Article August 8, 1908 Issue

PROOF ESSENTIAL IN RELIGION

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

There is nothing concerning which men in general are more indifferent than the determination as to whether their religious opinions and beliefs are right or wrong. They apparently take greater interest in testing some new mechanical or economic theory, for instance, than in determining the reliability, and hence the utility, of the teaching they claim to accept concerning God and their relation to Him. So absorbed are they with the affairs of a transient material sense of existence, that they give but little heed to the problem of man's real origin and destiny; yet this problem will remain with them until solved, even after the ephemeral things of the present have passed from their experience; therefore it is of far more importance that they examine the soundness of their religious views than that they examine the soundness of their banks or their commercial ventures.

One's belief concerning God is of no more practical value to him than the nebular hypothesis, unless that belief is used in overcoming evil, in purifying consciousness, and in bringing thought into harmony with the divine Mind. Theories regarding laws of vegetation, or the nutritive properties of wheat, do not appease hunger nor sustain strength. A starving mortal needs food. His condition does not call for theory, but for the practical application of that which will satisfy his sense of want and relieve his distress. In their belief, mankind are suffering and dying in the very presence of God's infinite goodness, and their need is to be awakened to a consciousness of His nearness and reality. Human thought is spiritually famished, notwithstanding its abundance of creeds and rituals, and needs to be fed with "the bread of Life,"—"the great truth of spiritual being" (Science and Health, p. 33).

Although numerous and conflicting beliefs are entertained about God, it is evident that there can be only one true concept of God. How important, then, it should be to discover what that one is. This cannot be decided by discussion or argument, but only by adequate test, by actual experiment and application. After all, why should not a religious theory, if true, be put to actual use in the same matter-of-fact way as a theory regarding the making of bread or the construction of a watch? There is nothing more necessary to the welfare of men than that they should be sure of the truth of their religious beliefs, since they relate not only to the present, but to that unknown endless future throughout which happiness and peace will be as precious as they are to-day. Yet in such vital matters men are asked to have faith in human doctrines rather than in practical truths of whose benefits they may here and now have testimony. This is not a commendable attitude on the part of religionists, for if it is desirable that men have a religion, it is more desirable that this religion be capable of demonstration as truth, and not remain an unproved theory with the possibility of disappointing its believers when its helpfulness is most needed.

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