EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



eration whose interest in intellectual matters is more 

 languid and whose absorption in material amuse- 

 ments and whose restless activity are greater than 

 they were a century ago. 



So far the Christian Church, or at least an influen- 

 tial portion of it, has accepted evolution, but it has 

 failed to find in the doctrine any strong incentive to 

 lead the religious life. The clergy have made the pro- 

 found mistake of not realising that they are not con- 

 cerned with the scientific doctrine of biological evolu- 

 tion. It should make no difference to them whether 

 corporeal man was created by a special act of God or 

 whether he is linked to the rest of organic beings. 

 Their business is not with man as an animal but with 

 man as an immortal spirit. If the spirit or soul is 

 merely an evolution of life then I can see no need for 

 a separation of religion from the other customs and 

 habits of social life nor, in fact, from the social life 

 of any other animal. The doctrine of evolution is a 

 rational doctrine and it cannot be made to include the 

 spirit, which is essentially irrational and miraculous. 

 The attributes of God and of the soul are solely mat- 

 ters of faith and intuition and can be neither proved 

 nor disproved by science. 



Shaken in their belief, the clergy are not profound- 

 ly convinced of the truth of their religion. They may 

 teach that there is a personal God and that He has 

 broken the chain of evolution by giving to man an 

 immortal soul, but the weight of their argument is 



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