RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 251, 18 July 1921, Page 7

RELIGION AND SCIENCE

SYNOD AND THE MARRIAGE LAWS. Speaking at the Unitarian. Church last night the Rev. Wyndham Heathcote said jit must be allowed that the fathers of tho fifth aud sixth centuries were sincere in their opposition to tho theories that the earth was round, that it moved round the sun, and that death was not the result of Adam’s sin. • "They saw clearly, said Mr. Heathcote, "that these now doctrines were in opposition to the teaching of the Bible, and subversive of the Christian scheme of redemption. Moreover, these new doctrines were opposed—so it appeared—to common sense and tho plain evidence of the senses. Therefore, in suppressing these naw speculations ior at that timo they were not mono than speculations—they honestly thought that tiiey were acting in tho highest interests of humanity. Thus Lactantius was appealing to common sense when ho wrote: —’ls it possible that men can bo so absurd as to believe that tho crops and the trees on the other side of tho earth hang downwards, and that men , have their feet higher than, their heads t St. Augustine took another line of argument when he wrote: Tt is impossible there should be inhabitants on the other sido of the earth, since no such race is recorded bv the Scriptures among the descendants of Adam’; and, again, when ho wrote: 'ln the Day of Judgment, men on tho other side of the globo cannot see the Lord descending in the air.’ Plainly, Augustins was right when ho said |.hat a round world was Inconsistent with Christianity and its second advent. "But since tho days of Copernicus, Galileo and Bruno, the Church has ceased to be sincere, for these ideas are now no longer speculations, but scientifically proved fa'cts, and it fs not honest to continue to maintain tho Christian system of redemption with its second advent and Judgment Day, and at the same tuns accept tho round world as a fact. Hence Bruno, after his travels through Europe, said he was opposed, not by real belief, but by pretended belief and in the middle of the nineteenth century Theodore Parker complained that the clergy did not preach openly in their pulpits what they knew privately to be tho truth, and hence he exclaimed with indignation: 'Over their pulpits write "emptiness,” n.nd on their foreheads "deceit, deceit.” ’ Thus the supernatural revelation about cosmio and human origins and about the origin of death, have been entirely discredited by science. "It is a little surprising, therefore, to find the bishops and clergy at tho Anglican Synod appealing to a supernatural revelation about marriage, in opposition to tho laws of tho State of New Zealand. When the clergy say that God instituted marriage, that God: is in favour. of monogamy, and that God has ordained marriage laws, one can only ask, how do the clergy know three things, and come to bo on such familiar terms with the mind! of Deity? And if they say that God has given a revelation on the subject of marriage in tho Bible, then we can only reply by suggesting that, inasmuch ats tho revelation in tho Bible about cosmic origins and human origins and the origin of death, is hopelessly astray, it is difficult to think that a revelation about marriage would bo more reliable. And if it bo said that God instituted marriage in the Bible in the form of monogamy, how aro wo to explain such facts iw the following, viz.; (!) That monogamous marriages took place centuries before auy part of tho Bible was written? (2) That tho heroes of the Biblo wore not monogamists? (3) That some societies of men who have never read tho Bible aro monogamists, and that even some animals and birds have one mate for life? Did thesa birds also have a revelation from God? It would appear that tho clerical mind lives in a past age. and is wholly unable to understand cither what modern knowledge is or how it affects modern life. "In a modern democratic State tho people must in all such matters as education and marriage-matters over which the Church once had supremo control fi'ith such disastrous results—make those arrangements which, tho instinct of solfpieservalion, guided by experience and reason, may deem te bo the best. It is impossible te persuade statesmen and the cultured classes and politicians that they aro relieved of responsibility in such matters as education and marriage, because God has given a revelation upon them, or that there is in these days any higher authority than that of tho State. Such

assumed revelations hare beau proved scientifically false, and criticism has proved that no such revelation has ever been given, therefore in a democratic State the laws of tho State must be supreme.

“When the Bishop went on to say that women were always tho sufferers under tho new legislation, I can only express my amazement nt such an utterance from one holding the important position he does. Surely the exaqt opposite is the truth. Under tho old marriage laws women wore the suffers, but tho tendency of modern legislation is to secure for women ever greater and greater protection, and to place her on an equality with man. In a word—the alleged revolutions about cosmic and human origins and tho origin of death, having been proved by science to be entirely false, it is ridiculous for the clergy te appeal to supernatural revelation on the subject of marriage.” ’’

Among the paradise fish, found in China, the male blows bubbles until a sticky froth floats on the surface of the water; to tho under-surface of this he transfers tho eggs as soon as they are laid, guarding th<?m from destruction by his mate.