The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-10
IN A NEW ROLE

SIR Arthur Conan Doyle is appearing in a new role, that Of
a critic and retormet Of Christianity. Sir Arthur wrote some
fascinating detective stories and created sherlock Holmes" He
knew nothing about the detective business, but he invented
clever theories, which he skiIiu1y worked out to a successful
issue. and as he was writing for the multitude, who knew less
than he did, he was accepted as a high authority.
His books sold by the million and he amasscd a fortune.
His financial success convinced him that he is competent to deal
with all the problems Of life and Of after-rie. The use of the
pen and the typewriter creates many decisions, and the greatest
victims of these decisions are the writers themselves.
SIR Arthur finds that the Christianity Of our day is decadent
and out OF harmony with the times, This is an old theme, and
pretty well hackncycd. Many professed expounders of the
Scriptures claim tina. the church is getting away from the people
and losing its hold on them. Others that the modern church is
merely a cfubroom for the wcllto-do, where the poor man
and poor woman are tolerated with a condescension that cuts
to the quick.
Sir Arthur seeks the cause, and thinks he finds it in the
mistake We make in uniting the Old and New Testaments,
binding the living to the dead he calls it, and providing a
scheme depending on a special tribal God filled with rage,
jealousy and revenge" He believes the shock of the war was
meant to rouse us to mental and moral earnestness, and to give
us the courage to tear away venerable shams, and to force the
human race to realize and use the vast new revelation which
has been so clearly stated and so a%bundantly proved for all who
will examine the statements and proofs with an open mind"
This acquits the kaiser Of the charge of having started the
war. In this great awakening Sir Arthur says: "On the spirit
ual side can speak with the authority of knowledge from
beyond" Smile? Yes; but remember that William T. Stead, who
went down with the Titanic, and who was one of the most pro-
found thinkers OF Europe, believed the same thing, and Sir Oliver
Lodge, England's leading scientist, reached the same conclusion
through scientific formulas. But to Sir Arthur. We must
separate the Old and New Testaments. The latter will be pre-
served for its literary and historical value, but kept from contact
with the new dispensation, which it has tainted.
The spirits with whom he has communicated have enor-
mously enlightened him. These have their individuality of
view, and some carry overstrong prepossessions which they do
not easily shed; but, reading many authentic spir communica-
tons, one finds that the idea of redemption is h hardly ever spoken
OF, while that of example and influence is forever insisted upon.
We have all felt that our departed friends have treated us
shabbily in not sending us some word or token from the other
shore, and SO many promised that they would do so if such a
thing were possible, that failing to hear from them, convinced
us that communication is not possible between this and the
spirit land. Yet here is a summary Of a whole shcaf Of anthem
tic communications, and whether we believe them or not they
are not discouragng, and we owe a debt OF gratitude to Sir
Arthur for letting us share in his precious private correspond
ence.
The new and reformed religion will do away with all the
old barbaruieS OF the Old Testament. Such as IAN eve for an
eye vengeance is mine etc. 1t is to be strictly a religion
Of the new dispensation, where love and service will rise SOW
ereigns of the ascendant.
If we exclude the testimony of the spirits, DR.. DOYLE is as
competent to write on conditions in the other world as is any
other human being, because no one knows; but it must be CON
fessed that his unquestoning faith and coCksureness are most
refreshing in these days of doubt and nonbeief. There is a
refreshing tonic even in blind, ignorant faith, as when the back
woods preacher announces that he believes every word in the
Bible from lid to lid, when you know that seven out Of every
ten words between Genesis and Revelations he cannot spell Or
pronounce correctly, and at least half of this number he cannot
understand.
Dispensing with the supernatural, and depending wholly
upon mechanics, we can communicate over land and sea by
telegraph and telephone without wires, and scientists claim that
we may yet communicate with the denizenS of other planets
II the spirnualiSts can satisfactorily answer the agonizing ques-
ton, DO Our loved ones live in the spirit land" they will be
entitled to much gratitude. Sir Arthur's reform may 90 or STAY.
The "old- time religion will continue to be good enough for
modest people.