The New York herald., 1922-12-24
DR.. FOSDICK SAYS THE CHURCH
MUST DROP SPINDLING ISSUES
TO MEET REAL ONES OF TINES
Thinks Christ Re-
turning Today
Would Speak. as
He Did at Ma
zareth Against
Racial Prejudice


seems to picture the scientific tangents
on which religious thought has gone
off as possible force for good once
spirituality has adjusted and broad
ened the church to contain them.
1t was naterialism he discussed as
his second major issue.
Consider" he pursued. ION the one
side the living and eternal God re-
vealed In Jesus Christ: on the other a
materialistic philosophy OF life. You
may say that 1t makes no difference
whether a man belongs to this de-
nomination or TO that: no difference
whether he holds this special opinion
in theology or that. but you cannot
say that it makes no. difference
whether or not man believes In the
Christian God"
He repeated favorite reference to
Edward Rowland Sill. the poet, one of
Yales famous men.
"Sill." he related, was an earnest
Christian IN his early days and even
thought of entering the Christian min
istry. Then. for a time at least, he
lost his faith. People think he wrote
to classmate, that thinking mans
speculations about religion interfere
with his daily life very little-but how
certain conclusions do take the shine
out of ones existence!'"
At the very least, DR.. Fosdick en-
phasized materialism does that-it
takes the shine out Of existence.
when man in some high hour OF
inspiration" he went on. falls in love
with ideals of beauty and truth and
love and goodness that seem to him
worth living and dying for, and then
remembers that perhaps all ideals are
only the Ipermutations and combina-
tions of physical atoms. that like
steam from a boiling kettle they are
due to physical perturbauons and will
perish when the boiling stops, how
that does take the shine out of ex-
istence!
when a man Is making a brave
fight for a good cause and is hard put
to it to succeed or, it may be, has to
fail, and then remembers that in a
mechanical universe, where brute
forces are the ultimate arbiters of all
decisions, his good cause probably was
never meant. to win and never will
win, it does take the shine out Of ex-
istence."
Asked IL he could not recall his ap-
pcsite quotation from Chesterton for
those who may not have seen his
widely printed sermon at Atlantic City
recently. he repeated:
"Chesterton used to say the test of
any idea was the ability of men to use
It as an oath; that the great realities
OF life were those which men could
swear by. and with characteristic
whimsicality he added that the trouble
with ethical culture minus God is that
the only oath which it can swear by is
oh, my goodness!'
"Well, that's a weak oath. To 20
out to face what we must face in this
generation with nothing more upon
our lips than that-'Oh, my goodness!' .
that is a weak oath. 1t is very diff
the words OF a Psalmist on ones lips:
o God, thou art my Cod"
Mercier and Livingstone
And the Good Both Did
The living God revealed in Christ,
or a materialistic philosophy of life
that is real issue, he stressed.
"As q man faces It," he said, "he
understands the meaning of DR.. George
A. Gordon's words: All the contro-
versies between rival sects Of believers
are almost petty. are certainly incl
dental. compared with the great and
solemn battle which all believers wage
with all unbelievere.'
When l think Of this / feel a great
tolerance and brotherhood for all
people who believe In God and are
making earnest with it for their
thought and life. l will not excom-
municate from my church anybody
who takes Christs side on that great
issue. 1 know how wide the lesser
differences are between Christians, but
IL they are finding God in Christ the
things that separate them from one
another are as nothing compared with
the things that separate them from
everybody who does not believe that.
"I am "A long sea mile from being a
Roman Catholic, but the other night
/ wandered into st. Patrick's Cathe-
dral and heard a wholesome Christian
sermon and worshiped their Father
and mine. And I am not a Quaker.
but went into n Quaker meeting
house and in the quiet of that silent
room with Gods people I worshiped
Him. Now. Catholics and Quakers
are at the opposite extremes OF the
Christian line and yet the things that
separate them are as nothing COM
pared with the things that separate
them both from those who find not
God In Christ.
Cardinal Mercier OF Belgium and
David Livingstone of Africa--how far
apart. one n Romanist Of the Roman
'sts. the other a Scotch Presbyterian
Yet. when you stop to think what a
simple Belgian peasant found in one
and what the black fellow Of Africa
found in the other what was IL but n
burning consciousness OF the reality
and love Of God in Christ interpreted
in terms of human usefulness?
"T would rather be any kind Of
Christian than not to be Christian at
all. I would rather believe in the
crudest theory of Gods reality and
His entrance into human life than
not TO believe in that at all. For here
is the issue on which the church can
go to the world and cry. How long go