The Washington herald., 1922-07-18
Existence of God.

To the Editor The Washington Herald:
have read with some interest
from time to time letters written
to you and printed In the open
Court. In particular have / read
those dealing with the possible
existence of God. Some Of them
ere very good, especially one where
the writer. in answer to a doubter
OF an omnipotent Being. asked why
the doubtful one did not read the
Bible; in that book. he said. was
proof Were IL so easy as that Tor
one to. satisfy oneself a great many
people in the world would be much
happier. This because Il would
certainly be a sincere cause of hap
piness IL you could convince your
self by actual proof that there was
a God. and when you died you. II
you behaved yourself. would go
straight to a better land where
everyone was happy. OF course.
the Bible offers no proof. whatever,
except to the extremely credulous.
Mr.. Lawrence Stark's argument
as to the existence Of God causes
me to wonder il. there really Is
God. He quotes ian eminent scr
enlist" but fails to name the emil
nent scientist OF course. anybody
with Imagination Can quote un-
der the sun. That must be thrown
cut OF the record, and anyhow the
eminent scientist" merely says he
Is convinced of Gods existence; he
does not say why, except that ma
ture Is wonderful.
But he does quote and name a
gentleman. one Fyffe. Fyffe says
that belief in God Is normal; the
consciousness of individual human
existence naturally recognizes a
Supreme Being whose power is over
him" have studied over that
statement by Fyffe. but IL II proves
Anything ] fail to grasp IT. Fyffe
goes on. according to Mr.. Stark.
and says without God the aim of
the universe would be meaning
less" Well. what is the aim OF the
universe? And ''the real purpose of
the universe would be invalid were
II not to recognize some end to-
ward which the whole creation
moves" l suppose Fyffe means by
that that the universe moves to-
ward God. II might be that the
real purpose of the universe is
invalid Fyffe simply says that
without God IL would be invalid.
To take Fyffe's statement, then. at
it's face value, you must convince
yourself that the aim of the uni
verse Is valid Nobody yet has ac-
tually demonstrated that the world
is going In any particular direc-
tion: hence you have to admit GER
tain things before you can 20 on
with Fyfee. Eminent scientists
have also said that the world was
going to hell. Taking that view,
then, and going in accord with
this Fyffe, God instead Of being q
just Deity is the opposite.
No, fear it Is not an easy ac-
complishment You have to take
God on faith. The moment you
begin to back up your faith with
argument you admit of a possibil-
ity of doubt.
from James Harvey Robinson. writ
ing in June ti922) Harper's: Some
progress Is being made In this di-
rection r(the aim of the universe).
but as yet those who prefer TO rely
on legends that originated in Mes
opotamia several thousands of
years ago rather than accept the
wonderful insight into the facts
=. :" Mr.. Robinson means thai
facts are what is needed; not the
wonder at mysteries of nature. as
Mr.. Starke eminent scientist. or
Fyffe's general,zations as to where
We are drifting,
THOMAS MISHOU