RELIGION A PHENOMENON OP ADAPTATION 545 



is also one of the most efficacious means for perfecting the adapta- 

 tion of that people to its surroundings. Labouring under the 

 stress and strain of the forces which work out its evolution, a 

 nation incarnates its ideals and aspirations in the national 

 religion, which becomes the symbol of the national greatness, 

 of the national strength ; and such a religion becomes eventually 

 a vast store of traditions which Unk the present with the past, 

 a living and permanent reminder of the duties of racial solidarity. 

 Further, religion confers a value on each individual life, and 

 thereby increases the harmony between the individual and his 

 environment. For the conditions of life demand much sacrifice 

 from the individual ; and unless the individual be assured that 

 it is worth his while to make the sacrifice (and he will not be 

 convinced of this unless he be convinced of the value of life), 

 the latter will not be made ; society will be deprived of the indi- 

 vidual's co-operation, and the harmony between the individual 

 and the society of which he is a member will be disturbed. 

 ReUgion, by conferring the necessary value on individual life, 

 thereby assures to society the benefit of the co-operation of all 

 the individuals composing it ; and thus does it adapt the indi- 

 vidual to society. 



We would also point out that reUgion, like every other social 

 phenomenon, is itself subject to the universal law of adaptation. 

 The success of a religion indicates that that religion is adapted 

 to its environment. The remarkable persistence of Buddhism 

 in Asia, the extraordinary rise of Christianity in Europe^ the 

 partiality of certain races for Mohammedanism, are all to be 

 explained as phenomena of adaptation, as illustrating this 

 fundamental law of life. Christianity is adapted to the needs of 

 the Western world ; and it is because it is so thoroughly adapted 

 that it has been able to interweave itself so closely with the 

 fabric of Western civilisation. 



When we consider all phenomena as conforming to the funda- 

 mental law of adaptation, we are in a better position to judge 



35 



