WILL CHRISTIANITY SURVIVE THE WAR? 23 



IV 

 BY SIR BRYAN DONKIN 



ALTHOUGH the subject of " Religion after the War " does not 

 strike me as affording- much opportunity for fruitful discussion, 

 I willingly submit a short statement of what I think about the 

 questions that are suggested. 



First. I see no reason for assuming that persons who have 

 hitherto held the belief that a " Providence " governs the 

 universe are likely to renounce their creed on account of the 

 present war. I refer, of course, to those who thus believe in 

 spite of some knowledge of history, and who are aware that 

 most modern Christian peoples, when at war with one another, 

 pray for victory to what they presume is the same Deity, and 

 continue to reverence him as God whether they win or lose. 

 To such believers God is at once all-wise and inscrutable, 

 and he will not be abandoned by them because he permits a 

 larger amount of bloodshed and barbarity in this war than in 

 any other within their memory or knowledge. None of those 

 whose religion has any influence on their conduct now, and 

 whose reason has been powerless to make them doubt the 

 truth of their creed, are likely to be in any way shaken in 

 their convictions whatever the results of the European 

 struggle may be. Seeing, however, that belief in a directing 

 Providence has long been declining in this and other nations 

 now at war, in spite of some recent efforts to bring pseudo- 

 science to its aid, this question is surely unimportant, and 

 need not in any way trouble the minds of serious Rationalists. 



Second. The question of whether the religion of the future 

 will be " humanist rather than theological " permits, as it 

 seems to me, no categorical answer, unless indeed some 

 clear definition of the terms contained in the question be first 

 postulated. In so far as a " humanist religion " may betaken 

 to mean such a belief in the so-called moral progress of the 

 human race as may strengthen in individuals the emotion of 

 sympathy with humanity at large and inspire continual efforts 

 to assist it along its upward road, the problem of this war's 

 possible influence on the spread of such a religion would 

 be solved only in accordance with the personal hopes, or 

 fears, or beliefs of those who attempt to attack it. On 

 such as believe that biological evolution has been, and is, 

 gradually producing an innate "sense of the State," as fore- 



