EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



does not hold together the congregations; the biolo- 

 gists have found that Darwin, great genius that he 

 was, could not foretell the facts which have since 

 been discovered and which destroy the foundations 

 of his hypothesis, they may claim that Spencer was 

 weak in his knowledge of biology and Huxley too 

 prone to pass from the calm discussion of scientific 

 truth to the passionate methods of the propagandist : 

 all still accept their philosophy of evolution and all 

 use their method to search for the truth in both the 

 material and spiritual realms. If the doctrine of evo- 

 lution has added confusion to social questions which 

 are closely involved with material affairs, it must be 

 even more dangerous as a guide to religion, whose 

 cultivation and discipline are the furthest removed 

 from our animal characteristics. 



If science were concerned only with our relations 

 to our environment and religion with our spiritual af- 

 fairs, there would be no cause for antagonism. Such a 

 separation does not and cannot exist; just as the body 

 and the spirit of a man are inextricably woven to- 

 gether, so the fields of science and religion overlap 

 and mingle. The conflict between them is not due to 

 rivalry because of their achievements but to the far 

 deeper cause of their essentially different conceptions 

 of the aim of life. As I have elsewhere said, science 

 seeks for power and control of our environment, and 

 religion places character, or the judgement of good 

 and evil, as the end or purpose of life. 



C 347 1 



