating the beauty and ethical significance
OF his mode of living. And then came the
war; and now Mr.. Wells, religious reaction
ary, asks US again to believe the sad old
dogma, rechristened, to be sure. but still in
implication God the Suffering Redeemer. old
as hnossos and the Stone Age, and still
steeped in soft, mediaval candlelight.
mo, the war has not made religion finer.
given new insights and richer faith; it has
simply done its customary job of reducing
everything it touches to simple terms. Re-
llgion under the influence of the war has he.
come more extensive, more sheerly emotional.
more primitive"