Article September 29, 1917 Issue

A writer in the Bee reverts to the common notion of the...

Carl E. Herring in

Omaha (Neb.) Bee

A writer in the Bee reverts to the common notion of the reality of evil because it is evident to the senses that evil exists. This he calls using one's common sense.

Common sense is an excellent thing, but labeling one's own views common sense does not make it so. Common sense kept the world flat for a great many centuries. Common sense stopped Galileo and the progress of the world, made Huss a martyr, blotted New England with the witchcraft delusion. Common sense sits on the back end of a train and sees the rails close up. Common sense interprets the Bible literally, and the commoner it is the more absurd the sense. Common sense interprets "fire" as good or bad according to the use that is made of it, which is only a step in advance of the Parsis, whose god was fire; in both cases attributing to fire a potentiality in itself for good or evil.

We have no objection to the use of the words common sense, and frequently the "C. S." of Christian Science is said to stand for common sense; but it should be used only as the ultimate of philosophy and not as the crude beginnings. As an illustration, our critic sees in the statement that God is All-in-all a deduction that if this is so "there is nothing else." Such common sense interpretation would render a discussion of things spiritual impossible.

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