THE SECRET IKON

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 986, 31 May 1930, Page 8

THE SECRET IKON

THE QTJIET CORKER

W?itten Tor THE SUN by the Rev. Charles Chandler “A inan without a religion, is like a man without a heart.”—Tolstoy. \\riIENEVER a census of denominations , as to adherents, is taken, it is surprising hoiv few there are who declare themselves to he actual non-believers. It is my contention that all men are instinctively religious, for the very obvious reason that the “ unknown ” is so much in excess of the known. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and “ an undevout astronomer is mad,” are two well-known axioms that might well be coupled together. Disturbing rumours are reaching us with regard to a?iti-God propaganda in Russia. If the Bolsheviks icere purely scientific, as they are deemed to be by many disciples of Marx, then they would pursue their course, oblivious of all else save the further revelation of truth. They would not quarrel with orthodoxy. The scientific mind never dissipates its energy upon shattering idols. It is far too anxious to allow Truth to speak for herself. Men will transfer their allegiance, when the old gods are eclipsed by the new. Bolshevism represents an attempt to establish the kingdom of heaven, the millenium (or what you will) upon earth, per medium of Marxian materialism. Social discontent and other evils attendant upon the “old regime,” are being treated as problems in mathematics. By the process of a mechanical-collectivism, they are seeking to achieve what, the spiritual religionist claims, can only be achieved along the lines of faith and hope, in conjunction with a sound economic understanding. Meanwhile, it is my honest contention that even the most rabid materialist, in spite of his atheistic professions , is yet a believer in God upon the sly. Tucked away in his heart there is a secret ikon, or symbol of his faith, with which he communes in moments of anxiety and stress, and the presence of which he denies when trying to show a bold front to the world.