THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION 



point of fact, it is to be observed that the relig 

 ions we know consist in the worship of dead men 

 dead men whom, in a very real though derived 

 sense, we may nevertheless admit to be the im 

 mortal dead. 



Now it is a cardinal part of Spencer s teaching 

 that, despite their lowly origin, there is an essen 

 tial element of truth in all religions. This, of 

 course, is no new idea. On the one hand, there 

 was the cynical Gibbon, who declared all religions 

 to be equally false and equally useful; but many 

 far profounder thinkers have declared that there 

 is an element of truth in all religions, a statement 

 which is surely much preferable to the mere as 

 sertion that religion corresponds to a permament 

 need of the human mind. According to Spencer, 

 it is in their recognition, on analysis, of the Un 

 knowable Power that all religions find their true 

 and common term. Much as I sympathize with 

 this effort to find a basic truth in all religious be 

 liefs, I confess that I find it difficult to convince 

 myself of the recognition of anything I can call a 

 truth in the savage who endeavors to please the 

 ghost of his dead chief. But perhaps this is a 

 recognition of the truth that there is a something 

 beyond appearance such as the appearance of a 

 dead body. And, at any rate, we cannot believe 

 either that all religions are equally false or that 

 all are equally true. 



However this be, let us make sure of a truth 

 taught by evolution, than which none other is 



235 



