Britain and America English-speaking peoples circle the globe. A close, friendly accord between them is of the utmost importance to the peace and well-being of the whole world. In honor of the British Empire Exposition now being held at Wembley, England OUR WORLD The Magazine of Understanding devotes its July number to the British Empire and the relations of Britain and America. This unusually attractive issue will be profusely illustrated and will contain, among other numerous features, the following important articles: THE BRITISH EXPOSITION By Robert Wilberforce A striking description of its scope and significance, fully illustrated with latest photographs from Wembley and from the British lands represented there. THE BRITISH EMPIRE AS A TRADE LEAGUE By Charles Hodges A graphic survey with special reference to American interests. SURPLUS WOMEN By Ethel M. Smith A story of the 2,000,000 surplus women in Great Britain as a result of the war. EUROPE'S NEW LINE-UP By Arthur Bullard The meaning of the French and German Elections. WORLD FICTION Today's Best Stories from All the World. - Get Acquainted Coupon S.G. 7-24 OUR WORLD, 9 Eat 37th St., New York City You may send me the July and August issues of OUR WORLD. If I do not say "discontinue" within thirty days, you may enter my subscription for one year, and bill me for $3.00.
man and all the various ills that have cursed humanity as the result of ignorance and misunderstanding of what true religion really is.
Social progress, the emancipation of man, the Kingdom of God cannot wait another two thousand years to see whether the Fundamentalist type of religion can do any better in the future than it has in the past.
Modernism, which may be described in a word as the religion of Jesus as distinguished from the religion about Jesus, is yet to be tried.
The fate of the world hangs upon the result.
II. THE NEGATIVE
(Continued from page 392)
propaganda under the guise of "character-building" in monopolistic public schools. Under these circumstances, it has come about paradoxical though it may seem that one of the chief defenders of American liberty is the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics and "Fundamentalists," despite their immense differences, are at least agreed, in America, in their insistence upon the right of voluntary association; and such insistence is the very foundation of civil and religious liberty. To persuade Catholic parents to send their children to non-Catholic schools is no doubt in many cases wise; to force them to do so, no matter how high the motive of the compulsion, is tyranny. The end, we hold, does not justify the means, and violation of sacred rights will in the long run, through the retributive justic of God, bring ruin.
THE last objection to historic Christianity is that it is doctrinal rather than practical. There is so much misery in the world, it is said—so many crowded tenements, so many starving children—that there is no time to engage in theological or historical discussions about the death and resurrection of Christ. This objection, we are constrained to believe, betokens a singular narrowness of mind. It seems to be assumed that the Church has to choose between examining the basis of her faith and relieving the physical distresses of men. As a matter of fact she ought to do both. Neglect of either one will certainly bring disaster. And today the danger lies altogether in the neglect, not of the physical, but of the intellectual and spiritual task. The truth is that the present age is characterized by an unparalleled intellectual and spiritual decline.
The growth of ignorance–certainly in America and probably elsewhere as well—is appalling; poetry is silent; and even the appreciation of fine and noble things seems almost to be lost. Certainly a generation that follows Mr. H. G. Wells in his contemptuous neglect of all the higher ranges of the human mind, or deserts Milton for Van Loon, can hardly convince any thinking man that it is an infallible judge of what is beautiful or good.
We do not therefore seek to evade this last objection, but we meet it squarely in the face. We are opposed with all our might to the passionate anti-intellectualism of the Modernist Church; we refuse to separate religion sharply from science; and we believe that our religion is founded not upon aspirations but upon facts. Of course if the intellectual defense of our faith causes us to neglect our duty to the poor, we have made ourselves guilty of a great sin. And in that case may God pity us and set us back into the pathway of duty and love! But relief of physical distress, important as it is, is not all that the Church has to do. And
426
