DR. FRANK CRANE'S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 253, 16 January 1928, Page 5

DR. FRANK CRANE'S DAILY EDITORIAL

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION (Copyright, 19S8J THE Kaiser was reported to hare said the other day, "I am sixty-eight years old. Looking back over the pinnacle of my years and my experience, I am glad to say, I have no philosophy except my religion.” The Kaiser seems to draw a distinction between a philosophical person and a religious person. But religion is really a philosophy and having a philosophy simply means a way of looking at life. Religion is one attitude toward life and irreligion another. The irreligious has as much of a philosophy as the religious. Religion is not a set of forms and ceremonies nor a compendium of beliefs. In the last analysis it is one's way of acting. The early apostles spoke of the Christians as people who lived according to a certain “way.” Much trouble has been caused in the world by thinking that religion is merely a belief about getting safely into the next world. Really, it is a way of looking at this world. It is a point of view that controls our actions. It is a method by which we live and by which we think. Religion is merely belief that the cosmic processes are so and so. Jesus Christ was not only a founder of a religion, but his philosophy of living was remarkable. The main thing about the Kaiser’s philosophy is that it i 3 all wrong. By separating his religion and his philosophy he has divided his belief about life and his method of living into two parts. This cannot be done. Religion is of no value unless it enters into our daily conduct, our speech and our thoughts. Everyone is a sort of philosopher, that, is, he has a way of looking at things and runs true to form. One may have a philosophy and yet it may change from day to day, but the new way of looking at things is quite as much a philosophy as the old.