28 WILL CHRISTIANITY SURVIVE THE WAR? 



VII 

 BY HENRY W. NEVINSON 



IN answer to the three questions suggested by the Editor, 

 I should like to say : 



(1) It is difficult for me to put myself in the position of 

 those who still believe that Providence, in the form of a 

 benevolent and omnipotent Being, with all the attributes of 

 a man except a man's weakness and wickedness, directs the 

 course of the universe. It is hardly imaginable that such a 

 belief exists, and yet, when the clergy and other people speak 

 of God, I find they mean little else. It is a primitive con- 

 ception which has survived innumerable wars, earthquakes, 

 plagues, and other disasters. Perhaps it is the highest 

 conception of which the majority of mankind is at present 

 capable. At all events, I see no reason to suppose that this 

 war will alter it generally. The Bishop of London has told 

 us that "this is God's war," and that "we are fighting for 

 the Nailed Hand against the Mailed Fist"; and there are 

 thousands, even among educated people, who take the 

 Bishop's word as God's so long as it flatters their own 

 self-satisfaction. 



(2) Again, it is difficult for me to realize that there can 

 exist a "theological" as distinct from a "humanist" religion, 

 believing as I do that all religion is an outgrowth of the 

 human mind, and that except through the human mind 

 there can have been no revelation of truth to man. I know, 

 however, that many educated people in various countries 

 and of various religions do still believe that special revela- 

 tions of truth have been made by Divine agency external to 

 mankind, and I think it likely that these beliefs will continue 

 to survive in spite of all the horrors of war. Partly because 

 very few people reason or connect one set of ideas with 

 another ; but partly also because many teachings of sup- 

 posed revelation are so immeasurably nobler than the 

 average ideas of the clergy and other people that few 

 would take the trouble to understand them, or would regard 

 them as fit for anything but ridicule, unless they had a 

 sanction assumed to be Divine. 



(3) As to the question of future training, so much depends 

 on the definition of the words "science," "reason," and 

 "speculative beliefs." If by science and reason are meant 

 only such forms of knowledge or thought as can be precisely 



