236 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



gion in terms of the day that will satisfy the seeker for 

 spiritual realities consistent with the achievements of 

 science ? 



If one examines the conventional schedule of church 

 worship, how far has it departed from the mediaeval 

 trappings of ecclesiasticism? One finds little grounds 

 for criticism in the fundamental appeal to the emo- 

 tions in a religious service so far as it combines the 

 elements of music and educational discourse. The 

 psychological basis for a spiritual appeal in the music 

 of the masters is unquestionably sound, but is not the 

 intellectual appeal of the words for which such music 

 is an accompaniment of historic interest only? An 

 hymnology based on the cosmology of Dante and the 

 theology of the Middle Ages is not in keeping with 

 progressive thought and can bring little intellectual 

 satisfaction to the reader of scientific literature. 

 Again it may be asked why must one have continually 

 inflicted upon his intelligence the recital of the creed 

 to which he himself can make no intellectual assent? 

 One can find many intelligent preachers in the pulpits 

 to-day who are seriously coping with the problems of 

 revitalizing religion, but how at variance with the 

 most brilliant modern discourses on religion is the 

 mediaeval setting of the conventional church service. 



Why this persistence of the practice of the puritans 

 in the program of worship which would not be toler- 

 ated in other activities of modern civilization? I 

 cannot believe that man is less interested to-day in 

 religion than in other emotional appeals. Perhaps a 

 scientist may be as justly criticised for tampering with 

 the performances of ecclesiasticism as have religious 



