| Show CHRISTIAN FAITH I ROUNDLY SCORED Rev W T Brown of Unitarian Church Argues Against Fic Fiction Fiction Fiction tion of Orthodox Doctrines RELIGION A CRUDE GUESS SAYS AYS SACRIFICE OF SON OF GOD FOR MAN IS 15 FALLACY That the doctrines of the orthodox Christian hristian religions hinge entirely on the dream of an Imaginative world of which the tile followers of ot the various creeds know nothing was the contention of the Rev Thurston Brown at the an church yesterday morning The Th sub subJect of ot the Rev Hev Mr Ir Browns sermon dermon was The Moral Significance of ot Jesus to Or Orthodoxy Orthodoxy and to Liberalism Mr Ir Brown aid Bald in part It U is no misrepresentation but a mere merest statement st of fact which anyone Can ver fy for himself that orthodox religious teaching is obliged to create in the minds of men and women the fiction the dream of an Imaginary world a world which In ir their dally daily d lly life lite they know noth bg about before It can make them con coni i v its crts to Its faith It cannot and does not Ako Ike human life lite as it finds it and show fight there the tho r of ot religion n and the germs of faith It does not build upon the he foundations of the world which al all almen allmen all allmen men can see and know And what is this world out of ot which the whole teaching of ot orthodoxy proceeds It is the tile imaginary world of Christian the logs It declares that a personal God Got at a definite time created the world much as a II man m n builds a house This God makes man at the very be beginning beginning beginning ginning with all the powers of ot mind and andI body Jody he now possesses Man lan becomes a amoral a amoral amoral I moral being at a single stride He Sins and is thenceforth a Ii doomed creature To Tobe Tobe be hp sure he ask to be created H He had no more mor sense of ot the fearful tearful issues of ot his life Ute than a newborn babe But this God Cod Godot of orthodox teaching cares not at all aU about that The he scheme must go through A Divine Blunder But right there is discovered a blun blunder blunder der This God foresee what man was going to do and the whole le leSo thing the Coto failure seems likely to prove a failure So he arranges to t have have havo his his only Son Bon make good the Fathers mistake That Son shall leave heaven take upon himself the form of man live a simulated life lite among men seeming to be what he is not and finally suffer the very limit of ot shame and indig indignity and then as many as shall be will willing willIng willing ing to accept this sacrifice for their sins shall be saved that Is shall go to heaven en when they die and be happy ever everatter after Now what have hae we here We 0 have hays simply and only one of ot the primitive guesses of barbaric men at the riddle of life with the halo of at authority thrown over it We Ve have In this theological theol myth simply and only the projection into the Infinite and unseen of the Ignorant and aud outgrown attempts of the races childhood to realize its crude and fanciful t notion of at justice The whole idea and conception of the death of ot Jesus as sacrificial is the sur survival survival survival vival of an age when men men slaughtered whole flocks of ot sheep and goats and bul bullocks bullocks bullocks locks and even een their own firstborn chil chit children children dren to expiate the supposed wrath of ot ofa ota a power which they had never seen seena a creation of ot their own ignorance and fear An Ancient Nightmare What is the religious conception which has from earliest times been contending with this ancient but established night nightmare nightmare mare mareT You may find it in the bold start startling startlIng startling ling radicalism of the Prophet Amos who In the midst of the profuse sacrifices sacrifices flees of ot his nation at Bethel sacrifices supported as now by the whole power of at the ruling class and Joined in by b the unthinking masses cried out Hear the word of Jehovah to you rou I hate I de despise despise despise your feasts and your sacrifices Take fake away from tram me the noise of ot your our viols I cannot bear them But let right righteousness righteousness righteousness roll down as waters and justice as a mighty stream You may find it itin itin in Ih the words with which the Prophet MIcah rebuked r the misguided people of his time You may find it in the teaching teach teaching teachIng ing of ot Jesus In the Sermon on the Mount Nay you may find It U in the words of at a 8 multitude of men all through the cen centuries centuries centuries who have been literally forced as lIS were the old prophets and Jesus to get out of the atmosphere of ot the a fisting existing church in order really to be religious It is perfectly Idle for men today to suppose they can ever enter the comradeship com comradeship cOmradeship of Jesus can ever become really acquainted with him by the fiction of at making him their Savior either from sin sm here or loss hereafter or eyen by b seek seeking seeking ing to imitate his example In neither of these does religion lie He Religion lies in m becoming conscious of ot vital Ual issues at stake now and here of divine work to be bedone bedone bedone done in and for society of justice to be b realized between man and man of at a asocial asocial asocial social Ideal to be b wrought out Into con concrete concrete on crete form on this earth The man who finds no matter how such meaning in inthe Inthe inthe the world as inspires him to heroic en endeavor endeavor endeavor deavor who becomes conscious of ot tre tremendous tremendous tremendous tasks to be undertaken pro profound profound profound found moral and social problems to be solved and who makes his own life lite a contribution to these tasks and problems that man understands Jesus as no one else can for he is engaged in precisely precise the same work In which Jesus was en engaged engaged engaged his life lite is obeying the same divine Impulse that the life lite of Jesus obeyed And whatever his method so it be dic dictated dictated dictated by the Ideals which ha he seeks to serve he is up to the measure of his ability as really a son of God as Jesus was and for the same reason Indeed we shall yet et see that there have been in modern times and doubtless are today human lives as fine tine and noble and god godlike godlike godlike like and serviceable to the world as the life lite of ot Jesus was There the slight slightest est evidence that Jesus was a more high minded man in his age than Mazzini was In his or and Morris were in theirs th A Pat Expression There is a popular expression today which well fits Its very much of the life me men are living It is the expression I dont know where Im Fm going but Im on my mr way That is not a religious us sentiment It is not even een a human sentiment It ex exactly exactly exactly describes what must be the con consciousness conscIousness of ot ofa a very stupid beast of ot bur burden burden burden den I dont know where Im going but Im on my way Does not that describe a large part of what we call human life lite today Do the mass of ot men morally speaking show much higher conscious consciousness ness of destiny of ot a splendid moral end to be achieved of a divine goal toward which to move of a beneficent moral and social task to be accomplished than the mule or the ox Our newspapers and magazines and the official messages of our representatives repreSentatives tives thes from the president down to the mayors of at our cities are full of talk about the development of ot the re resources sources and hardly a word or a line about the development of ot the peoples characters and we are called upon to re return return return turn thanks to God on certain a day for tor all these material things Are these won wonderful wonderful men whom we worship as the lead leaders leaders leadem ers em of finance and the captains of indus industry industry try to and the monarchs of materialism conscious of ot any goal of any beneficent end to be achieved by this ing process in which we boast ourselves Is there one in the whole lot who shows any more moral sense of ot a splendid hu human human human man ideal to be realized than the mule or the ox whose life lite Is well described by the aphorism M I 1 dont know where Im going but Im on my way wa waB By B what miracle do you think these men and women caught in the resistless whirl of ot an industrial machine which is heartless and soulless and which snuffs out their lives as If they were flies files and anI snaps Its fingers at It their helpless hope hopeless hopeless hopeless less families by what miracle are the themen themen themen men and women immured in these con conditions conditions conditions going to believe in any an religion our pulpits teach And how much more does the whole aimless struggle mean to the rest of the mass Is it not the most pitiful thing that can be said paid of our hu human human human man life today that it is one long mo monotonous monotonous monotonous drudgery ery for the multitude or orone orone orone one long heartless manhunt for tor others or a debilitating idleness a pursuit of ot pleasant physical sensations for still others I IBy IBy By the life lite and deeds of every heroic soul whom the conscience of ot the world today halls as a man of ot religion by the unvarying moral sense of ot those men who are known as the founders of ot religions by the career and experience of at Jesus and of at every soul In history who has ha borne bornea a moral resemblance to him religion is the resolute and heroic insurrection against the stifling air of materialism is the struggle of ot men be ba they few or many be their creed what It may for the translation of moral ideals Into social institutions foe to the overthrow of tice Uce be it political or economic and the building right here on the earth of a so social social cial order which shall not affront every noblest Instinct of the soul |
