Science Christianity and Modern Civilisation 333 



and there are, perhaps, facts in the present situation of the world 

 which point in the same direction. I have especially in mind the 

 antagonism of Bolshevism to religion, as the grand obstacle to its 

 destructive policy, on the ground of that very " transcendence " of 

 the earthly life, on account of which it is also, from a different 

 point of view, dismissed by Croce as incompatible with a genuine 

 comprehension of the meaning of history. For this suggests that 

 religion, as commonly understood, is more intimately involved in 

 the fabric of civilisation than is altogether consistent with our 

 modern way of treating it as a matter of merely private concern. 



But, if religion has thus a part to play in modern civilisation — 

 which is itself essentially one, and which, through the continual 

 improvement of the means of communication, is continually (if 

 less rapidly than is sometimes supposed) carrying out a progressive 

 unification of humanity — it is clear, both on general grounds and 

 in view of the obvious and notorious hindrance to its efficacy 

 presented by the internecine warfare existing between different 

 religions and different versions of the same religion, that it cannot, 

 if it is to play that part effectively, acquiesce in this warfare as 

 necessary and permanent. The problem of the unity of religion 

 thus becomes of supreme importance for all who recognise religion 

 as an essential factor of human life. 



2. A Universal Religion 



There are fewer nowadays than in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries who will be disposed to look for a solution of 

 this problem in a call to dismiss as comparatively unimportant the 

 distinctive features of the historical religions and to concentrate 

 on certain great doctrines — such as those of God, Freedom, and 

 Immortality — as the essentials of a religion natural to all men 

 and defensible by arguments which, properly handled, would win 

 universal assent. Our increased knowledge of the religion of 

 primitive peoples on the one hand, and on the other the damaging 

 criticisms brought by philosophers and men of science during the 

 last two hundred years against the old " rational " theology with its 

 " proofs of the existence of God," have antiquated a type of view 

 which appeared reasonable to some of the greatest minds of an 

 earlier age. It will probably now be considered a more hopeful 

 task to inquire whether some one or other of the historical 



