Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-07-21
The Foundations of Faith

suppose, Mr.. Bryan, just suppose
that the scientists are right and that
Genesis is wrong; suppose it should
prove to be true that man is de-
scended from a lower order of life;
suppose next year, or thirty years
from now, scientists should prove
their claims about the descent of man
as conclusively as they have proved
that the earth is round and that 1t
moves around the sun. Would YOU
then say, Mr.. Bryan, that Christian
ity must be abandoned?
1t would be a fair question to ask
OF Mr.. Bryan. For he is arguing now
that the Christian religion canno,
survive If one of the principal theor-
les OF modern science should prove to
be true. He Is pitting the faith OF
millions of men against the almost
universal opinion Of scientific men,
Suppost the scientists are right. Thew
may be right. 1t is possible that Mr..
Bryan is wrong. 1t is possible that
the anthropologists know more OF
the history of man than the theolo-
gians. What, on Mr.. Bryar's prem j.
lses, would happen then to the faith
OF which he proclaims himself the
champion?
The campaign which Mr.. Bryan is
Leading today is fundamentally an
attack on the foundations of the
christian religion. He does not mean
IL TO be. OF course. But when he in
slsts that the foundations of religion
are IN the first two chapters of Gene
SIS ne has narrowed the founda lions
and weakened them to such a degree
mat the whole structure Is imperileG
NO wonder the Fundamentalists re-
port that their children become un-
pelleVers when they go to college. 1t
is not surprising. They send their
chltdren out into the world of knowl-
edge impressed with the belief that If
any statement in the Bible is not true
then their whole religion is untrue,
is that the way to defend a faith ?
is that the way to make religion Sc
cure! 1t is strange way, indeed, to
prlng consolation to mankind to tell
them they can believe nothing unless
they believe also that the Chakean
science of 1000 years ago is literally
true. Mr.. Bryan is not protecting the
faith of his people. He is saving TO
them: Your religion is untrue. unless
science Is wrong. He is exposing them
10 the conclusion that if science is
right, then their religion is wrong.
He Is repeating once more a mis-
take that has been made again and
again Tor 1000 years by we'll meaning
but unwise champions of religion. In
every age there have been men to saw
that each new advance of science
would dstroy religion. For this con-
troversy over the evolution of man is
merely the latest of a long series of
controversies in which, Just as In
Dayton today, devout men like Mr..
Bryan have staked the whole OF
Christianity against a scientific
theory
The truth of Christianity has been
staked on the shape OF the earth. on
its place in the solar system, on the
movement of the planets, on the
meaning of comets, on the age of the
earth, on the flood, on Jonah and the
whale, on Joshua and the sun, On
each one of these subjects there were
theologians who opposed the scien-
lists as Mr.. Bryan opposes them now.
In each controversy it was argued
that the truth of the scientific view
meant the end of Christianity.
If Christianity had no broader
foundation than the Fundamentalists
claim, it would not today be the living
faith of millions. Christianity, in