IS CHRISTIANITY A FAILURE?

NZ Truth, Issue 579, 22 July 1916, Page 3

IS CHRISTIANITY A FAILURE?

Do&r "Troth," — I did not see the letter of "D.T." referred to by Mr. B. T. Thompson m your issue of July 16, but I certainly agroe with the latter, that Christianity is a failure. I cannot, however, Indorse his advocacy of the ancient Teutonio myth that be would substitute, and I aro surprised that your correspondent, who appears to bo a Rationalist, should suggest such a retrogression. To m© all religions aro equally fallacious attempts to solve the unsolvablo rlddJo of existence, but they are more than that. They embody certain ethical doctrines, some of supremo valuo to the race, others useless lumber, and Christianity being, as your correspondent points out, a hotchpotch of contemporary and pro-exiatlnij cults, must nocessartly also partake of the othlcal charuoter of the faiths from which Us theologry is derived. He is. however, quite unwarranted In his aa-f sumption that tho ethics of Christianity nro to bo condemned beciu.so of their Oriental origin. Ills description of the folthu of tho Jews and other Semitic peoples as "slave cults" 1 can only attribute to tho bias against anything of Asiatic origin so prevalent In this port of tho world. His' assertion that tho morality of tho R&Ht Is lower ilutn that of the West Is certainly open to question, but evon if we admit that «« r«'Knr*l» th* present. It was certainly not the case nt tho time Christianity uroso find for many centuries previously and nubJNHjuHntly. And further, the fact that all Asiatic religions and ethical codes, whether Semitic. Aryan or Mongolian, have rticoipibjed the right* of the weak, places them Infinitely above the myths he extols, whose ethic* are those of tho soldier and tiwoshbucklor, which ax all times and amonjr ail pooploa have been tho»o of Urn bally. "&»«*€» to nr and

"damned be the weakest" may Bult your correspondent, who apparently is an admirer of "the mailed fist." but they should form no part of the moral code of a civilised being. Many centuries before the alleged founder of Christianity enunciated his impossible doctrine: "Love your on«>m<nfl/' Zoroaster the Persian, the founder of the Parse© faith, declared The Sandal Tree perfumes when riven The Axe which lays It low, Let man who hopes to be forgiven; Forgive and bless his foe. And a century or two later Confucius, admittedly one of the greatest moral teachers of all time; said that it was the duty of Man to love Ms neighbor, and treat his enemy with justice. The essence of aD civilisation is the recognition of the rights of the weak as against the power of tho strong, and if your correspondent claims otherwise, he is tacitly justifying Germany's part In the war that Is now devastating Europe, for the military power m that country is only endeavoring to carry out tho teachings he affects to admire. I do not agree that the bulk of mankind, or any portion of the race, require religion, by which I presume your correspondent means a belief In a personal dioty of some sort and a future life, but if It were necessary to substitute another superstition for the different ones that now afflict humanity, I should select as an object of worship something nobler than either Jehovah or Woden, both of whom had much In common, as they were the ideals of peoples emerging from savagery. As for the Heaven or Valhalla of the ancient Teutons with its perpetual fighting and orgies of drunkenness and gluttony, even the Christian Heaven, with Its monotonously beautiful pearly gates and golden stairs, its incessant shouting of "Holy!" "Holy!" "Holy!" and the dolorous twanging of tho celestial harp, would be preferable. It la better to be bored than disgusted. "Sheoi" and "Nlrvhana" do not form part of the ancient Germanic religions. Tho former, which is Hebrew, is a term used to denote tne abode of departed spirits, and is the equivalent of the Greek Hades, The latter pertains to Buddhism, and la not a place, bat a condition. Buddhism, as your cor respondent should know, is a p&ntheistio religion and one of Its doctrines Is that, when the soul has completed its cycle of migration*. It shall be reabsorbed Into the Infinite.—- Youm, eto_ _ "AGNOSTIC." • Christen urch..