WILL ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY 

 SURVIVE THE WORLD WAR? 



AN A TTEMPT AT FORECAST B Y REPRESENTATIVE 

 HUMANISTS. 



I 

 BY SIR RAY LANKESTER, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



I FIND it difficult to discuss the question as to what effect the 

 great war will have on religion, because no uniform meaning 

 is attached to the word " religion " by the various classes of 

 thinkers who attempt to deal with this matter. By many the 

 word " religion " is used to indicate only the one creed and 

 church which they support, while by others it is employed 

 to indicate only the one which they attack. In both cases it 

 is usually the Christian religion which is in question. 



But, so far as I can judge, the word " religion " has, if 

 correctly used, a wider meaning. It signifies an attitude of 

 mind which has grown up and been handed on by mankind, 

 in considering and attempting to deal with the great and 

 mysterious forces in the world around us. In primitive times 

 and among primitive peoples it takes the form of attempting 

 to explain or in some way systematize these forces in a 

 scheme of cause and effect, for the purpose of controlling 

 them. Religion in the primitive savage is a more or less 

 elaborate scheme for compelling active demons imagined 

 by him as the personal agencies at work in every variety 

 of existence and occurrence outside the savage himself 

 either to avoid doing injury to him or to do injury to his 

 enemies. He seeks to gain this control by trickery, threats, 

 or violence. Magic and witchcraft, with their special adepts 

 medicine men, wizards, and dealers in " fetish " are the 

 outcome. 



