Evening star., 1946-01-06
The Practical Role
Of Spiritual Faith
Materialism Viewed With Grow
ing Concern as Guide for World
By William H. Harrison.

By William II. Harrison.
For long time now, particularly since
Charles Darwin proclaimed the theory
of evolution, the life Of the world has
been colored by an intense ri1aterialism.
People have been going to places of
religious worship in reasonably large
numbers, but generally speaking the at
titude OF human society toward the
existence of something real beyond the
grave has been more one Of skepticism
than of faith.
Old concepts like heaven, hell, purga-
tory and limbo, for example, have lost
ground, and the doctrine Of an omnipo-
tent, omnipresent, all-wise, all-merciful
and eternal God, though not entirely
denied, has been subjected to much
questioning. In short, If the social,
political, economic and military history
of the past century may be taken as
evidence, great part OF mankind would
seem to have become strongly disposed
to the belief that for human beings, no
less than for the lower animals, every
thing begins and ends in this world, with
nothing beyond that but negation.
Accordingly, considered against this
background, it is interesting, If not
significant, that the skepticism of the
modern age has itself, within recent
times, been becoming an object of skep-
ticism and concern in circles which have
usually left 1t up to the churches to
oh
several universities, among them Yale,
official steps have been taken to give
more emphasis to religion in educating
young men and women for adult life.
Thus, too, more than few military
leaders have lately been saying that the
world needs better religious sense to
help save itself from another war-a
point made most emphatically by Gen.
Macarthur when he called last August
for universal spiritual recrudescence"
as something essential to lasting
peace
Similarly, in editorials, columns, es-
says and the like, lay commentators
have been paying increasing attention
to Christianity, observing as Chester
ton once observed, that the trouble with
it is not that it has failed but that 1t
has never been truly tried and that II
it were, if it were applied practically to
everyday existence, the human race
would be far happier than it is. This
cropping for something calculated to
give greater spiritual content to mod
ern life has doubtless been stimulated
by the brutalizing experience of the
Second World War, and especially by
the awesome, al-destructive character
Of the atomic bomb. Mans scientific
knowledge has grown so great, mans
genius has come to have such terrify-
ing and preternatural potentialities, that
man himself feels afraid of his own
works and instinctively senses that his
former materialistic approach to the
problems Of his society is no longer
adequate and that 1t may, in fact, lead
to universal catastrophe unless some
how softened and controlled by new
religious viewpoint.
This feeling, of course, may pass. In
time, the horrors Of the war and the
implications of the atomic bomb may
thought and conduct of individuals and
nations, and the materialistic viewpoint,
unleavened by the fresh spiritual STAN
dards which many men seek now, may
once again dominate the worlds ac-
tions. This prospect is so real that an
organized effort is already being made
in some quarters to ward it off. The
Fria of
Churches, for example, have recently
received 81 900, 600 from John D. Rookie
feller, jr., to promote the religious re-
construction" Of Europe as one Of the
essential pillars of sound peace. And
less than two months ago, in an un-
usual move described as a missionary
invasion of the modern agencies of
propaganda" the Assembly of the
Church of England voted unanimously
to spend s4,0O00O0 in the next five
years to advertise the Christian gospel
through press, radio and movies, just
as one might advertise a commercial
product.
Given the perversity of human nature,
programs of this sort may fail to achieve
any noteworthy results. But few will
dispute the fact that these words, spoken
by an English bishop in reference to
Britain, apply with equal force to the
world at large: To-day we confront
new phenomenon-a generation that
has lost God and whole dimension of
life, the spiritual dimension. Half our
countrymen are worse than heathens in
that they believe in nothing-not even
in themselves-after a second World
War in one generation" BY intelligent
and vigorous effort, adjusting them
selves to the realization that not every
ancient dogma can stand the test Of
| science, the churches can yet show that
science and religion are by no means
| incompatible and thus restore faith to
many minds and hearts made barren
by pure materialism. But churches alone
cannot do this. The individual man
himself must re-examine his meaning
and destiny, asking himself-if he has
thought that way-by what right, by
| what logic, he has assumed that his only
| significance is to be born, to live, to
| satisfy his senses, to die, and that is all.
This question is central to the times.
If life is nothing but a process of
survival of the fittest; if thing is true
only when 1t can be seen, touched or
otherwise physically demonstrated; If
everything begins and ends for us in
this world; If we serve no higher purpose
than to get and spend and be self