Article September 11, 1926 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Edgar A. Lowther, B. O. F. Heywood, George Craig Stewart, Nelson Dalenberg

[From the Irish Times, Dublin, Ireland]

Half a century ago gloomy views were held of the prospects of religion as scientific investigation developed. To-day, however, Earl Balfour can declare, in a foreword to an interesting "symposium," edited by Joseph Needham, that "religion is still with us," and can add: "Not only so, but, so far as I can judge, its relations to science are more satisfactory at the end of this period than they were at the beginning." This cautious and moderate statement will be indorsed by men of science and theologians alike. Religious thinkers now are fully prepared to welcome the discoveries and assured results of scientific inquiry. They are willing to think out afresh and restate the convictions of religious experience and the doctrines of Christianity in the light of modern scientific conceptions of the universe, and human origins, and the growth of human society and its institutions. On the other hand, men of science realize to-day the limitations of their own pursuits. They know that science can do no more than describe and classify what it finds in the world as given, and must leave to philosophy and religion the task of seeking the ultimate reality.

[From the Trenton Daily Republican and Tribune, Missouri]

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