360 Science Religion and Reality 



in question are symbolic, they are much nearer to truth than the 

 scientific laws which pronounce them to be impossible. 



The third policy is to recognise that all theological doctrines 

 which rest upon the geocentric theory must be recast, inasmuch as 

 the results of science are, within their own sphere, unassailable. I 

 do not think I underestimate the seriousness of thjs step, nor the 

 great difficulties in taking it. But anything, I believe, is better 

 than trying to conceal an open sore which destroys our joy and peace 

 in believing. If we adopt this third policy, we shall be driven to 

 think of God less anthropomorphically, and of heaven as a state 

 rather than a place — 2. state, too, which is eternal in a deeper sense 

 than that of unending time-succession. But I cannot pursue this 

 subject without transgressing the limits set for writers in this 

 volume. 



If I had any doubts that the religion of Christ can and will 

 weather the storm, if I had any doubts that it is entirely inde- 

 pendent of any false opinions about the nature of the universe, my 

 readers may be certain that I should not have spoken as I have done. 

 If I believed that Christianity stands or falls with a Ptolemaic 

 universe, I should be obliged either to take the painful course of 

 confessing that I have believed and taught all my life a creed which 

 is as outworn as Paganism, or I should do like thousands of others 

 — I should hold my tongue. But I am quite confident that this 

 crisis will be surmounted if the Church has the faith and courage, 

 and, above all, the common honesty, to face it candidly. Only let 

 us hear no more of clergymen thanking God that theology and 

 science are now reconciled, for unhappily it is not true. 



The next essay, that of Professor Aliotta, leads us on to a new 

 field. In the last paragraphs we have considered science as a 

 steadily advancing army of ascertained facts, with which religious 

 tradition is often at variance, and with which it must come to some 

 sort of agreement. Professor Aliotta shows us science on the 

 defensive, science divided against itself. In his famous book, 

 translated into English under the title of " The Idealistic Reaction 

 against Science," he has brought together the very various hostile 

 forces which are assailing the fortress of Naturalism from different 

 sides. He finds that the dominant tendency in modern philosophy 

 is a reaction from " intellectualism." " The ruined shrines of the 

 goddess of reason are invaded by the rebel forces of feeling, will, 

 imagination, and every obscure and primitive instinct." The blind 



