The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1930-01-30
RELIGION AND THE
REPUBLIC

ports of the republic" The unortho-
dox Walt Whitman wrote: 81 say
that the real and permanent grandeur
of these states must be their relig-
ion."
Our civilization was established,
our government was founded, by men
of religious cast of mind. If they
were not all personally religious, their
mode of thought had been fashioned
in a religious atmosphere. A church
was almost the first structure erected
by the. colonists, both at Plymouth
and Johnstown. It was an austere
religion at Plymouth, light-hearted
religion at Jamestown, but religion
was the most important ethical in
fiuence in both these cradles of
American civilization, and in the
Maryland Of Lord Baltimore and
Charles Carroll of Carrollton.
No form of ethics other than
taught from the pulpit and at the
fireside by religious fathers and
mothers has had any serious hold on
the American people. And in the de-
cay of religious influence we may find
much of the explanation of the
loosening of moral ties and conse-
olient growth Of vice and crime in this
country. '-''
Religion has been pretty much
dropped out of the scheme of things
American. The family prayer that
used to be first on the days program
in most American homes would be re-
garded as a curiosity today. The dis
cipline maintained in the churches of
half century ago would today be
inconceivable. People do not much
talk about or think about religion.
Yet what subject could be more i'm
portant to thoughtful men than des-
tiny? There can be no intelligent
philosophy which leaves out of con-
sideration the thought of Creator
Scientists may yet be able to prove
that men evolved from lower animals.
or even from inert matter. But what
mind can grasp the idea of anything
starting without some superior force
starting it?
And what man, knowing the human
spirit, can believe that men are only
an assemblage of chemicals, thrown
together and allowed to dissolve with
out meaning or purpose? Who can
fail to recognize the spark of Divinity
in man himself? Who can believe
that the flame of life is a mere pro-
duct of physical combustion. which
can be snuffed out like a brief candle ?
Who can contemplate the command
man has attained over physical OBJ
jects, and the victories Of the human
spirit over self, and space and mat
ter, and still believe that men have
only the destiny Of weeds and stones
Reverence for God and worship of
God therefore becomes the natural act
of every normal human being, and the
discovery of His laws and His plans
for life and destiny is the duty of
every thoughtful man and woman.
The religious institutions now ex-
isting represent the effort of our faith
ers to discover and apply the Divine
will. Easy enough it is to pick flaws
in them, to quarrel with their doc
trines and the practices, but they
represent more thought applied to
this first of problems than most of us
have ever given to it.
It sometimes seems that the
churches themselves do not fully ap-
preciate the prime Importance of their
mission. They are the nurseries of
character, the opponents of underly-
ing truth so vital that the discussion
of fine points of doctrine within them
seems trivial.
3 There are fields in which pupils are
mo better instructors of humanity
than other existing agencies. Secular
topics can be as intelligently dis
cussed by editors, statesmen and lee
turers as by preachers. But surely
no minister of the gospel afire with
his real message could lack hearing.
The Importance is to measure up to
the Importance of the message.
In an era of confused thinking, Of
cropping, of pessimism, that religion
which is able to give inspiration and
guidance to men and women, and for
mulate that character, which as
Washington said is essential to good
citizenship, is the greatest force for
good the world knows. This republic
is going to be saved or destroyed just
one man at time, and those who are
able to inculcate in individual Ameri-
cans these cardinal beliefs and prin-
ciples essential in a good father or
mother, a good neighbor and good
American are potentially our greatest
agents of civic safety and progress.
The world has come to that place
where it says to it's nations, "Let's