Editorial March 4, 1905 Issue

A Rebuke of Prejudice

John B. Willis

Dr. Moffatt, President of Washington and Jefferson College, not long since gave expression to some thoughts regarding so—called religious criticism, on which very many might meditate with profit. He says,—

"The only question for us to ask concerning any results of investigation that are offered to us is, Are they true? If they are true, let our expectations be disappointed and our desires be denied, if they happen to be in conflict with the result.

"Men ought to be judged by the same principle. Are they seekers of the truth, and are they sincere in offering their results as true? If these questions must be answered in the affirmative then they are within their rights. We have no moral right to call them names, nor so to characterize them in public speech as to create a prejudice against them. When we credit them with good motives we do not bind ourselves to accept their conclusions. It may still be an open question with us whether or not they have discovered truth; but if they have sought after truth and do honestly claim to have discovered it we may justly treat them with the same courtesy that we accord to those whose hostility to the Bible or Christianity for no other reason than that their conclusions are distasteful to us, or untrue in our opinion, is to deny to them the rights that ought to be accorded to all seekers after truth."

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