Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-10-02
RELIGION ONLY REMEDY FOR WAR
AND WICKEDNESS
BY BISHOP W.

II URING trOublous years which have fol-
I J lowed the war many Of the wisest
men have discerned and declared that
the remedy for the woes Of our distressed
world is to be found in a general revival of
religion in the hearts Of men,.
This thought has been expressed in va
rious forms of speech. But it has found
the, same essential expression by many great
men who differed widely in their positions,
their culture, and their affiliations.
During the last years of the life of Mr..
Woodrow Wilson, the great war-president
repeatedly directed attention to religion as
the best hope Of a discorded and disquieted
world.
Mr. Roger Babson, the welI-known statis-
tcian and economist, has emphasized fire.
Quently and forcbly the same solemn truth
Leaders in commerce, industry, politics
and literature have concurred with remark
able unanimity in the same view.
Quite recently in the convention of the
American Chemical Society, one of the
speakers set the matter in a clear light
while discussing the part chemistry Will
play in the next war, if such a conflict
should arise. The speaker was DR.. Leo
Baeckerland, who showed that in future
wars there will be no safe place left for
any one whether soldier sailor or citizen
at home. He said that the largest and best
protected cities, irrespective Of their size
or distance, will be exposed continuously to
the danger Of utter and irreparable de-
struction There will be no way of safe
guarding women, nor children, nor the old,
nor the sick. Destructive agents from the
air will be employed to overwhelm national
capitals and destroy even the nations them
selves The fate of the belligerent powers
engaged will turn simply on which gets the
first shot The one who "gets the drop"
on the other will alone survive, and will
be saved so as by fire"
Against such an awful disaster, Doctor
Baeckerland contends that "the remedy to
these horrors lies not in stopping the use
of chemistry in warfare. The greatest and
best remedy lies in more Of plain, gener-
Gus weekday religion, rather than in Sun
day religion of mere words" What he
means by weekday religion" and Sunday
religion is not very clear; but 1t is fair
to infer that he intends to depreciate the
value of hollow religious ceremonials on
Sunday which have no influence in emo
bling life and controlling conduct durlngs
the weekdays that follow.
Dr. Baeckerland is eminentIy correct in
the opinion thus expressed. Ours is very
high-powered world. By the science which
it has developed, and by the inventions de-
rived from it's science, both time and space
have been nearly eliminated as obstacles to
the accomplishment of human purposes. Man
has been made almost omnlpotent within
the sphere in which he moves. His power
fog good or evil has been enormously eX-
tended within the last half-century. He
may do pretty much what he pleases.
1t is obvious that if he pleases to do
wrong, the evil that he is able to do is al
most immeasurable. Evil was never before
in the history of the human race so terrible.
1t is equally obvious that no feeble forms
of mere religiosity can by any possibility re
strain the high-poWered wickedness of the
present age, and turn it into goodness. A
powerful conscience is required for such a
purpose, and that conscience must act con-
sciously under the eye of God and with IN
Wavering devotion to the divine will. A
pretty ritualism, or hesitating rationalism,
is wholly inadequate to safeguard mankind
in the awful times Of power in which we
live A far more potential gospel is re-
Quired to bring the rebelliOus age into obedi-
ence to God. Preaching is demanded Gin