Article November 18, 1939 Issue

Signs of the Times

Topic: Democratic Co-operation

with contributions from Arthur H. Compton, J. L. Newland, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Charles Grant Robertson, Orion C. Hopper, Jr.

[From the Times, Hartford, Connecticut]

Democracy ... did not, like Topsy, "just grow." Something in the hearts and souls of men caused them to fight for freedom and to strive for equality of opportunity and equal justice. ... There is an inevitability of progress that impresses any careful observer. Its rise is not a straight ascent, but a jagged series of rises and falls, victories and defeats, gains and losses. There is no question but that man's material welfare is immensely greater than it was a generation ago, and there is reason to believe that his spiritual advance, while less spectacular, is no less positive.

In its broadest meaning Christianity is not failing, and democracy is not failing. True Christianity is broad enough to take into its fellowship all men of good will, regardless of their manner of worship or the name or namelessness of their religion; true democracy is a spiritual concept, which will grow in acceptance as the minds of men become prepared for it. No Nietzschean philosophy of force, no crude propaganda from dictators ... can stop the march of mankind toward better things, because man, despite his seeming weakness, is motivated by something which he does not fully understand, but which urges him on and on toward perfection.

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