SECTION C. RELIGIOUS AGENCIES 



(Hall 15, September 23, 3 p. TO,.) 



CHAIRMAN: PRESIDENT EDGAR Y. MULLINS, Southern Baptist Theological 

 Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. 



SPEAKERS: EEV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, Columbus, Ohio. 



REV. JAMES M. BUCKLEY, Editor The Christian Advocate, New York. 



SECRETARY: DR. IRA LANDRITH, formerly General Secretary, Religious Educa- 

 tion Association, Chicago, Illinois; now Regent, Belmont College, 

 Nashville, Tennessee. 



IN opening the Section of Religious Agencies, President Edgar Y. 

 Mullins, of Louisville, Kentucky, spoke as follows: 



" One of the most irrepressible and insistent demands of the human 

 mind is that for unity. The ambition of thinkers from the beginning 

 of time has been to bind up all the elements of being into a com- 

 prehensive conception, or to find a single principle which would 

 explain the universe. This tendency in the realm of philosophy is 

 very marked in our day. Monistic forms of human speculation 

 accentuate the tendency strongly. In science, also, the underlying 

 assumption in all investigation is the unity of nature. In sociology 

 the unity of life, the solidarity of the race, are being recognized as 

 never before. 



" It was a splendid conception in the minds of the projectors of 

 the Congress of Arts and Science to attempt to bring together in 

 a common meeting-place representatives of all the callings and 

 departments of human investigation. Such a conference among 

 leaders must result in broadening the horizon of all the participants 

 and of all those under whose notice the proceedings of these Con- 

 gresses may come. Nothing could emphasize more strongly the com- 

 mon interests of the race than this struggle for unity of view and for 

 the realization of the common intellectual and ethical ideals which 

 underlie all the struggle of modern life. These Congresses must 

 prove to be far-reaching in their influence. Doubtless, in future 

 generations, men will look back upon these meetings as marking an 

 important era in the history of human thought, and recognize in 

 them the introduction of important elements for the solution of the 

 great problems of science." 



