WILL CHRISTIANITY SURVIVE THE WAR? 19 



II 

 BY LEONARD HUXLEY 



THE psychology of war and that of religion certainly seem to 

 have some elements in common. The first lesson a man 

 learns in the trenches, and the profoundest, is, we are told, 

 that his life and destiny are at the mercy of forces outside him. 

 Over these he has no control. Each day he has no expecta- 

 tion of surviving to the next ; if the next day finds him alive, 

 it is just so much pure gain. He has a definite job to do with 

 all his energy ; the rest he must leave to the great unknown- 

 In his own little circle the infinite fulfils itself daily. So far 

 his existence presents that complete resting on the will of a 

 controlling power which a working religion aims at. 



Furthermore, the fighter on either side is inspired by an 

 idea possessing religious force. Here, is a genuine patriotism 

 roused to fever heat by the long-inculcated belief that a chosen 

 people is ringed round by scheming enemies, jealous of its 

 inherent superiority. There, is a spirit roused not by 

 mysterious enmities, but by often-repeated acts and loud- 

 spoken menace. It is not patriotism only, but the spirit of 

 international justice and humanity roused by overt aggression, 

 by calculated cruelties and treacheries, which have already 

 provided two martyr nations. Each side is moved by 

 belief in an ideal ; inherent superhumanity against a shared 

 humanity. Each uses its material resources as best it may ; 

 but there is no question of materialism against idealism, 

 either in the philosophic or the unphilosophic sense. 



Here are two fundamentals of the simple religious outlook. 

 Priests and preachers have under their hands the profound 

 sense of the Outside Power overwhelming self, and the 

 stimulating idea of a universal right, to which they attach the 

 Divine sanction with all the efficacy of ancient ceremony and 

 sacramental appeal, promising to purge the spirit and attune 

 it to the guiding power that will make the right i.e., one's 

 own ideal ultimately prevail. So far the war factors are 

 likely to aid a kind of elemental religion. But, on the other 

 side, it looks to an impartial eye as though the formal organi- 

 zations which call themselves Christian were brought to 

 hopeless bankruptcy by their attitude towards the war. If 

 the Sermon on the Mount has literal validity, the only 

 Christians who follow its teachings to their logical conclusion 



