RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 710, 8 January 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

>■■■■■ SOCIAL- EVOLUTION.!v \ ' ' .' ;":-■'-":'- ' - ;. -. '..:...:.■;. Lt--UK." CHESTERTON ON THE 1 NEED . .•; FAITH.; ..■-;;;_,:. _ 'Mr. G. K.".Chesterton -writes as follows' in T.P.'s Weekly",ou social evolution :— There.is.pfllyono truth that emerges, clearly out of- the - incredible chaos of nil? f°° ial con °' tl,:)U ? of. modern' England., lhat.is, that;if:.;wo".aro'..to r liave effective , retorm wo must find ■ some ■ fixed ideal or confession of - faith.' ."■' In- otliof/. words,: tho country -will .not. liavo'. 'a '..revolution' until it has' got a: religion,.-• England is kept quiet and law-abiding -by- its 'infidelity. Tho'reason is ; n6t that, so'often' alleged, thafr^tho".mob.i'.necdsVa-fiuperT', natural morality vto; Testrain it-ironv Cesses.." :The-..rapb'.dbes ■ not*neetf r it-'aiiy more ■ than all "mankind; dobs. '. 'Hilii'~. -C-v, ... "Now, it is no*use->at>all ■ 'to , '- discuss, practical 'social'.-'conditionsl'unfiir'wo , 'are , ■agreed on this 'ideal;' A religion is" (I r think).-the' ■ only ! quitefinal way of fixing' and.popularising- such a type;, but,.whether: religious : or .not, such a type wb .must.'have;. ...What 'sort of- man :do ■■".y6u'.wa'rit.ito; r liaveV as the' :, normal 'citizen of /England? , V.Until ..you. have' settled ...that• it' .is mere:'idleness .to indulge, in statistics- and • exposures - about the various i.BiidsJ'-bCiniai Jybu .-dp'Jnot; want' to haTcv;;:.Aiiybpdy.-.cari~ SfoTthat'.tho pawnbroker.' in- Park-^Lane- : is : •the--wrong. kind of man^Aaybody^can'see'thatltbe , . .pawnbroker's^drunken , . client 'in Poplar,; plough enormously".'superior, ', is".tho".wrongkind of man;^J?ib;;,i.';.,;;,'^;. i ' i 'i,^ i ':;iC;!;;.■.- . "Anybody ;'.can- see - tnat-T-'the.:'. 'average newspaper ;prflpriijt'or.;. x is'Lthor(wifong. : .ki&d of man,'and;that the average; : bookmakpr is the wropgTtindi.ofVnian; >t£at' : .tbb;"vil-. lage; idiot is thei jvrorig. kind.'of'man, .and. the JCabinet :;Minister ; the wrong. kind ; of man. -But, what-'is <the right kind -of ; : man?.. If everybody;asked himself ;that. question before :we ■ should have shorter-books and better ones.\: This, abstract idea/ of perfection Is' more', urgently; and ■ pungcntly 0 practical than all the, tables of .figures'.orlibraiiea of sociology. Tho. , most::practical'.thing in tho l world,Ja ito ■: get ,;tp. ; ,., thei ..ppint;■' And,;as Euclid ! knewj;,theipoint|is. alwaya' ,";;-v-.' ■■-; .-'; '-'■:■!:''■': '-:?.i:\