Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-04-11
Trend OF the Times
Along Spiritual Lines.

Two interesting dispatches appear
ed in last weeks news pertaining
strictly to religious, mystical and
spiritual affairs. One was the execu-
ton Of a Roman Catholic bishop in
Russia for holding and pronounclng
views contrary to that OF the ruling
powers. The Revolution in Russia is
based, so the communists claim, on
the negation or defiance of the God
head idea. Carl Marx called religion
"the opium of the poor" The Com
munist defies and denies the author
ity of any and all religions based
upon an unseen and supernatural
power. He says in effect:
eve believe that Mans only enemy
is Nature We believe that all prog
ress is made by the conquest of Man
over Nature. We deny that any al
mighty and invisible power has any
control over our affairs. Such a be-
lief is ignorant superstition. 1t IS
destructive to progress and main
tains the aristOcracy OF class. we
believe that only in human way can
Man progress. That ultimately, II
he is true to this ideal, he will achieve
a great destiny"
And then in Egypt Lord Carnarvon
died of a mysterious illness and the
story is unleashed that he was vic
tim of mysterious disease let loose
when he opened the tomb of a, phar-
aoh. The superstitiOus ones hold
that by magic or some means OF seal
ing an invisible death in the tomb the
pharaoh was able to revenge the VIC
lation Of his sepulchre.
The view of the communist and the
view of believer in the black art OF
a pharaoh represent the two ex-
tremes of belief in supernatural
things. The communist blindly bases
his faith only on things he can see
and feel ignoring the eternal force OF
the Infinite incredibly times more
powerful than human effort, 50 ma
iestic, so omnipotent that human
brain power cannot grasp its two ap-
parent and great qualifications
Iimitless space and infinite time.
The superstitious mind, believing
in the black art of a king dead 5000
wears. represents the view OF the
primeval man terrified by bog1es and
ready to swallow or cringe before
ANYTHING that smacks of being super
natural This type of mind mas maze
no advance over the dark ages.
AS we see 1t DOtu VIEWS dAS VI OAS'
The humanist, noble as he may be IN
his concept of human destiny. dis
misses something he cannot dismiss
the intangible force of the Universe
that keeps the stars in their places.
A force so vast and incomprehenslDle
that human intellect has been trying
for centuries to formulate a concep-
tion of it. These conceptions vary
and grow as the ages go and we
stumble on a truth as we grasp that
as we gain in humanity we grow
closer to Cod
The superstitious man, placing all
his faith in the mysterious, stultlhes
his intelligence and affirms an
ignoble conception of God. He de-
nounces what science has proved
that advancement is made through
evolution. In his unwillingness TO
break away from primeval beliets ne
is as resolutely set against the light
as his erring brother, the Materials
tic communist.
The advancing ages will not 90
without God. This is proven by the
tendency now toward an increasing
interest in spiritual things. The
world is calling for a workable re-
ligion as it never called before. AS
we sense it, in some form or another,
a new understanding of faith is being
shaped to meet modern human needs.