Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-08
ATHEISM Turks IN EINSTEINt 81
THEORY, u. S. CARDINAL SAYS
0'ConnelI Doubts That Phi
Iosopher Knows What He
Is Driving At.
Dean of Catholic Hierarchy
in America Condemns BE
logged Professors"
Nv the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BOSTON, April 8-William Cardinal
O'Connell, dean of the Roman Cathohc
hierarchy in the United States, befeves
that behind the Einstein theory OF
space and time there turks the gnaStly
apparition of atheism.
The cardinal SO expressed himself
Yesterday in a communion breakfast
address before the New England prov
ince of Catholic Clubs of America, IN
which he stressed the necessity OF re-
ligious faith and assailed the pseudo
intellectuals."
After condemning petty, befogSed
professors who have set up some new
standard "to attract attention 70 tnem-
selves" the cardinal turned dnectiy
to the subject Of the Einstein theory.
.Worked-up Enthusiasm"
"Why do men and women who pre-
tend to be intellectual forget the very
rudiments Of life?" he asked; Whes
does all this worked-up enthusiasm
about Einstein mean? It evidently Is
worked-up. fictitious enthusiasm, be-
cause I have never yet met man VINO
understood in the least what EinSten
is driving at, and have been so mucn
impressed by this fact that very Serl-
ously doubt that Einstein himself KNOWS
really what he is driving at
Truth is always very clear Wnen
seen with a clear eye. The faet tnat
anv theory cannot be enumerated aho
oniv succeeds in befogging the NINA
is patent proof that 1t IS not reaAy
truth. .,,. tia
so-calied theories of Einstein, with ms
RELATIVELY and his utterly befogged mo-
tions about space and time. 1t seems
nothing short of an attempt at muooy-
ing the waters without percelvlng tne
drift. Innocent students are leo away
into a realm of speculative tnouen'
the sole basis of which, so far as ! can
see, is to produce universal oo"D'
about God and His creation.
American Students Misled.
"I mean that while do not wish
to accuse Einstein at present OF oeilp"
erately wishing to destroy the Cnrlstlan
faith and the Christian basis OF NE, !
half s,,spect that if we wait nttle
longer he unuuestionably will reveal
himself in this attitude. In o word, the
outcome of this doubt and befogged
speculation about time and space IS
a cloak beneath which hes the ghastiy
apparition of atheism.
aElrope has an old civilization and
is used to the sudden appearance OF
fantastic philosophers. They gam very
little credit among European mlnoS un,
less they have something really solo
and proVable to reveal. but we all know
that one of the weaknesses OF tne
American cubic is to run after novel;
tias which have nothing in them but
their newness.
.'The American student body is very
often misled into false channels OF
knowledge by the sudden appearance
of these glittering meteorS who from
time to time shoot across the horizon.
And then it seems that there Is some
sort of an unorganized clique that
boosts these sudden apparitions and as
quickly disallowS them and torgets
them.
Urges Care in Studying.
"Now for the moment it is Eilstein
Nobody knows what he Is trying to re-
veal. but in a certain sense that ADDS
| mystery to his name, and the tntellec-
tual world, while puzzled. is almost
ready to applaud, but in short time 1t
| will be perfectly clear that Einstetn'S
day has come and gone and then, no
doubt, there will be some one else who
for the moment will gain the applause
of the claque and he will be boosted as
the greatest philosopher OF modern
times.
"All this proves how careful the stu
dent youth must be In following this
fanatical applause which oftentimeS
is merely the outpouring Of sort of
hero worship, but even as such can
do endless harm to the impressionable
mind of youth"
The cardinal closed with an appeal