Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
Leagues of the Goddess.

4
All Christendom is rising in righteous
protest against Russian Communism's
reputed contemptuous prosecution of
religion.
On one of the few occasions since
the Reformation the major divisions of
the church seem to be uniting in
common cause against q common
enemy. For the bolshevik leaders, it
is reported, are striving to blot out in
the blood of martyrs, not particular
dogmas, but those fundamental prin-
ciples of the Christian faith upon which
there never has been any essential
division. They are chopping at the
roots, not trimming the branches, of
Christianity
Even liberal thinkers, who have look
ed with some satisfaction on Com
munism's titanic experiment in sociol-
ogy and political economy for the light
they hoped it would shed on the true
nature of the social structure in gen.
eral, are turning away in disgust at
the apparent stupidity of this latest
development.
Few will deny that the protest has
very considerable degree of justiflca-
ton. But the situation is delicate
The basis of any successful counter
effort should be analysis and under
standing. The present religious prose-
cution is not an isolated phenomenon
in Russian life. The Communist lead
ers, 1t is fair to assume, are acting
however stupid may be their conclu-
sions to the rest of the world. The in
mates of an insane hospital act rea-
sonably, according to their lights.
Christendom's point of attack then
should be not the conclusions them
selves and the logical procedure based
upon them, but the defects in the rea-
soning process by which men have
arrived at them. Doubtless some of
the Communist leaders are conscious
charlatans and scoundrels. Perhaps the
present Russian oflcialdom contains
more men of this type than most gov
ernments. But 1t is foolish, in the
light of history, to proceed on the
theory that the majority of them are
such. The majority are honest men,
according to their process of reasoning
The celebrated Leagues of the God
less" can hardly be considered other
wise than as units of q religion of mega
tion-a new religion operated by pre-
alxF hm
as the older forms of worship.
Christendom may be considered as
buckling on It's armor against q new
and threatening rival, just as it did
against Mohamnaedanism in the Middle
Ages.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries approximately q half mil
lion persons--this is . conservative eS-
timate-were executed in Western Eu-
rope upon conviction of praeticing
witchcraft.
Now it Is generally admitted that
one of the predominant elements in
the witchcraft prosecution was the
effort, largely unconscious. of Chris
tianity to blot out, once and for all.
the "old religion" of pre-Christian Eu-
rope, with its disgusting phallie rites,
which had persisted under the surface
through the centuries.
Are not the Leagues of the Goddess,
units Of the new religion which has
fastened itself on Russia, trying to do
the same to persistently surviving
Christianity and Judaism?
Can we afford to ignore the light
which these two past situations shed
upon the present? What lessons they
teach can be found only by close and
Unconditional study. Such study might
enable Christendom in the present
crisis to avoid some of the terrible and
costly plumbers of the past. For 1t
must be remembered that, in the end,
the Moslem remained Inf control Of the
holy places and lord over q Christian
J population And in the end witchcraft
survived even into our own day.
The situation In Russia demands
action, but it demands well considered
action.
It would be we'll to formulate this
action with all the help that can be
obtained from the experience of the
past rather than consider 1t falsely as
something entirely new under the sun.
An election in Santo Domingo is re-