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Show Literalism in Religion Makes Spiritual Greatness Impossible to Attain By DR. KARL REILAND, New York (Episcopal). Literialism is a vicious, as"'.re:atinr and degrading thing in religion, it is responsible for more sordidness, sorrow and crime than religion cares to recognize. It makes little men and little minds and cramps spiritual spir-itual greatness wherever it is imposed. You have it finely in Shylock's pound of fiesh. Literalism is the refuge of cowardice, not the shrine of courage. It is a fetish either in a code or in a creed, a commandment or a canon. Jesus broke with it in a thousand ways, and because His followers set it up in the Holy of Holies of their temple the blight of medieval malaria sickened both science and religion for ten hundred years and even today inhibits religious progress from achieving its shining privilege. Give us "spiritual men who are mad and prophets who are fools," to use the ancient taunt and let those poets and seers cut the leash of literalism, lit-eralism, free the spirit of Jesus from the custody of perversion and give liberty of the spirit to all them that are by the letter bound. |