Article April 3, 1926 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Paul Schiemann, Frederick Lynch, H. C. Offerman, Alexander D. Butler

[Paul Schiemann in the Rundschau, Riga, Latvia (translation)]

Every religion is the expression of a yearning and feeling of all mankind, and its fundamental questions can neither be monopolized by dogmatists nor eliminated by scoffers. ... Religiousness is the opposite of materialism expressed not only in the negation of atheism, but also in the unproductiveness of an attachment to a church whose only aim is to gain its own place in heaven. This religiousness does not separate; it binds. ... Easter faith is not only a faith in the imperishableness of good, but is also a faith in the development towards good, that is, faith in the new. He who believes only in the restoration, and never in the good tidings of further development, has no Easter. He who does not cast aside all advantages of material prosperity for the achievement of the spiritual never rolls a stone from the grave. There never was an age which has seen so many Easter hopes germinate as ours. But never was the rejection and infidelity of the seemingly wise so bitter and boastful as to-day. ...

Be it an international proceeding of arbitration or a national autonomy law, ... those of the everlasting yesterday—found in every generation—will always perceive therein only the menace to the long-accustomed manner of thinking. What has been crucified must remain dead; and the word of hate is easier to handle than the deed of love. But entrenchments built upon such a foundation are card houses, blown down by the next gust of wind. Our concept of state, our national sentiment are decaying planks, if they are not firmly established in the strong ground of the human race. ...

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