462 Living in a World of Change 



There is no warrant for fearing that the ground is 

 removed from under our temples by the doctrine of evo- 

 lution, unless we have inadvertently built upon the pro- 

 verbially unstable sands. In that case, however, one wind 

 storm or high wave is as good as another, and we must 

 look to our foundations rather than to the weather for our 

 troubles. 



Relativity in Ethics 



The comparative studies of manners and customs among 

 various peoples, and the comparative studies of religion, had 

 long ago shown that morality has meaning only with respect 

 to particular conditions of life, particular relations. We 

 still feel it necessary to inculcate young children with set 

 rules of conduct in the form of Donts and Musts applied to 

 specific acts. As a result many grow up without discovering 

 for themselves that right and wrong, as specific acts, are 

 relative to remoter considerations. Some discover indeed 

 that the threatened penalties of wickedness often fail, as the 

 promised rewards of righteousness are often deferred. They 

 sufifer accordingly from confusion or perhaps " demoraliza- 

 tion." They need to be helped to discover that the laws of 

 change apply to morals as to molecules. 



In a world of change we have to learn that moral prin- 

 ciples must be formulated in broader and broader terms, 

 rather than in details that will cease presently to have any 

 meaning. Ceremonials and ritualistic observances in the 

 killing of animals and the preparation of food, in the texture 

 and material of clothes, in the height of the hat or the depth 

 of the skirt, in the cadence of the hymn and the wick of 

 the candle, all no doubt have their place in securing standard 

 practice and in establishing a certain attitude favorable to 

 the operation of religious influences. If men and women 

 are to lay aside childish thoughts, however, they must needs 

 at some time discover that the essentials of their moralities 

 are not in such things as these. On the one hand we have 



