48 Evolution and Religion 



should love our neighbor better than ourselves, that 

 we should do to others more than we would have 

 them do to us. That would be idealism and gener- 

 osity run mad. It would mean ultimately, if feasible 

 (which it is not), the extinction of the race. But what 

 the subordination of self to the general has apparently 

 meant in all the religions of the world is, that when 

 the personal advantage of the individual comes into 

 conflict with, or is antagonized by, the good of the 

 general, the former must yield, the latter must prevail. 

 Hence, the subordination of self to the general is a 

 controlling factor on the play of individual self-interest, 

 a restraint in family life, tribal life, national life, and 

 race life. And that is precisely what religion means, 

 I think, a restraint. 



Two Views of Religion 



There are two possible views to take of the religions 

 of mankind. One is that they have acted solely as a 

 clog, a drag, on the proper development of our race. 

 The other is that they have aided in that development. 

 In man's worship or superstitious regard for the more 

 dangerous forms of animal life, it would seem at first 

 blush as though this widespread, primitive belief had 

 most unmistakably militated against his survival. In 

 man's present soft-hearted benevolence towards the 

 incompetent, the selfish, the vicious, and the crim- 

 inal of his race, there would seem to be a similar weak- 

 ness of the emotions which works against the survival 

 of the fittest. But, after all, this is apparently only a 



