II. THEOPHOBIA AND NEMESIS 

 I. THEOPHOBIA: ITS CAUSE 



/NITIUM sapientite timor Domini ; no doubt, 

 but such fear is only the beginning, and is 

 not the kind of fear which also exists 

 a fear which engenders an actual revulsion against 

 the idea of God. 



It is to this kind of fear which the eminent Jesuit 

 writer Wasmann alludes when he says that " in 

 many scientific circles there is an absolute Iheo- 

 pbobia, a dread of the Creator. I can only regret 

 this," he continues, " because I believe that it is 

 due chiefly to a defective knowledge of Christian 

 philosophy and theology." 



That he is entirely right as to the existence of 

 this feeling there can be no doubt ; no one can 

 read at all widely in scientific literature without 

 becoming aware of it. Contrary to all the tenets 

 of science there is even a bias against any such 

 idea as that of a Creator, though science is sup- 

 posed to confront all problems without bias of 

 any kind. I need not cite instances of this feeling ; 

 I have dealt with it elsewhere. We may take it 

 for granted, and proceed to look for an explanation 

 for the phenomenon. Wasmann attributes it to 

 ignorance, and he is, I feel sure, right ; but let us 



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