CHAPTER XXIII 



METHODS OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 



The ways in which religions mould character Dogmatic and rational 

 teaching The mental uniformities and divergencies caused by 

 religious sects The mental characteristics of the Greeks and 

 Komans Of the Early Christians Of Christians during the Dark 

 Ages Of Heretics Progress Enlightenment The proportion of 

 great men. 



477. A EELIGION exerts its mental influence in two ways. 

 First, it teaches certain doctrines certain beliefs concerning 

 the environment, a code of morals as a guide to conduct, a 

 ritual, and so on. Secondly, it teaches its doctrines in a 

 certain way. The doctrines of all religions differ more or 

 less ; but all religions have this in common they are never 

 founded on data which are known to be true (i. e. on 

 verifiable evidence). This does not imply necessarily that 

 the doctrines they teach are untrue. It implies only that 

 the moment a fact has been verified it passes from the 

 category of " religious truth " into that of ordinary secular 

 knowledge, which, when systematized, we designate science. 

 For its acceptance an " act of faith " is then no longer needed. 

 If the doctrines of a religion are true, they may be no bar to 

 the advancement of knowledge. If they are false they may 

 be terrible obstacles. It is because the adherents of every 

 religion have, at one time or another, strenuously upheld 

 untrue beliefs that the world has seen the conflict so 

 prolonged and discreditable between religion and science. 

 As already noted, a man who believes in such doctrines as 

 those of Fetishism, upheld in the way such doctrines generally 

 are, must be a savage. His mind is so filled with the untrue, 

 so fortified against the true, that there is no room for the 

 latter unless the first be ejected. 



478. But, from the standpoint of progress and civilization, 

 the doctrines of a religion, whether true or false, weigh in 



301 



