8 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



Bible stories now appear to be records of attempted solu- 

 tions of the mysteries of life. The science of comparative 

 mythology is fascinating reading and is of even more than 

 academic interest, because it explains the origin of many 

 concepts which still exercise a profound influence upon the 

 bulk of mankind. Because of scientific thinking, theology is 

 being recognized as a barren form of speculation and is 

 rapidly being separated from what may be termed religion. 

 The latter maintains its hold upon men in terms of the hu- 

 man sympathy and ethical idealism essential in man's 

 nature, without which social cooperation could not exist. 

 Comparative study shows the various religions of mankind to 

 have their foundations in these fundamental qualities of the 

 human mind. The religion of the future will be scientific 

 in that it will be all-comprehending. 



In its sifting out of facts, science spares nothing, not even 

 the most sacred of traditions, for science has its own sacred 

 tradition of the open mind. One cannot view dispassionately 

 the history of religious belief during the recent centuries 

 without recognizing the changes which have occurred. And 

 does any one believe that these changes will not endure or 

 that others will not follow? Will not religion or what men 

 will call religion in the future be at one with science, be, 

 indeed, mainly a practical application of the ideas and 

 achievements of science; and will not the scientific habit of 

 mind satisfy the ethical and philosophical desires which have 

 been hitherto formulated as religion and theology? The 

 influence of science is manifest. Eventually, it will recon- 

 struct the very foundations of religious thought. 



Again, the scientific point of view appears in the changing 

 philosophy of life. The old formulas, by which man long 

 explained the riddles of existence, have failed in the light of 

 scientific knowledge, even though they color much of our 

 thinking. We may well consider the possibility of a life to 

 come, but our immediate concern is with the life that is here 

 and now. The ignoring of temporal affairs, emphasized so 



