INTRODUCTION XXV 



Socialism and science have appropriated the word " religion," 

 we must see in this appropriation a perhaps unconscious tribute 

 to the importance of the religious — i.e., supra-rational — ^ideal in 

 social hfe ; and this shows us again that religion is not so hope- 

 lessly condemned by the " progress of social evolution " as many 

 think ; since those who are professedly detached from religion 

 in the popular acceptance of the word, and who would fain see 

 every trace of Christianity vanish in the mists of the past, have 

 nevertheless to borrow their weapons from the adversary who, 

 according to them, is in imminent danger of annihilation. 



If we have contrasted " rehgion " with " Socialism " and 

 " science," it is because we desired, in the first place, to contrast 

 " supra-rationalism " with "rationalism"; and, in the second 

 place, because we wished to show that every society, if it is to 

 survive in the struggle for existence, must necessarily owe 

 allegiance to a certain mmiber of supra-rational principles — or, 

 in a word, that a society which is wholly " rationalist," and from 

 which all trace of supra-rationalism has been banished, must, 

 sooner or later, infallibly succumb as the result of its own in- 

 coherence and disintegration. The " religion of Socialism " and 

 the " religion of science " are professedly " rationahstic "; and 

 the only real " rehgion " — i.e., supra-rational code of principles — 

 adapted to the needs of our Western civihsation is the Christian 

 religion. We have identified religion with supra-rationahsm 

 because every real religion, in the exact sense of the word, is 

 based on supra-rational dogmas ; and for the pujpose of this book 

 we have identified religion with Christianity, because Christianity 

 is the only form of religion intimately adapted to the social hfe 

 of Western nations. 



Our meaning being thus made clear, we may dwell on the 

 fact that, notwithstanding their hostility to the popular forms 

 of religion, the " rational " religions of which we have spoken 

 have none the less paid their tribute to that which they profess 

 to destroy and supplant. This argimaent has been developed 



