ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



civilization is founded. It has saved men in this 

 world by inspiring them with the desire to be worthy 

 of a better and future world. 



We are saved, I often say, not so much by the 

 truth of what we believe, as by the truth of our be- 

 lief, by its genuineness, its power over our imagina- 

 tions, its hold upon our character, its fostering of an 

 incentive to right conduct and noble deeds. Whether 

 it be Catholicism or Calvinism or Methodism or 

 Quakerism or Christian Science or the Japanese an- 

 cestor worship or Buddhism, if it holds us to higher 

 ideals and gives sobriety and sincerity to our lives, 

 that is its true function. 



In fact, any religion is good which supplies a man 

 or a people with a workable theory of the universe. 

 In practical matters, in dealing with real facts and 

 forces, man is compelled to be logical or he comes 

 to grief — he must keep fire and powder apart. 

 But in his religion and speculations he is bound by 

 no such necessity; he is free to indulge the wildest 

 dreams. 



Man does not expect fire or flood or frost or wind 

 or rain to favor him. He does not put fluids in leaky 

 vessels, nor a leaky roof over his head, nor plant his 

 house on a foundation of sand. His carpenter's level 

 does not lie, nor his plumb-line make a mistake. But 

 in his religion he may be as capricious and fantastic 

 as he pleases; he has a free hand; he may even flog 

 his gods if they displease him, and it is all the same. 



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