Social Evolution 339 



like that of the Shakers means the almost immediate 

 extinction of the organism in which it develops. 

 Such a religion distinctly subordinates the interests 

 of the organism to the interests of the individual. 

 The same is equally true of many of the more ascetic 

 developments of Christianity and Islam. There is 

 strong probability that there was a Celtic popula- 

 tion in Iceland before the arrival of the Norsemen, 

 but these Celts belonged to the Culdee sect of Chris- 

 tians. They were anchorites, and professed a creed 

 which completely subordinated the development of 

 the race on this earth to the well-being of the in- 

 dividual in the next. In consequence they died out 

 and left no successors. There are creeds, such as 

 most of the present day creeds of Christianity, both 

 Protestant and Catholic, which do very noble work 

 for the race because they teach its individuals to 

 subordinate their own interests to the interests of 

 mankind ; but it is idle to say this of every form of 

 religious belief. 



It is equally idle to pretend that this principle, 

 which Mr. Kidd says lies at the base of all religions, 

 does not also lie at the base of many forms of 

 ethical belief which could hardly be called religious. 

 His definition of religion could just as appropriately 

 be used to define some forms of altruism or human- 

 itarianism, while it does not define religion at all, 

 if we use the word religion in the way in which it 

 generally is used 1 . If Mr. Kidd should write a book 

 about horses, and should define a horse as a striped 

 equine animal found wild in South Africa, his defini- 



