World Unity/Volume 14/Issue 3/Text

[Page 128]

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

Volume XIV, June, 1934

Peace Among Religions ......

The Celestial and Terrestial

Currents «is &# & a 8 we 8 Eduard Benes ......+ ++ « «

The World's Seven Great

Historical Religions .... Liberal Approach to History... World Advance ......2+.2+es. On Race Segregation.......

Interpreting Hungarian Culture Notes on the Current Issue Advertisements

Editorial

Merton S. Yewdale Joseph S. Roucek

Jabez T. Sunderland Frances Alder Oscar Newfang Leslie P. Hill

. Meda Lynn

129-130

131-135 136-146

147-166 167-179 180-182 183-186 187-189 190

191-192 �[Page 129]PEACE AMONG RELIGIONS EDITORIAL

HE same forces which for a century have given increasing importance to the ideal of peace among the nations have

also been acting upon the institutions identified with the world’s historic religions. The virtue of toleration stands as the moral equivalent of the political virtue of peace.

One of the greatest manifestations of peace ever achieved in history was the union of the American States by the Federal Con- stitution, for thirteen sovereign governments thereby entered a structure of peace and did not merely sign treaties abjuring war while retaining the war-making power in their hands. The nature of the structure, indeed, was not fully understood until it had been tested in the fire of the Civil War.

In making religious freedom a constitutional guarantee, the American nation achieved a spiritual victory far beyond the capacity of the organized religions of that time. It erected a firm barrier on the pathway of human evolution behind which the civilization of a great continent could develop free from the moral seditions and tyrannies by which so many previous civilizations had been de- stroyed.

But religious “freedom” is merely the negative half of the fundamental truth. It establishes restraints upon public expressions of intolerance, but it does not uproot the sources of intolerance nor even remove the ultimate goal of sectarian victory from the realm of organized intent, since what a majority has duly voted in one generation can conceivably be annulled by majority vote at some later time.

The present public movement upholding true and sincere religious tolerance in America may be considered to be an effort on the part of religious bodies to catch up to the standard adopted

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by the Constitution one hundred and fifty years ago. It aims to establish a moral attitude, a positive outlook, conforming to the spirit of the guarantee of religious freedom. The possibilities of this movement are tremendous; if successful it will create an in- fluence reaching to the ends of earth.

It is significant, however, that the movement upholding toler- ance is lay rather than clerical in nature. It reflects the spirit of those religious bodies in which the lay membership holds predom- inant power, not the spirit of the bodies in which authority is vested in professional clerics.

This fact presents both advantage and disadvantage. On the one hand, it tends to bring the ideal of tolerance closer to the general public in terms of normal daily life. On the other hand it involves no changes at all in fundamental creed or ecclesiastical practice.

The end can only be a situation in which the churches will be compelled to annul all those articles which make intolerance a constitutional faith, or one in which the inertia of the ecclesiastical attitude toward life will succeed in slaying the bird of tolerance in mid flight.

The terms on which individuals can rightly insist that the movement toward peace among the religions may prove itself wholly sincere will include not merely the formal abandonment of constitutional intolerance, but a complete revision of the education supplied from ecclesiastical sources. These terms are the irreducible minimum, and as such stand as the firm test by which sincerity and insincerity can be readily distinguished.

Back of this interesting contemporary movement we may dis- cern a spiritual quickening whose full implications are not yet realized—the quickening which directs religious thought back to the Prophet himself. For this re-direction of thought and conscience means that people are discovering religion before the church was born.

H. H. �[Page 131]THE CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL CURRENTS by

MERTON S. YEWDALE Editor

N its journey around the Sun, the Earth travels from left to

| like the hands of a clock. In its rotary motion, it spins on its axis also from left to right. Cosmically, left is the point of beginning and right the point of completion.

There is in the cosmos a great invisible current which moves from left to right in an ellipse. In the solar systems it carries the planets around the Suns, on the Earth it carries the spirit of the East to the West. This is the heavenly current of the East, or the Current Celestial.

Now in the East and in the West, intuition and reason have always been our sole sources of knowledge. By intuition, the uni- verse enters man; by reason, man enters the universe. Intuition is the flow of the cosmic tide into man; reason is the ebb of the cosmic tide out of man. By intuition, man receives the spiritual wisdom of the universe; by reason, man imposes the forms of his mind on the universe. By intuition, the farthest reaches of the spiritual world are brought to the center of man’s innermost being. By reason, man penetrates to the farthest reaches of the scientific world: infinity and infinitesimality. Intuition is the crystal ball in which man sees the working of the invisible universe. Reason is the microscope, field glass, and telescope in which man sees the working of the visible universe. Intuition reveals the face and spirit of things. Reason reveals the form and structure of things.

From intuition comes religion; from intuition and reason comes art, from reason comes science. In religion, intuition reveals a knowledge of the Universal Power. In art, intuition inspires the creative will in man; reason discovers the principles of aesthetic

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creation. In science, reason reveals the physical structure and op- eration of the universe and its natural laws.

To this day we do not know for a certainty when the East be- came conscious of religion, art, and science. But we are reasonably sure that religion came first, not only because of the many religious systems of doctrine and ritual which have come down in history and which have influenced and formed part of modern religious systems, but because man has ever carried within him that all-im- portant question, ““Who made the universe and me?” No matter how far back you look into the history of the East, you will see gods and temples—in Sumeria, Akkadia, Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, China, India, Chaldea, Israel, Canaan, Persia, Arabia, Greece. Re- ligion flowered everywhere, and by his art and science man built places of worship. In his Sacred Scriptures he set forth his spiritual ideals and conceptions and designed religious laws and observances. In song and chant, he sent his praises heavenward on wings of melody. He adorned his temples with paintings and sculptures. Religion was King, and art and science were the two greatest aides. Religion reigned all over the East for thousands of years.

But at a period, which we can now only conjecture, the vari- ous religions began to move, as though magnetically drawn, toward the west, toward Canaan, toward the Jews, who were destined to receive, by means of the celestial current which flowed to them, the spiritual treasures of the East, and to absorb and consolidate them into a religion which would be monotheistic. And this they did. But except for temple building and scriptural writing, they frowned upon art and science. Sacred but not profane music they would have. Paintings and sculptures were forbidden. Science was an enemy to the Bible.

But the celestial current was not to stop with the Jews. Judaism was to flower into Christianity and Mohammedanism. At first, Christianity and Mohammedanism ruled out the profane use of the arts and looked angrily at science. But with the civilizing of Europe, the fine arts became subject to the various nations and the means of the aesthetic expression of personal and national aims and ideals. Science became an instrument among the peoples to �[Page 133]CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL CURRENTS 133

develop the natural resources of their countries and to improve the quality of their communal life. Whereas in the East, man originally sought to humble himself that he might understand, in the West he has sought to elevate himself that he might command.

Farthest west of the East is America, the extreme point at which the celestial current can deposit its cargo before continuing its course over the Pacific and returning home. America, therefore, is the final depository of the treasures of the East.

Nothing was more natural and logical than that religion should have been the first to come from the East to the West; for religion has always been and still is the most powerful influence in Eastern life. Art which came second, and science which came third, have ever been regarded in the East through the window of religion. In this order, these three great forces came into Europe and then crossed the Atlantic to enter America. The history of Europe and America is the history of how, through the growth of the scientific spirit, the order of these forces in the West has been reversed, so that, in point of Western contribution and development, they now are: science, art, religion.

In the early history of America, the Eastern order of religion, art, and science still prevailed. It was religion that brought farther west those religiously persecuted peoples of Europe who sought freedom in America as a sanctuary. Likewise, their works of art in literature, music, Dauining, and sculpture—were under the in- fluence of religion at.d tinge’ ~vith its ethical spirit. Furthermore, science, in its impersonal incuiry into the operation of the natural universe, was regarded with suspicion and fear by religion, and as a positively dangerous enemy when its findings clashed with the science of Holy Writ. Yet in less than three hundred years, the whole order changed completely. Science has emerged from third to first place, and is now an unlimited monarch in America. It has not only compelled religion to be reconciled to it, but it has com- municated so much of its spirit that religion has become a divine science, which can be voluntarily invoked and used as an instru- ment to assist in the solving of man’s spiritual and earthly prob- lems. It has forced literature and music, hitherto severely formal, �[Page 134]124 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

out of the realm of the idealistic and has imposed upon them a formlessness that has enabled them to portray and interpret life in the realm of the realistic. On painting and sculpture, science has placed an architectural and geometric form, which has resulted in works whose aesthetic feeling has something of mathematics in it. In the practical world, science has explored the great natural forces of the universe and has, for purposes of study and use, im- prisoned them in machines wonderfully and ingeniously made. By science, theoretical and applied, man in the West, particularly in America, has tried to make himself master of all knowledge and ruler over the forces of Earth and of Life.

Just as there is a heavenly current of the East, or Current Celestial, which, moving from left to right, carried to the West that which was most powerful and most perfectly developed in Eastern life—pure religion, so is there an earthly current of the West, or Current Terrestrial, which, moving from right to left, has carried to the East that which has been most powerful and per- fectly developed in Western life—applied science. That there is a Western current, which has not only metaphysical but scientific reality, is attested to by aviators who assert that there is a curious force in the air which carries them forward when flying from west to east, particularly across the Atlantic, while there is a distinctly opposing force when flying from east to west. The Current Ter- restrial is therefore also the scientific current. Nothing is more mystical than that the air, the last medium of locomotion to be conquered by man, should reveal the hitherto unknown and unsus- pected terrestrial current.

With the rise of science, the West is confronted with the syn- thesis of religion, which is being purified of its superstitious ex- crescences by science and made more universal and metaphysical and at the same time more therapeutic for curing the ills and abuses of personal and communal life; of art, which has been in- fluenced to recreate aesthetically life on earth, and geometrically the appearance of man’s surroundings; of the branches of science which have penetrated far into the world of infinity and infinitesi- mality and have designed and built the machines of civilization. �[Page 135]CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL CURRENTS 135

The East is confronted with the synthesis of thousands of years of religion, art, and science through which there still runs a strong strain of cosmic purity, and amid which the scientific ideas and machines of the West have come.

Endurance and patience have ever been characteristic of the East. That they are virtues in the face of insuperable difficulties and the practical inevitabilities of life is unquestioned. Yet if they are carried too far, they are liable to produce apathy and a disinclina- tion to try to overcome the difficulties, some of which may not be insuperable.

Initiation and restlessness have ever characterized the West; and while they have resulted in research and action to overcome difficulties, they have made the West deficient in endurance and patience, and incapable of that inner peace which comes from con- tentment and tranquillity of mind.

Neither the East nor the West has enough individually to war- rant one trying to absorb or impose itself on the other. Each has somethtng that the other needs—and needs badly. That the Cur- rent Celestial is still coming to the West, and the Current Ter- restrial is still going to the East, is the best evidence that both the East and the West will gain much from each other; and what is more important—will have a better understanding of each other. �[Page 136]EDUARD BENES by

JOSEPH S. ROUCEK Pennsylvania State College

1): EDUARD BENES, present Czechoslavak Foreign Minis-

ter, presents one of the most interesting personalities in

our post-war international relations and diplomacy. As an

object of admiration and thus also a subject of frequent attacks he somehow is not a figure which would head the front pages of our sensational newspapers. I rather have the impression that the small news, which trickle through our newspaper columns, give him more justice than any blare of trumpets. From time to time an article in a book on European personalities includes mention of Benes. However, there are not very many works which give all the necessai, .ckground for the study of this man, who is prob- ably one of the greatest living statesmen. The lack of material makes a serious and academic study very hard. Because Benes repre- sents Czechoslovakia as her foreign minister, the standpoint usually taken by a writer depends upon whether he likes the developments of that new State. Thus one can know beforehand whether the study will take the favorable or unfavorable view. It is unfortunate that the whole background is muddled up with such questions as the revision of the Peace Treaties or the problem of minorities, in which, of course, Benes has constantly to play the diplomatic game and as a representative of his nation adopt a certain course, which might not sometimes seem very advantageous to the proponents of world unity.

It must be emphasized, however, that this introduction does not serve as an excuse. No excuse is necessary. Benes will be pre- sented here in the light of the actual facts and on the basis of his philosophy, which, after all, is the most concrete background of the appreciation of any man.

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It should be pointed out that the culture and achievements of small nations are very seldom known to the world, unless they present something very spectacular. Czechoslovakia belongs to such a category. But Benes is really one of the few contemporary Czechoslovakians really known to the world; we can go so far as to say that besides Masaryk nobody is known better than he. The fundamental reason and explanation lies in the fact that the fame is not based on his present position as a Czechoslovak minister, but on his importance in the political and diplomatic life of Europe and the post-war world in general.

Benes is one of the youngest personalities in European politics. As a child of the last great revolution, he was brought to the top of the new system as numerous other men—during other revolu- tions as well as by the present one—have been lifted up by the crest of the wave. But the course of revolutionary practice made an exception with the career of Benes. While others rode the wave for a while and disappeared just as quickly as they came up, Benes stayed on, because he has been able to adjust himself to the new conditions and environment. Let us realize, for example, that he is the only foreign minister of Europe who has held his position from 1918 to the present time.

Benes is the youngest son of the family of ten children, which had for its background generations of peasants working hard for their substance. Such a life makes no weaklings; its burdens can be carried on only by strong people, who do not give up before any obstacle and duty put up to them. The members of the family (one of them lives in America) are the peuple of deeds backed by tre- mendous energies. Benes was born on May 28, 1884, in the village of Kozlany in Bohemia. Nature gave him a small figure. Some psychologists teach us that many a great man, like Napoleon, if we may call him ‘“‘great,” Poincare, Lloyd George, found this han- dicap a blessing in disguise, and was psychologically influenced to make himself greater in other spheres. During his schooldays, Benes was full of independent thinking and felt instinctively what would be necessary to learn for the future. Hence he spent hours studying the subjects which he liked and spent all his extra hours �[Page 138]138 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

gathering material. Thus he learned French fluently in three years. Logic, psychology, and history were his favorite subjects. Philo- sophic materialism and positivism, anti-clerical rationalism and a tendency to socialism were his world outlooks, mostly undigested and not very definite. We cannot expect any more from a youth of nineteen years.

In 1904 Benes registered at the Charles University of Prague. His interest centered in so-called practical philosophy, as pro- pounded by Masaryk, which included a wide theoretical basis for the solving of important questions of public life. Masaryk was the drawing power for Benes. The individuality of Benes is shown from the following sentences: ‘‘Very often I felt an instinctive op- position to what (Masaryk) used to say.” But what Benes liked was Masaryk’s intense idealism and his challenge to think criticially and be spiritually independent.

Then Benes left for France to study at the suggestion of Masaryk. His resistance to Masaryk’s ideas began to disappear and soon Benes was on the side of critical individualism.

When Benes arrived to Paris in 1905, he registered at the Sor- bonne, and hoped to make his living mainly by his correspondence for Czech papers. Optimism, more than food, kept him alive in his small room. The French system allowed him also to register at the ‘““L’Ecole des Sciences Politiques and Sociales,” and at Dijon University. Benes studied, wrote articles for Czech and French newspapers, and made a miserable living. The less he received for his articles, the more he had to write, translate, etc. That taught him to observe everything around him, to observe critically and study fundamentally his favorite social questions. In 1906 he worked on his doctorial thesis, “‘Le Probléme autrichien et la ques- tion tchéque,” in which he advocated the decentralization and fed- eralization of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The volume was really a part of his preparation for his revolutionary work, by which he helped to dissolve the Monaichy.

The two years of residence in France had great influence on our student. ‘“To observe, to analyze and to think” was his task. His cosmopolitan outlook already began to take definite shape. He �[Page 139]EDUARD BENES 139

admired the broad national traditions of France and the spirit of the Great Revolution. “On all sides the cosmopolitan traditions are mixing themselves harmoniously, all that is human from all parts of the world, finds here a response in literature, art, social life...”

In 1908 Benes received his doctorate from the University of Dijon, returned to Prague a year later, married Miss Anna Vlckova, who proved to be his most devoted life-companion, received an- other doctorate in Prague and became professor of political econ- omy at the Czechoslovak Commercial Academy in Prague. He con- tinued in his writings and a little volume, titled “The Nationalistic Question” (1909), dealt with his philosoyhical understanding of the problem, which is “simply a question of progress, the question of democracy, the question of freedom.” In 1913 Benes was ap- pointed to the philosophic faculty of Czech University and a year later of Czech Technical High School.

Then the World War came and in 1915 Benes joined Masaryk abroad. The tremendous results which both statesmen produced are too well known to require detailed comment. In cooperation with General Stefanik, another international figure, they worked for the creation of the Czechoslovak State. The part played by Benes is related in his My War Memoirs (New York and Boston, 1928).

Afte: the War Benes began to play an influential part in inter- national relations. He gave a certain personal touch to the foreign policy of his country, brought new elements into international af- fairs and became a new type of statesman, who knew how to com- bine patriotism with ideals of peace. He has played an influential part in the League of Nations. With his new international policy he create.’ many partisans and even more bitter political enemies at home. For even at home Benes continues logically. in following the precepts of successful foreign policy: ‘Even our internal con- solidation can only be accomplished by this policy of peace, democ- racy and progress. In domestic affairs our plan and program are the logical sequel to our foreign policy: namely, social and racial order and justice and hard work for social and political democracy. This is a policy for every part and for every race; it is the policy for all for the good of all. Only with a policy of peace is it possible to

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proceed to great social reforms which the whole world desires and for which we too have entered the lists and must fight with all our energy.”

Benes’ viewpoints were clearly formulated by him: “I am con- vinced. that nobody can make good policy, who has no program of ideas. . . It is nearly suicidal to believe that foreign policy is mostly interested in clever diplomacy-making, juggling among different factors and touchy situations, or conquetting with this or that. Every policy, and primarily foreign policy, needs stable diplomatic foun- dations, a stable world outiook, which gives a steady program of ideas to its every move and thus also the sign of calmness, sureness, creativeness, and the knowing of a goal, moral strength and firm- ness. Such policy gains recognition and confidence in the world, Such should be our foreign policy.”

Benes expounds his viewpoints in numerous speeches and writings. The most important one of them is a lecture delivered by him on December 2, 1925, at King’s College, London, entitled, “The Problem of the Small Nations After the World War.”

Like Masaryk, Benes believes in the necessity of providing the small nations with independence and thus also with the opportunity of contributing, by means of their own national civilizations, to- wards the raising of the general level of human culture. Histori- cally, Benes considers that the Renaissance and the Reformation provided the foundation for modern political individualism to- gether with humanism; the philosophy of Descartes, English liberal philosophy, and the French Encyclopedists prepared the way for the English and American revolutions. This philosophy broke up medieval feudal-aristocratic conceptions and led to the creation of the foundations of modern constitutionalism together with the philosophy of humanity, the philosophy of political and social equality and of full, modern political democracy. The World War was a struggle between two camps with diametrically opposed phil- osophical conceptions of politics and the structure of modern so- ciety in general. The old medieval bureaucratic structure of Aus- tria, together with the spirit of imperialism and militarism of Ger- many and Oriental philosophy of violence of Turkey had to yield �[Page 141]EDUARD BENES I4I

to the Allies, who represented more or less the ideals of modern political democracy. According to Benes an element, viz., Russia, representing the conception possessed by the Central Powers, had to be defeated.

The idea of nationalism, though a product of modern times, was born from the philosophy of the Renaissance, Reformation and the French Revolution, which proclaimed the rights of the indi- vidual and the citizen and demands the realization of the principles of democracy as regards the nation as a whole. “In a word, the philosophy of humanitarianism is the basis of modern democracy, which in its turn is the source of a nation’s claim as a whole to political, economic, and cultural liberty.” In this logical reasoning Benes continues and states that in some of the countries of Europe the chauvinistic element acquired the upper hand because the coun- try has not experienced the spiritual revolution required by the war and by the needs of post-war Europe. In other words, Benes ex- plains the situation on the basis of the inability of extreme national- ism to agree to internationalism.

By applying this philosophy to concrete statesmanship Benes demands that each state possessing minorities must “treat them with justice and wisdom,” because it is a problem of world-wide political significance, and insists that the minorities, on the other hand, must not carry their policies to the extremes. Speedy recon- struction of the old relations needec’ 1 rapid consolidation and a strengthening of the new political system of Central Europe. The collaboration with the League of Nations is of special importance to Benes: ‘“We have energetically taken part in the work of dis- armament ...and...as far as it was possible for us as a small na- tion, we contributed towards the ensuring of peace not only for ourselves and our neighbors, but also for the rest of Europe.”

The conclusion of this consideration brings him to the real wish for internationalism: “In the long run the world, the whole of mankind, the small states, as well as the large ones, are governed by the same principles and ideas. . . The Czechoslovak people wishes, today and in the future .. . to be faithful to the noblest principles of democracy and thus to become a great competitor in �[Page 142]142 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

the sphere of civilization and the things of the spirit. It is in this way that it will best fulfil its mission among the nations and the civilization of the new Europe.”

Going a step further, Benes came to a conclusion that no na- tional culture can exist without being in agreement with the world outlook. The “national culture, which includes political, economic, social, artistic, moral, and spiritual elements in general, remained a great and permanent feature in the history of mankind only as long as it corresponded with humanitarian ideals. Therefore all national cultures must strive after agreement with these ideals, which cannot be dispensed with, and must not be combated. They can and must vie with each other in the contest for moral values. I regard patriotism as love for culture of one’s own nation and respect for the culture of another nation.” (My War Memoirs, p. 494.)

The whole philosophy of his foreign policy is defined by Benes as idealistic realism. It is not enough for him to have great ideas. It is also necessary to prepare the ground by daily work for the Luture pei» dcas: “Without giving up his high ideals, modern statesman must propound practical policy. He must observe all elements of public life of the state and the nation, evaluate all the factors of political, economic, social and moral life, must strictly evaluate the strength of material and moral component parts, recog- nize and know the value of political parties and individuals. . . From all this he forms his political synthesis and chooses daily decisions, destined for tomorrow and for the far-off future. Never gives he up his program and ideal, makes no compromise in the principles, but understands, on the contrary, a compromise in the tactics. .. He makes no policy of prestige, no policy of personal ambitions and egoism. . . Never he goes back, stays only for one moment at the most when forced by circumstances to stop on the gained position, gaining forces for further journey. This is the con- ception of idealistic realism.”

Here we have the methods of Benes. No foreign policy should look for temporary triumphs and sensational effects. That we have such a policy today is only a matter of record of current history and we all know it. But real foreign policy, which will consider inter: �[Page 143]EDUARD BENES 143

nationalism, must give up cheap temporary triumphs, must not offend without avail and not to bluff, not to promise more than it can fulfil. In other words, Benes opposes Machiavelism, and pro- pounds moral code for politics. And such policy, to be effective, must not work in clouds but know the concrete flow of historical tendencies and be aware where they are heading. Such statesman must be realistic idealist, that is a worker who is able to find ways and means for the realization of ideals. Otherwise he is not a statesman, but a poet, or a prophet. If Benes works on this basis, then we have one of the most sincere idealists for internationalism and world unity. Benes sees the goal. It might be far but to him it is reachable. It should be also for all of us. Benes is fully aware how much time it takes to realize ideals and how it is hard to speed up the rhythms of their advance. Hence he avoids basing his ac- tions on only one hypothesis. If he is checked, he is willing to give up temporarily or to find another way for his next plan. Such policy also presents a type of nationalism which is not closed in the frame of hundred-percentism, and creates confidence as it becomes valu- able factor of international cooperation.

This policy contrasts strongly with the diplomatic art of Met- ternich, Talleyrand, or that propounded by Bethmann-Holweg, for whom “necessity knows no law” or the treaty become a piece of a scfap-paper. Benes is no cynic or sceptic. He is not a realist of the type of Bismarck. He knows the dangers of injustice and hence knows the value of international solidarity. ““As nations and States agree, and will continue increasingly to agree, on the subject of territory, disarmament, minorities, the international use of rivers and seas, so they will be compelled to agree on the division of eco- nomic output, on markets, on raw materials, on the emigration of surplus population, on economic contact with backward States and nations. These are, and will continue to be, the most immediate and also the most important tasks of the post-war world.”

As any principle has its dangerous extremes, Benes is not fool- ish enough to go to extremes. Democracy, the new religion of the nineteenth and twentieth century, is not such a great success at the present time. We hear of its extreme forms, and these extremes �[Page 144]144 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

brought in their wake anti-democratic movements of today. Thus Benes says: “But I do not cherish an illusion or exaggerated hopes as to international democratization and the ideas of democratiza- tion in general use as a panacea which will secure the permanent peace and welfare of mankind. Even democracies are not always free from tendencies towards expansion and imperialism. And as regards the failings and difficulties of the League of Nations, I am acquainted with them perhaps better than many critics of the League, just as I know the actual measure of its influence today. I assert, however, that the process of democratization is one through which the present-day development of mankind is passing and will continue to pass, that it involves the perfection of the present-day organization of the world, that it is a step, if not towards perfection and lasting happiness, at least to something better than we had be- fore the war and than we have today. It limits the evils of the past, and reduces their dangers for the future. That in itself is a great deal. Therefore I am an herent and a champion of this process, of these ideas, of this development, although I am well aware that it will not solve definitely either the problem of the social structure of the community, or that of the final relationship between States and nations, from which war will perhaps never be entirely elim- inated. I regard this process, however, as a proper development towards a more lasting peace, and that is where I seek the progress which the Great War rendered possible.” (My War Memoirs, P- 497).

The democratization of foreign policy cannot be pushed to its logical extremes because the main problem of any democracy is the problem how to educate the citizens for democracy. Democ- racy has a tendency to anarchy, if it is not backed by intelligent citizenship. On the other hand, substantial democratization of cer- tain groups only is not satisfactory for foreign policy, and we must have democracies also in other groups (states in our case), which are in international contacts. Heretofore we had no international patriotism. The struggle at the present is the struggle for the prin- ciples of international democracy, the fight for new humanity, and the attempt to get the principles of humanity to govern our modern �[Page 145]EDUARD BENES 145

life. The humanity as a whole is beginning to bé conscious of knowing itself as a unit. The knowledge of the whole is therefore necessary for each democracy. To work for humanity means also to work for such conscious democracy. But it is more than a work, itis the duty. Benes found for himself new methods to realize such duty. He knows well where it leads to. He said, perhaps too con- sciously: “I know quite well, what I can do and what I know how to do. Never in my life have I cheated and I shall never cheat. I begin to fight, when I know that I shall win. I know that I shall reach the goal, because my goal is always reachable.”

It is unnecessary to discuss the future of Benes. So far his career was success. His activity is enormous—at home, in inter- national commissions, in the League of Nations, etc. It is very hard to get a chance to see him. As soon as he returns to Prague, he is busy with political negotiations in the Parliament, or paitici- pating in some scientific Congress held somewhere in Europe. Then he writes some excellent articles, makes some important speech somewhere, and rushcs off again to some international conferences or gatherings. To be frank, such unheard of activity in different fields is the source of danger. Some day the physique of the man will break. No constitution of any man stands more than it can carry. The load is enormous.

We must not forget that Benes must fight also against his en- vironment at home. He was not brought up to his position because he represented the wishes of his group. On the contrary, Benes was the one who brought new elements into the political life and state organism of his State. He feels very instinctively the needs of the nation, but all members of his nation are not able to catch up with his enlightened thinking. Chauvinism is his greatest enemy at home, and is just as dangerous in other countries. Stresemann, Briand, as well as numerous other leaders of the new international spirit, were faced with it. Benes and Masaryk cannot entirely check the excesses of nationalism and democracy. Jingoism is strength- ened by personal prejudices. Some of the Czechoslovak leaders do not like the course of the events, because it has not followed the way they had it pre-outlined for themselves, and their glorified ego �[Page 146]146 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

aggravates the personal attacks. Sometime one wonders that Masaryk and Benes do not give up their work and that they do not devote themselves to more peaceful pursuits of daily life.

We might conclude with a certain sense of satisfaction that this article will straighten out many doubtful points in the mind of the readers about Benes. To know more is to understand better. We might have different viewpoints about different matters, be- cause the applied measure-sticks differ. In this instance we analyzed the contribution of the Czechoslovak statesman to the cause of humanity, or world unity—if you want to call it so. In his own way, Benes helped much. His philosophy is certainly a contribu- tion in itself. Possibly we are getting a little tired of the steady preaching of internationalism among the intellectuals of this coun- try. But in Benes we find an intellectual who must spur us on with his practical efforts.

Let me finish with these prophetic words of one paragraph which appears in the final chapter, called ‘Final Reflections,” in his My War Memoirs. ‘For him who believes in the ideals of hu- manity, every step, every act, every sentiment is a service to human- ity, to the nation, and to the progress of his own individuality at the same time. Such service and such labours do not await nor de- mand recognition or reward. They are an end in themselves, giving the individual the maximum of satisfaction and the maximum range for expressing his personality. Such labour is regularly accompan- ied and sanctified by religious faith.” And such optimism closes the book: ‘“‘The events of the last twelve years have nevertheless strengthened my optimism—an optimism based upon the realities of life, prompted by imagination, grappling with hardships and injustices, and leading the spirit to a labour permeated with the desire for ideals; in short, a firm, active, and uncompromising optimism.”

The forty-first article in the series ‘‘Aposties of World Unity" begun in October, 1927. �[Page 147]THE WORLD’S SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS by

JABEZ T. SUNDERLAND Author of “The Origin of the Bible,” etc.

A Comparison and An Appreciation

ica perhaps somewhat startling, that all the great historic re-

ligions of mankind, as well as everv one of the important sacred

books of the world, have originated in Asia.

From China come Confucianism and Taoism, with their sacred writings. From India comes that great religion known in the vari- ous stages of its development as Vedasism, Brahmanism and Hindu- ism, with its Vedas, Upanishads and other sacred books many. Also from India comes the widespread and ethically noble religion of Buddha, with its sacred volumes, the Tripitaka or Three Baskets. From Persia comes Zoroastrianism, with its Zend-Avesta. From Arabia Mohammedanism (Islam) and the Koran. From Palestine, Judaism and Christianity, with their sacred books, the Old and New Testaments.

Thus we see that the world’s highest and best religious life, not only in Asia, but in every continent, has been moulded and shaped, and, so far as we can see, is likely for a long time to come to be moulded and shaped, primarily by the great religious faiths and the sacred books which have sprung from a single continent. The significance of all this will appear more clearly if we study these great historic religions separately and a little in detail.

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We may fittingly turn first of all to India, since it is that his- toric and venerable land that gave to the world what is probably its oldest sacred book, the Rig Veda, together with the attractive religion which it teaches.

= Is an interesting fact, and to the people of Europe and Amer-

147 �[Page 148]148 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

The Rig Veda is a book of religious hymns, composed by the early Aryan immigrants into India, probably from 1500 to 1200 years B.C., in the “Land of the Five Rivers,” that is, in the highlands of the Northwest, among the streams that form the headwaters of the great Indus. These hymns are ascriptions of praise and worship to the bright nature-gods, or personifications of the powers of nature, believed in by the people. As poetical compositions, they are striking in their thought and in their imagery, and are full of the spirit of a vigorous, joyous and conquering people, <s they are also fuil of the charm of outdoor life, of open skies, of mountains and flowing streams, of dawns and evenings, of lightnings and rain clouds, of flocks and herds. Thus they reflect the spirit of their religion (properly called Vedism) which was very picturesque, very free, very near to nature and very simple.

But this earliest form of faith of the Indian Aryans passed through many and great changes in its long subsequent career. Like so many other religions in the history of the world, as time went on it tended to lose its early simplicity, spontaneity, freshness and freedom, and to become artificial, elaborate, and burdened with ceremonials and priestly tyrannies. If we come down a thous- and years from the time of the birth of the Vedic hymns, we find the religion which thev taught transformed into the elaborate, artificial, formal, stately, but oppressive faith known as Brahman- ism; and if we come down two thousand years more, to our modern age, we discover it transformed still further into that strangely diverse and contradictory, and yet strangely unified and harmonious agglomeration of religious faiths, worships, sects, superstitions, asceticisms, philosophies and pieties known as Hinduism,—the re- ligion, today, (and it must be added, the intensely living religion) of more than 240,000,000 out of the 350,000,000 people of India.

In the long period of its history it has produced a sacred litera- ture the most extensive in the world,—supplementing the first Veda of hymns with two later Vedas of prayers, incaitations and litur- gies, and then adding, as time went on, works of spiritual medita- tion, of deep devotion, of profound philosophical thought, codes of laws, ethical treatises, great epic poems, dramas, lyrics, tales, �[Page 149]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 149

sermons, writings of nearly every known literary form, and also of almost every conceivable literary, ethical and religious quality.

Thus the religion of India, under its different names, may be thought of, not inappropriately, under the symbolism of a great and majestic river, whose headwaters appear in the far-away Vedic mountain highlands, and which flows on and on, full of strange shallows and mysterious deeps, through more than thirty centuries, receiving into itself during its long course many tributaries to change its character and to swell its on-sweeping waters, and in its tortuous ways flowing sometimes through broad fertile valleys atid sometimes through dark and malarious jungles, but ever increasing in volume and power until it becomes what we see it today,—per- haps the most comprehensive and inclusive, the most mysterious and subtle, and yet the most tenacious and persistent religion in the world, embracing within itself almost every form of faith and worship from the crudest polytheism to the most vague and ab- struse pantheism and the loftiest theism, and almost every grade of morals from the lowest and most sensual to the very highest and purest.

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But Hinduism, although the great central stream of Indian re- ligion, is not the only important historic faith that this remarkable land has given to mankind. Buddhism also was born on Indian soil. It sprang from Buddha (Gautama the Buddha, the ‘“En- lightened” One).

In a sense Buddha was the Luther of India. The religious movement which he inaugurated was India’s Protestant Reforma- tion. Six centuries before Christ the old religion of the land, that which I have called Vedism in its beginning and Brahiaanism and Hinduism in its later developments, had become burdensome, tyran- nical and corrupt, much as had Roman Catholicism in Europe when Luther came on the scene. Then arose India’s Luther, to break the chains, to free the people, and to give them a religion without cruel castes, without burdensome ceremonials or sacrifices, and ethically of a higher type than they had previously known.

Buddha was one of the really great religious teachers of the �[Page 150]150 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

world. He seems to have been the son of a Prince, or the ruler of a small kingdom; but he gave up his heirship to a throne, put on the garb of a mendicant, and devoted his whole life in the most self-sacrificing manner to the religious welfare of the people. The re- ligion he taught was a way of salvation—salvation primarily from the sufferings, sorrows and evils incident to human life, and the attainment of Nirvana or perfect peace.* This salvation was to be attained by means of eight steps, namely Right Views, Right Feel- ings, Right Words, Right Behavior, Right Mode of Living, Right Efforts, Right Recollections and Right Meditation. He also laid down five moral precepts or commands, which his followers were expected to obey and to teach their children. These were: (1) Not to take life; (2) not to steal; (3) careful sexual control; (4) not to lie, deceive or slander; (5) not to drink intoxicating liquors. He taught the doctrine of non-resistance, that evil cannot be over- come by evil, but only by good. He taught the doctrine of human brotherhood in a most emphatic and impressive way, both by pre- cept and example. His religion became a great influence for peace, gentleness, toleration and goodwill.

Little by little Buddhism extended its sway until it became the dominant faith of India; and it remained so for many hundreds of years. Then a strange thing happened. The old Hindu faith which still continued in the land, the rival of Buddhism, but less influen- tial, commenced by degrees to regain its influence. Besides adopt- ing many popular features of the Buddhist religion, it took the bold step of making Buddha an incarnation of one of its g ‘s (Vishnu) —thus seeking to conquer its rival faith by seeming to yield to it. The result was that Hinduism began to grow stronger and stronger, by degrees regained its old power, and at last partly absorbed Buddhism and partly drove it out of India. About the tenth century of our era, after a great career of 1500 years in India, Buddhism practically ceased to be an Indian religion. From that time to the present its main home has been in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Thibet, China, Mongolia, Manchuria and Japan,—countries into which it had spread as a missionary faith, and where it numbers some hundreds of millions of adherents. As already said, its sacred

• There are different interpretations of the word Nirvana. Many interpret it as annihilation or extine-

tion of existence. But many Buddhist scholars object to this interpretation, and define it as perfect

peace, rest, �[Page 151]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 151

book is called the Tripitaka, or the Three Baskets, in which are found the teachings of its great founder.

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So much for the two great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, given to the world by the Indian branch of the Aryan or Indo- European family.

From the Persian branch of the same family comes a religion very different from either Hinduism or Buddhism. It is known as Zoroastrianism, from Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), a great religious teacher who lived in Persia or Bactria many centuries before Christ, we do not know how many, but probably somewhat later than the origin of the Vedas. Zoroaster’s religious teachings come to us in a sacred book called the Avesta or Zend-Avesta. Its ethics is singu- larly pure and its worship is of a high order of spirituality. Its philosophy is not polytheistic, and yet it is not quite monotheistic. It teaches that there are two Powers or Beings above man, a God of Light and Good, and a God of Darkness and Evil. These are in perpetual warfare; but in the end the God of Light and Good will conquer his foe, and become triumphant in the universe.

Zoroastrianism has a special interest to Jews and Christians from the fact -hat our Biblical doctrines of the devil, and angels, and perhaps to a greater or less extent of heaven and hell, seem to have come from the Zoroastrian or ancient Persian faith.

On the rise of Mohammedanism and the conquest of Persia by the successors of the Arabian Prophet, Zoroastrianism was almost wholly crushed out. A little remnant of believers fled, however, to the East and made their home in India, where their descendants are still found, and are known as Parsees (or Parsis).

In the great commercial city of Bombay these Parsees are very prominent as leading merchants, manufacturers, bankers and edu- cators. They are the solitary candle that keeps alive in the world today the flame of the old Zoroastrian faith of Persia which for many centuries held sway in western Asia, which, it is interesting to recall, was the religion of King Cyrus, the Great, who con- quered Babylon, and set the captive Jews free to return to their own land; and it was also the religion of Xerxes, the Persian king, �[Page 152]152 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

who half a century later invaded Greece.

In this connection it is curious to speculate what might hav been the fate of the Zoroastrian religion and what the religious fate of Europe if the Persians instead of the Greeks had been victors at Salamis and Plataea. If they had conquered the Greeks, would Zoroastrianism have become the religion of Greece? And further, entering Europe by the Greek door, might it have spread and in time become the faith of Euzope, thus radically changing the his- tory of the whole western world? Of course, these are idle ques- tions; and yet they have more than once been asked by very thought- ful students of history.

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Pass now from the Aryan family of the “White Race” to the so-called “Yellow Race” in China (called yellow though quite as white as southern Europeans). Here we find a great religious teacher, Confucius, and a very influential religion called after his name.* It is not easy to classify Confucianism. Some insist that it is only a system of ethics. But if so, it is an ethical system lifted up almost or quite to the dignity of a religion—a religion which in one aspect seems hardly less than theistic. Considered as a system of ethics it may be described as a great body of practical precepts, or as a moral, social and political code, designed for the govern- ment of the individual, the home, the community, and the State.

At first the teachings of Confucius were accepted by the Chinese people only unwillingly and slowly. But little by little they gained favor, until at last they became the moral law of the nation from the Emperor to the peasant. For more than two thousand years they have been the supreme authority and standard, venerated by everybody. On them we may say that the Chinest State, Chinese life, Chinese morals, Chinese civilization are all based. And this is to say very much for China, for the teachings of Confucius are among the noblest that come down to us from the past. Centuries before Christ, Confucius taught what was essentially the Golden Rule. Among his precepts are many on the high level of the following:

“Love to speak of the good in others.”

“Two other important eligious teachers of China might be mentioned in this connection, Mencius and Lao-Tse, but their influence has been much less extensive and powerful than that of Confucius. �[Page 153]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 1§3

“Only he who has most complete sincerity, can transform and inspire others.”

“If one cannot improve himself, or serve men, how can he improve others, or serve God?”

“No virtue is higher than love to all men, and there is no loftier aim in government than to do good to all men.”

Let us now leave the Chinese Confucius, the greatest religious representative of the so-called Yellow Race in Asia, and return to the White Race. Not, however, to the Afyan portion of it, in India and Persia, but to the Semitic portion, found in the extreme west of the Asiatic continent.

The Semitic family of the white race has several branches. From two of these, the Hebrew and Arabic, in Palestine and Arabia, have come great historic religions and sacred books. In- deed, from the earliest of these in point of time, the Hebrew, have come two great religions, namely, Judaism and Christianity; and two sacred books, namely the Old Testament and the New.

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Let us look first at Judaism. This faith sprang from roots which extend very far back. It seems to have grown out of an earlier polytheistic belief similar to that which is found in connec- tion with the religion of all of the early Semitic peoples. Perhaps the point at which the religion of the Hebrews began to separate itself from that earlier polytheism, and to assume a life of its own on a somewhat higher plane, was what is known as the Exodus, when a great leader, named Moses, some twelve or thirteen hundred years before Christ, is supposed to have led the rude and as yet polytheistic Hebrew tribes out of Egypt or from the Sinaitic penin- sula in the neighborhood of Egypt, across the desert to the “Promised Land” of Canaan which was to be their future home. Moses, by a long period of disciplinary training, appears to have cemented these tribes together and planted in them the feeling of common relationship or nationality. He also seems greatly to have elevated their morality, purified their religious conceptions, and set their feet on the road leading to the worship of one God, as a God �[Page 154]154 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

of Righteousness. However, the full attainment of these high ends was a slow process, which took many centuries of time for its con- summation. The main agents in carrying it forward were men known as Prophets, leaders who appeared among the people from age to age, with foresight, with moral courage, with clearer vision than their fellows, with religious fervor and zeal, to urge the nation forward to higher and purer religious faith.

For a long time there was no sacred book. The first beginning of what many centuries later was to become a sacred book, was probably Moses’ Ten Commandments, in some brief form known as the “Ten Words.” Then, three or four centuries after Moses had passed away, someore, we do not knov’ who, seems to have gathered together such precious fragments of the people’s history and tradition and folk lore as were available, such old laws and tribal enactments as he could find, and such bits of ancestral wisdom as were within his reacu, and these became further beginnings of what would after a while become a sacred volume. But many more centuries must pass and many minds and hearts of prophet, preacher, priest, historian, seer, framer of laws and singer of songs and sacred hymns, must contribute before the time could arrive when the Hebrew people would possess a literature so large, excellent and dear to their hearts, that they would instinctively lift it up in their reverence, associate it indissolubly with their religion, and make it a real sacred book or Bible.

The Hebrew people had a long history, in some respects ;lori- ous, in some respects tragic in the extreme, in Palestine, before they were finally driven out. Again and again, during their Paiestinian career, they were subjugated by foreign nations. Once a large part of their number were carried away captive to a distant land, and never returned. Later others were carried away, but were permitted to come back. Again and again their capital city was destroyed, and afterwards rebuilt. At one time, their greatest pride, the splendid Temple erected by Solomon, was destroyed. At last they were ex- pelled wholly from the country which they had come to love so well, and were scattered over the earth.

This, however, did not occur until after a great prophet and �[Page 155]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 155

reformer had arisen, the greatest in all their history, preaching a form of religion purer and higher than any before him had done. That reformer and prophet was Jesus; and the religion he taught was the old Judaism of Isaiah and Micah and the Psalms, only purified and deepened. It should not be forgotten that Jesus was a Jew, and that his aim was not to break with the religion of his fathers, but to purge that religion and carry it on to a still higher ethical and spiritual development. But his lot was that which is so likely to come to the man who is in advance of his fellows. Many misunderstood and opposed him, and finally he was seized and put te death. After his death, the religion he taught, which to him was the religion of his fathers, was taken up by ardent disciples and given to the world as a new faith; and thus Christianity was born.

At first Christianity had no sacred book except the Old Testa- ment, which it shared with Judaism. But after a while, out of ac counts of the Master written by one and another, when those who knew him personally had begun to pass away, and out of letters of counsel and encouragement written by leading disciples to churches which they had founded, and other religious material, two or three generations subsequent to the Master’s death, there came into exist- ence by a slow but natural and inevitable process, first parts, and then the whole, of another sacred book—one belonging to the Christians alone. Thus Christianity got its New Testament.

I need not stop to sketch the history of Christianity. It will be enough if I notice the rather singular fact, that though it was born in Asia, it spread quickly into Europe; and nearly all its most im- portant triumphs have been won not among Asiatic but among Euro- pean peoples, either on the European Continent or in America. In this respect its history is somewhat analogous to that of Buddhism, which, as we have seen, though coming into existence in India, later disappeared almost wholly from the land of its birth, and became preeminently the religion of non-Indian peoples.

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I come now to the latest born of the great historic religions, Mohammedanism. As already noted, this, as well as Judaism and Christianity, was Semitic in its origin. It was born in Ar-bia; and �[Page 156]156 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

yet so many of the influences which conspired to create it came from Palestine that we may almost call it a form of Judaism or Chris- tianity. It teaches one God and one only,—not polytheism and not trinity. In this respect it is like Judaism and like early Christianity.

Mohammedanism is somewhat exceptional among great re- ligions, inasmuch as it started with a sacred book, as well as with a great Teacher or Prophet. The New Testament was the product not of Jesus but of his disciples. The sacred books of the Buddhists were the product not of Buddha but of his disciples. But the Koran, the sacred book of Mohammedanism, was the product of Moham- med himself. He believed that its contents were revealed from Heaven directly to him; and he himself gave it to his followers as a proof of his divine mission. Mohammed obtained his first fol- lowers by intellectual and moral persuasion. But it was not long until he adopted the sword. Before his death his cause had obtained considerable strength; and immediately after his death it entered upon a career of conquest that carried it over all western Asia,

northern Africa, and into parts of Europe. rn

We have now before us a general picture of all the great historic religions of Asia, with a brief sketch of the rise, history and leading characteristics of each.

In comparing these religions with one another, we quickly notice that they naturally divide into two classes, as missionary and non-missionary faiths. Hinduisrn, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism and Judaism, are non-missionary or non-proselyting in character; they make little or no effort to extend themselves to other races or peoples. On the other hand, Buddhism, Mohammedanism and Christianity are missionary religions. From the first, they have been aggressive; they have desired to make proselytes and to extend themselves outside of the lands where they were born.

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Buddhism arose, and set out on its career, in a small section of northern India, but its missionaries began very early to go forth in every direction. As a result it spread all over India and far be- yond, until in the course o. three or four centuries it had obtained �[Page 157]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 157

a strong foothold in nearly all the countries of Central and Eastern Asia. I have already said that after a very great and influential career of about 1500 years in the land of its birth, it ceased longer to be strong in India, being partly absorbed by Hinduism and partly driven out by the hostility of its enemies.

But its missionary character saved it. Long before it disap- peared from India, it had become very strong in other lands; and in those lands it has never lost its hold. In nearly all the countries of Eastern Asia outside of China it has more followers and more influence than any other religious faith, and in China itself it has a very large following, counted at not less than two or three hundred millions, being only second in influence there to Confucianism. Indeed, in China we see the singular situation of the two religions, Buddhism and Confucianism, existing side by side, and very large- ly believed in by the same people; so that a considerable portion of the Chinese people are both Buddhists and Confucianists.

Buddhism is today much less missionary in spirit than it was in its earlier career. It does not seem to be doing much propa- gandist work. For this reason it is to be looked upon as at present nearly a stationary faith. Like Christianity, it has wandered in thought and practice far from the simplicity of its founder, and has connected with itself, especially in Thibet and China, many rites, forms and superstitions which Buddha did not teach. In a few quarters, however, especially Japan, Siam, and Ceylon, there is some stir of new life, some indication of a desire to advance, to shake off the superstitions and ceremonials which cumber it, and to make itself once more a moral power in the world. In common with all thie religions of Asia, it is beginning distinctly to feel the influence of western thought, western science, western civilization. Among the possibilities, perhaps among the ;robabilities, of the not distant future, is a revived Buddhism, a Buddhism purged from its worst features, reaching out its hand for the knowledge of the west, and aflame once more with the old missionary spirit. This would mean, unquestionably, a large and influential career for — Buddhism in the future.

The second of the great missionary religions is Mohammedan-

�[Page 158]158 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

ism. It no longer uses the sword as an instrument of propagandism, but relies solely upon moral agencies; but it is spreading fast, per- haps faster than at any time in its history since the first century or two. It is making steady progress in India, where it has more than 70,000,000 adherents. It seems to be advancing in China and other lands of eastern Asia, while in western Asia it is supreme. In Africa its progress is rapid. There tribe after tribe, people after people, land after land, are coming under its sway. Its advance in Asia as a whole seems to be quite as rapid as that of Christianity, and in Africa much more rapid than that of Christianity. There are ele- ments in Mohammedanism which seem peculiarly to fit it to reach, to interest, to impress, and to elevate peoples in low conditions of civilization. It is even a question whether it is not better adapted to the needs of such peoples, and whether it cannot do more for them, than Christianity—at least than Christianity in any of its more rigidly orthodox forms. Certain it is that Mohammedanism is one of the most intensely living, earnest, aggressive and deeply devout religions of the world today.

We in this country commonly think of Mohammedanism as being intellectually paralyzed, as having no sympathy with free in- quiry or science, or the progressive spirit of the western world. There is some truth in our thought. Mohammedans, like orthodox Christians, are fettered, burdened, spiritually bound, by belief in the infallibility of a sacred book. They believe that their Koran contains all wisdom, much as the majority of Christians believe that the Bible contains all wisdom. This tends to keep their eyes turned constantly to the past, and to make them distrustful of new truth. But Christian peoples are gradually shaking off the fetters which belief in an infallible book has placed upon their minds. Will not Mohammedan peoples sooner or later do the same? In not a few lands they are already moving in that direction. Turkey is a notable example. We should not forget that the time was when Moham- medan peoples led the world in knowledge, in civilization, in science. May they not come to the front again?

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The third of the great missionary faiths is Christianity. Its �[Page 159]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS I$9

missionary spirit has been the secret of its success. We are told in Matthew’s Gospel that the very last commission which Jesus gave his followers was: ‘‘Go ye and make disciples of all nations.” His religion has been spread abroad in the spirit of this commission. Singularly enough, it has not had a great career in Palestine, where it arose. At a comparatively early period it was driven thence by Mohammedanism. But it far more than made good its loss here by extending itself over the whole of Europe and far beyond. It has had two great periods of missionary activity. The first was the early centuries of its history. During that period it spread through- out the entire Roman empire. The second pe.iod embraces the last two or three centuries. During this period what is known as the modern missionary movement has arisen, in both the Roman Cath- olic Church and the Protestant, and has carried the Christian name and the Christian gospel, in one form or another, into almost every country, civilized and uncivilized, on the face of the earth. The number of adherents of Christianity in the world is larger than that of any other faith, embracing between a quarter and a third of the human race. And what is still more significant, (1) it is the re- ligion of the most progressive nations, and (2), it shows itself, at least in its more liberal forms, to be possessed of remarkable powers of growth and of adaptation to the advancing thought and chang- ing needs of the modern world. These facts, with its intense mis- sionary spirit, seem to insure that it will still further extend itself, and exert a constantly growing influence among mankind.

• * *

It is a great thing for the religious world that the time has arrived when the attention of thinking men in all lands is beginning to be drawn to other religions and other sacred books as well as their own. It has been said that he who knows only one book knows none. It is equally true that he who knows only one religion knows none; that is, he knows none in any large or adequate way; for we learn by comparison.

The opening up of Asia to the knowledge of the western world, and especially the acquainting of Christendom with the great and venerable non-Christian religions of Asia, cannot fail to �[Page 160]140 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

broaden Christianity. In like manner the study of Christianity by Hinduism, by Buddhism, by Mohammedanism, by Confucianism, if the study be intelligent and without prejudice, cannot fail to broaden all these non-Christian faiths.

From the study of religions outside of our own we may all learn—some of us are beginning to learn—how small and narrow is the thought that there is only one true religion, and that the rest are false; that only those who follow in the path of that one religion are acceptable to God and can be saved, while all the others are enemies of God and must be lost. All religions have their excel- lencies. All have their defects. Absolute perfection in religion is no more attainable than is absolute perfection in science or art or government. It is easy for Christians to find defects in Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Mohammedanism. It is little if any less easy for the adherents of those religions to find defects in Christianity. But it is better to look for excellencies than for de- fects. One of the encouraging facts connected with Christian mis- sions today is the increasing number of missionaries, particularly in China, Japan, and India, who are beginning to study other faiths with the view of finding out their excellencies. If this good tend- ency continues and increases, as we have reason to believe it will, the result will be that at no distant day the followers of other faiths will begin to look for the excellencies of Christianity to an extent that they have never yet done.

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Since many of us who call ourselves Christians are accustomed so often to point out defects ~ -d evils which we conceive to be con- nected with other faiths, Ith it will be useful if I suggest several particulars in which other s sustain a favorable comparison with our own.

If we were asked what .-ligion has best promoted peace in the world, I am quite sure we could not say Christianity. Is it not plain that a candid survey of history would compel us to answer, Bud- dhism? Indeed, it seems to be true that, if we make the single exception of the Mohammedan peoples, there have not been any- where else in the world so many anc so terrible wars during the �[Page 161]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 161

last thousand years and more, as among Christian peoples. And during the last three or four centuries even Mohammedans have been distinctly more peaceable than Christians. The dangerous spirit of militarism in the world to-day, as shown in the vast sums everywhere spent for great navies, great armies, great fleets of bombing aeroplanes, great stores of poison gas, is almost wholly the creation of Christian powers. The great war of 1914 to 1918 in Europe, the most bloody and terrible conflict in all history, was brought on by Christian nations and fought almost wholly by the same. These are startling facts. Why do Christian nations so lamentably fail in promoting what their great Teacher taught, “Peace on earth, good will to men?” Do not Christians see that their armies and navies in addition to being actual promoters of war instead of preventives of it, are un-Christian in spirit, and that they tend greatly to discredit Christianity in the eyes of the thoughtful of other religious faiths?

If we were asked what religion has most effectively taught the great lesson of religious toleration, I am quite sure that again our answer would have to be Buddhism. Buddhist history shows no “Spanish Inquisitions,” no ‘‘St. Bartholomew Massacres,” no burn- ing of heretics. Buddhists claim that their religion has never perse- cuted. The claim seems to be well founded. The Edict of Tolera- tion proclaimed by the Buddhist Emperor Asoka of India, three centuries before the Christian era, forbidding religious persecution and placing all religions on an equality before the law, well ex- pressed the spirit of Buddhism, and it precedes by nearly 2,000 years any similar enactment in any Christian land.

If we asked what religion has succeeded best in inculcating among its followers regard and obedience to parents and respect for the aged, I fear we should be compelled to answer: not Chris- tianity but either Buddhism or Confucianism.

If we asked, Which of the world’s great religions has best promoted temperance? I am sure we should have to confess that Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian and Mohammedan peoples have all illustrated the virtue of temperance better, take them as a whole, than have Christian peoples. We should have to admit that the �[Page 162]162 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

great home of the drink curse in the world is Christendom, and that the great spreaders of that curse abroad over the earth are the Christian nations. And what is true of intoxicating drink seems also to be true of opium. The nation that forced opium on China, that fought two bloody wars to compel the unwilling and protesting Chinese government to allow the unrestricted sale of this pernicious drug to the Chinese people, was a Christian nation.

If we inquired what religion has succeeded best in creating a high average of moral character, of trustworthiness, of business and social honor and integrity among its people, I am not sure but that we would be obliged to answer, Confucianism. Certain it is that many American and English missionaries and business men who have been in China longest affirm that the Chinese heed and obey the high moral teachings of Confucius, their great teacher, quite as well as do the people of any nation of Europe or America heed and obey the moral injunctions of Jesus, our great Teacher, while not a few go further and declare that the superiority here is clearly with the Chinese.

If we inquired which one of the great religions of mankind is most effective in promoting reverence and habits of devotion: which one enters most deeply and constantly as a factor into the daily lives of its adherents, I am fearful that we should not find it to be Christianity. Reverence for God and religion and habits of worship seem to be much more general in the Orient than in the Occident. The Mohammedan kneels in prayer five times each day. How many times a day does the average American or English or German Christian kneel in prayer? There is a distinct place for worship, and there are daily services and acts of worship, in every Hindu home. Is the same true of every Christian home? And as to the quality of our worship, are we quite sure that ours is always superior? It is regarded the duty of every devout and intelligent Hindu in India to otter each morning on rising and also several times during the day, the following prayer: ““We meditate on the adorable glory of the Divine Author of all being. May he inspire and direct our souls.” In every home connected with the Brahmo Somaj in India the following prayer is offered daily: ‘Lead me �[Page 163]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 163

from untruth to truth; lead me from darkness to light; lead me from death into the life eternal. O Lord, Supreme, reveal unto me thy benignant countenance, and thereby protect me evermore.”

Are such prayers as these, uttered from sincere hearts, very far removed from that worship of God “in spirit and in truth” which Jesus enjoined? I would not put too much stress upon these out- ward expressions of piety, for I well know that fixed forms of woiship, and prayers often repeated, are in danger of losing their soul and becoming mere dead things. And yet is it easy to have life without forms? Are not Christians who neglect forms and have no regular times of devotion in their homes and their daily living, in great danger of losing the spirit of worship out of their lives? Have not some of the non-Christian faiths of the Orient an im- portant lesson to teach us here?

• * *

I think it is good for us who call ourselves Christians to make a few candid comparisons like these, between the teachings and the practical results of our own religious faith, and those which we are apt to criticize and condemn so ignorantly and so lightly. What I am trying to do by these comparisons is simply to confess frankly that other faiths have excellencies, and that ours have defects, which we shall all be the better off for honestly recognizing.

• * oe

In thinking of the faults and failures of Christianity, it is of importance that we draw a distinction. If we do not, we shall be likely constantly to blunder in our judgments. That distinction is between the Christianity (or religion) of Jesus, the spring or fountain from which the Christian stream started, and the stream itself as it flowed down across the centuries receiving into itself side-streams from a hundred sources, some of them bringing not a little pollution and poison.

If we must trust the Gospels, the religion of Jesus was in the highest degree simple, ethical and spiritual. He himself defined it as love to God and man. He taught the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood ot all men, doing as we would be done by, love even of enemies, overcoming evil by good, deeds above words, service �[Page 164]164 WORLD UNITY MAGa"INE

of one’s brother is true service of God, true worship consists not in solemn words, forms and ceremonies, but in purity of heart and doing God’s will. This simple religion of love, brotherhood, and the good life seems to have been practised more or less fully, more or less perfectly, by the early churches. But by degrees Christianity became theological, controversial, ecclesiastical and worldly, tem- poral, ambitious, coveting power, more and more allying itself with political rulers and governments for the sake of gaining power. This was serious. This seems the chief explanation of the lament- able fact that historic Christianity, in nearly all its forms has so often signally failed to promote in the world peace, freedom, jus- tice, toleration, temperance, real piety and the moral elevation of society. But it should be noted that the religion of Jesus seems never to have failed in these respects wherever it has been practiced, as witness the early churches and the modern Friends or Quakers.

It is plain that Jesus has always been and will long remain Christianity’s highest asset, as also a valuable asset to the whole world. Buddha and Confucius were noble characters, so seem to have been Zoroaster and Moses, Mohammed was a strong character, whose thought and work have unquestionably lifted up the lives of millions. All these are worthy of respect and honor. Certainly Jesus is no less. Indeed he seems to hold a place in the world which is unique—a place of respect and honor not only in Christendom, among those who bear his name, but also in non-Christian lands, among men of every religious faith. There is abundant evidence of this. I myself have discovered much. In my own extensive travels in the Orient, I have found everywhere leading men of all faiths-- Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Confucians, Shintoists, and Mohamme- dans—speaking of Jesus in the highest terms; even men who re- jected and severely condemned the Christian Church and all forms that they knew of organized Christianity, did not hesitate to declare their profound respect and reverence for the great Prophet of Nazareth, and to confess the beauty and greatness of his teachings. Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, the eminent scholar and reformer of India, himself not a Christian, assigned to Jesus the first place among re- ligious prophets, and, selecting out his utterances from the Gospels, �[Page 165]SEVEN GREAT HISTORICAL RELIGIONS 165

he published them in Sanskrit and in Bengali under the title, “The Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Peace and Happiness,” and gave them the widest circulation he was able. Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu who does not accept the Christian name, accepts and teaches a re- ligion which is essentially that of Jesus, and accords to Jesus the highest place among the religious teachers of mankind.

These testimonies to the high character of the founder of Chris- tianity and the value of his gospel may well be gratifying to all of us who call ourselves Christians, but it should not, as it has so often done, cause us to look down with arrogance or a spirit of “I am more holy than thou” upon other religious, or blind us to the great- ness of their founders and the value of the spiritual food with which they have fed the hungry heart of humanity.

x * *

As we study with candor and sympathy the great historic re- ligions of the world, all of them, as we have seen, children of Asia, is it not easy to perceive that they are sisters, even if some are fairer in features and nobler in character than the rest? And is it not also easy to see that each one makes a distinct and valuable con- tribution to the religious wealth of mankind, by teaching with special clearness and emphasis some important ethical or spiritual truth? Perhaps we may epitomize the leading teaching of each religion somewhat as follows:

Says Zoroastrianism: God is Light, Illumination, Truth.

Says Hinduism: God is Essence, Reality, (the only Reality), Spirit.

° Says Confucianism: God is Permanence, Order, Law.

Says Buddhism: God is Peace, Rest,—Eternal Peace and Rest.

Says Mohammedanism: God is One, God is Might; God is Omnipotent and Just Will.

Says Judaism: God is Righteousness.

Says Christianity: God is Love.

Enlarging our field a little so as to take in Greece, Rome and Egypt, we may epitomatize the chief religions of mankind slightly differently but perhaps with equal truth, and say that the Greek religion stands preeminently for Beauty, the Roman religion for �[Page 166]166 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

Law, the Egyptian religion for Mystery and Just Judgment, the Persian religion for Purity, the Hindu religion for the Divine Im- manence, the Buddhist religion for Right Thinking and Self Sacri- fice, the Mohammedan religion for the Undivided Unity of God, the Hebrew religion for Righteousness, the Christian religion (if by that we mean the religion taught by Jesus and not the religion of the Creeds and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies) for Love to God and Love to Man—Love to God shown in Love and Service of Man.

Are not all these conceptions of God and religion true? In- stead of antagonizing, do they not supplement one another? Are they not all messages from the Eternal? Are they not all needful for the world’s full-orbed and complete religious life? �[Page 167]LIBERAL APPROACH TO HISTORY

by FRANCES ALDER Hoboken Academy

HE opportunity to teach history was the realization of a wish of long standing. The prospect filled me with a sense of

grave responsibility, for while the facts that I was to teach

I knew, how I was to interpret them seemed fraught with many dangers. My studies in history had begun during the World War, and history during those years was perverted by too much emotionalism and excitement to make it reliable, authentic, or sane. For the one splendid spirit who showed us the uselessness of war and implied that cruelty and greed are not one-sided, there came a procession who crusaded facts to prove a holy war. A bigoted, strongly national, and even sectional view point was part of our historic knowledge. And in the assembly halls we sang lustily, “Dull is the life of the soldier in peace, and war is what brings him release.”

Those of us who had moments of clarity and tried to reason our way out were confronted by orators on school platforms who preached the need of emotions to enrich our lives, especially the emotion called patriotism. There were, also, sufficient members of the older generation who impressed us with the fact that they, being older, knew better and this war was different. Worn out by the struggle of being out of joint with our times, many of us suc- cumbed to the prevailing views. We threw ourselves into patriotic tasks, with energy and fervor.

We picked potatoes and berries as ‘‘farmerettes,”’ we made speeches of a persuasive nature in favor of liberty bonds and were “minutemen’”’; we clerked at draft boards and discovered ‘“‘slack- ers,” and we weighed munitions. We danced with boys in uniforms, as part of “doing our bit,” and insulted these members of the male

population who looked young and fit enough to wear uniforms 167 �[Page 168]168 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

and did not wear them. And along with other bigger and better fools we went mad with joy on Fifth Avenue on that notable day when word came through that the mad butchery was over. No more wars, no more autocrats! The Kaiser was fleeing or had fled!

In the year following, while the face of Europe was being lifted in the same stupid and greedy manner as a hundred years before at the Congress of Vienna, we who were studying history were not made aware of the “crime” that was being committed. Not that some of our instructors did not malign the Treaty of Versailles. They did, but they had shown themselves so biased, so prejudiced, so strongly Republican (in the American party sense) that we refused to accept their opinions except as oppositions to any idea that Woodrow Wilson “seemed” responsible for. The other group of instructors who argued in favor of the League of Nations, were not above prejudices either—it may have been Ne- gtoes or Henry Cabot Lodge. The Polish Corridor, Bessarabia, Tyrol, Italie Irredenti, The Croations in Jugo Slavia, the Germans in Czecho-Slovakia were all rather remote from us. During the war years, we had been made to feel the charm of France, the kinship of England, the pathos of Belgium; now we were made to feel as conquerors, superior to all foreign nations. Above all, we wanted our debts paid.

Our male friends and relatives had felt that the War was their only chance for glorious adventure; that their problems and un- happiness and frustrations would be miraculously solved by going to war. Should they miss this chance, they would feel shamed for- ever before their unborn children. Some were mesmerized into ihe belief that a great wrong would be righted, others by the fatalistic would-be necessity of a “Rendez-vous with Death.” Most of them, in the exuberance of youth, felt they individually would be divinely protected and glorified. Farmer, bookkeeper, salesman, felt the shades of a Hannibal, a Horatius, a Nelson pass by him. And what were crops, figures, overhead cost, day in, day out, compared to these stirrings wilhin them! War was not visualized as dirt, trenches, vermin, horrifying noises, wounds or death, but vague and uncer- tain glamour, excitement, and heroisms. They went with these �[Page 169]LIBERAL APPROACH TO HISTORY 169

heady words ringing in their ears:

“There’s a glory gold can never buy to yearn and cry for... .. That men will perish like men and valour be splendid

That the Flag of the sword will be served and honour defended.” On their return they did not have as one of our poets abused his poetic license by saying “With cheeks tanned at Verdun . . . muscles made at Mihiel,” but in so many cases, cheeks, blanched and twitch- ing and bullet holes or shrapnel where muscles had been. And for all of us, there were a few who did not come back.

Those of us who made the acquaintance of Europe shortly after that were made aware how untouched by havoc America had been! The French churches filled with women in black, always black for men they had lost; the rows and rows of crosses so neat and tidy; the children of Austria and Germany who still looked starved and scrawny; men everywhere with patches over an eye, with one arm, with one leg, and the millions not fit to be seen. The young and handsome cadets in blue uniforms, strutting along the Boulevards ready to flirt; Bastille Day in Paris, more and more uniforms. Italy—other uniforms; a martial spirit; one does not mention the name Mussolini in vain; one speaks of him as “Mr. Smith”; it is safer. Everywhere new and old hatreds, continued stupidities epitomized for me by a dowdy German woman in a Swiss train, as she looked avidly at the handsome Swiss lieutenant and said with a sigh “Ach das schoene Militaer. Wir arme Deut- schen koennen kein Militaer mehr sehen.” As if that were all that Germany lacked! The vain regrets of other Germans for the good old pre-war days!

Thus, the turmoil of the War; the ob:use optimism following it, the tussle in the Senate over the League of Nations, a ruined Europe, with paths being paved not for democracies but for dic- tatorships, and disarmament conferences wherein the ways of War and not the ways of Peace was the subject for discussion; all these formed my background and equipment in attempting to teach his- tory to this new generation that had been born shortly before and during the War years; to whom it was a weird legend; who did not know of the tricks played on us “to win us to our fates.” Be- �[Page 170]1'70 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

cause of all this I felt it behooved me to teach history so as to de- velop an understanding and friendliness for mankind and an in- telligent abhorrence of war.

I found the adolescent from the middle class home, where he is cared for, loved, and given a fair chance at the pursuit of happi- ness, a trifle too smug and complacent about the needs of those less fortunate. Because he has been made comfortable, he decides the world rather perfect in comparison to the days when comforts were lacking. His deductions are based solely on the basis of pos- sessions, and what science has helped to provide. Automobiles, aeroplanes, electric lights, bath tubs, running hot water and elec- tric ice boxes are his examples of our “perfect state.” Before he has acquired any real knowledge, he has, as part of his equipment, a wall of prejudices, intolerances, chauvinisms that are pathetic. He has acquired these with his excellent habits of brushing his teeth and using his knife correctly. The better the make of his father’s car, the more numerous are the clichés he has imbibed. The clichés are of people who have suffered from the cheerful optimism dating back to the first decade of the twentieth century. The War of course was an unpleasant interlude, but in so many cases the War brought bigger and better profits. Hence they have managed to dot their lives with mottoes and maxims that no longer hold. And this spiritual bankruptcy they seem to have passed on to their offspring. They have instilled a reverence for material pros- perity that has become a fetish of vast proportions. Such terms as Be a Success, Get somewhere, Be somebody, Better oneself, are used by youngsters often, and always refer to money. There is a contempt for those who didn’t get anywhere. For such children it is even difficult to see that the Industrial Revolution brought misery to thousands; and that child labor, especially as it existed in the 19th century, was indeed a great evil. For the machine, meaning progress, must be worshipped at all costs.

That other races, colors, nationalities, religions are not neces- sarily inferior to his own is startlingly novel to him. It had always been taken for granted. Most high school students of Teutonic and British stock admit to feelings of superiority to Negroes, Orientals, �[Page 171]LIBERAL APPROACH TO HISTORY I71

Slavs, Latins, Jews. The Jews have prejudices too, but are more cautious in stating them.

The offspring of mixed nationalities or religions is not quite so single tracked. He knows there is more than one prize pattern. The children of parents who have not much of the worldly gooas may be desirous of being “somebody” in the same sense, but he is not certain that his own image and likeness the finest there is. And having lacked beauty, he yearns for it and sees it often more quick- ly. Often too he has an understanding of fundamental things which more comfortable surroundings fail to nourish.

In order to overcome these and other prejudices of children (and the teaching of history offers the chance it seems to me) the teacher must eradicate from his mind and soul the prejudices that he may have against any group, because of race, color, religion, birth or social position. Only then, will the students be willing to discard the pattern or mold of ideas set for them by the limita- tions of their own environment. Gamaliel Bradford says in his “Journal” his aim in writing was ‘‘not to be true, not to be exhaus- tive, not to be final, simply to make one’s readers think, to make them feel so and for a few minutes live.” That I believe to be an excellent guide for the teaching of history, not to be drastic in one’s judgments and to divest oneself of the robes of the Priest whose judgments and deductions can’t be wrong. Let the teacher stand as a person who has an earnest desire to be honest intellectu- ally, but with no fear of his own limitations. He must be ready to indicate that greed, cruelty, kindliness were never monopolized by one nation or group. He must be frank enough in the sense, that the presence of a Roman Catholic should not prevent a discussion on the viciousness and inhumanity of the Inquisition. At the same time it must be emphasized that a Catholic of today is no way re- lated to the Inquisition; no more than a Jew of today is remotely telated or responsible for the ideas of the Pharisees and their con- demnation of Jesus.

History is after ali a series of cycles. Each group developed up to a certain point, often gave much that was splendid and valu- able, then dropped to a less important place on the stage of time. �[Page 172]172 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

The leaders in history cannot be divided into hero and villain categories; they are all the more intelligible to us when shown as persons with vision, strength, ambition, and at the same time with pettiness, obtuseness, stupidities. The faults of a Bismark or a Napoleon lay not in their stars or destinies, but in their inhuman- ity. It is important to emphasize not only the thoughts, ideas and manner of living of varied races, but the kinship of all forms of greatness and genius. The thoughts of Lao Tze, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grotius, Montaigne, Pasteur are for all of us to treasure, and are of deeper significance than the Wallensteins and Mazrl- boroughs. Even in the case of great military leaders, like Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon, their lasting influence on their epochs were not the territories they conquered but what they builded in their moments of peace.

One must not forget, too, that much of our heritage we owe to the “unknown soldiers” of all ages. The beautiful cathedrals of the middle ages, the one essentiai contribution of beauty of an age sterile in fineness, were designed and built by unknown hands. With them belong the exquisite stained glass windows, tapestries, rugs, vases, So many paintings and sculptures. We have but a few con- jectures about the man who gave us the greatest epic. It is ironic to reflect on the wealth of material obtainable about the glutton- ous Henry VIII of England and how little material there is about Columbus, and even less about Shakespeare. All that we know of Francois Villon is neither respectable nor elevating, yet he has given the world bits of poignant beauty that enthralls. While the kings of France in all their sumptuous glory, simply paved the way for havoc and revolution.

In the case of nations, there have been too many generaliza- tions, without sufficient emphasis on the fact that nations are made up of vast varieties of individuals; and that the history of these individuals underwent vast changes. It is seldom pointed out the idea of one God among the Hebrews, took centuries and centuries to develop—and as long to stay. Again and again, the Hebrews took to worshipping idols; also at first it was merely understood, that in a world of many gods, their God Jehovah was the strongest. �[Page 173]LIBERAL APPROACH TO HISTORY 173

Much, much later, came the idea of one God for all peoples. Such generalizations have been especially true on a much larger scale in reference to the Greeks. Burton Rascoe, in his ‘““Titans of Litera- ture,” says “It is incautious to generalize about Greek religion (i.e., to say it was polytheistic) or what religion meant to the Greeks. In reading Greek literature chronologically we can see that the recognized religion constantly underwent subtle and profound changes—that some Greeks were polytheists and some were not. . .”

It is incautious to say the Greeks owed the greatness of their

great period in Athens to the fact that they “followed the Golden Mean,” because in their great period were Greeks in high circles who were licentious, greedy, gluttonous and debauched, who were murderous, belligerent, treacherous, treasonable, extravagant and ignoble. oe The Greeks in fine, were people. And whatever were their circumstances at any period of their long and varied history, as individuals, they differed in character, personality, habits, points of views, quirks of mind, neurosis, virtues and vices as any crowd of persons that swarm into the Grand Central Station in New York between five and six o’clock on a week-day afternoon. We can find in the words of Mr. Rascoe the keynote to an intelligent in- terpretation of history of all people. Let us not be too ready to pigeonhole civilization into one compact statement.

In the case of such debatable material as the Protestant Re- volt it is possible to show that abuse within the Church caused a justifiable protest; that the Protestors were, however, no more tol- erant than the Catholics; that many princes doubtless joined the struggle for selfish reasons; that in the protracted series of struggles that followed no nation or group emerged guiltless of bigotry and bloodshed. And one of the great hopes for humanity lies in the fact that Catholics and Protestants can study it all now, and not be moved to violence.

In presenting the history of our own country we cannot adopt the point of view of the upper middle class European who regards Americans as descendants of failures, riff raff and desperadoes; who insist that the fine, the noble and the successful stayed in Europe, �[Page 174]174 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

or of Primo de Rivera’s Conception of American History. Nor can we present it as the D.A.R. would approve it, for the composite spirit that has been America, is something (as I see it) utterly re- mote from the ideas and ideals of the D.A.R. The Parents of the American Revolution would probably not acknowledge their off- spring and if the Daughters of the American Revolution were to meet their early ancestors, I greatly fear, they might, in their limited way, feel ashamed of them. We must strike out a new path (or follow one set by such a leader in historic thought as James Truslow Adams). To America came the “high born and the wealthy” and prospered by exploiting the lowly, the unfortunate, the downtrod- den. But the latter managed often, to get away and managed to begin life in the wilderness—which is the saga of America. We must remember that the “stepchild of every exile from content” included the Cabots, the Schuylers, included the Barnums, the Kit Carsons and the Daniel Drews; included German peasants and Irish peasants and the thrifty Dutch traders who were neither dis- tinguished nor notorious. We must remember the Spirit of America is found in the people rising, growing, hewing for themselves a new life where they were free from ancient customs. To the humble folk of Europe, America is that still. A Swiss laborer, said to mea few years ago—'‘‘Dort’’—(meaning America), “kann man ein Herr werden.” And when I said that all new comers do not become ‘‘Herren’”—he replied, ‘‘Doch ist es moglich.” As we approach our own times, we must see America not only as the Horatio Alger stories of a Carnegie, a Bok, and a Ford, but those who did not become ‘“‘Herren.” We can’t help seeing that the vast concentration of wealth brings in its wake problems and evils, not easily eradicated. No teaching of history is complete without bringing home the point that today as of old “The old savage passions are still un- curbed,” to use the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, “Now as then our national honor is the cloak for an immorality that has been outlawed in private life. And inflamed and heated prejudices pass for patriotism. And if we are to find sanity enough to handle the weapons that science is fast creating and intelligence enough to employ them not for destruction but for building an abundant life.” �[Page 175]WORLD ADVANCE A Monthly International Review by

OscaR NEWFANG Author of “The Road to World Peace,’’ etc.

A PLEA FOR PEACE IN CHINA

HILE a quarter of the human race is being consumed in

the fires of civil war, is it humane for the remaining W «: quarters of mankind to stand idly by with folded

arms? Is it wise? Is it safe? For twenty-two years the great Republic of China, whose population is estimated as 483,- 000,000,—practically one fourth of that of the whole world,—has been more and more helplessly and hopelessly enmeshed in the toils of warfare, banditry, brigandage and communistic upheaval which have cost the lives of tens of millions, have slain other tens of mil- lions by the famine and diseases directly resulting from civil wars, and have driven twenty-five millions of the inhabitants into exile beyond the borders of China proper on the frigid plains of Man- churia. The diversion of practically the whole revenue of the coun- try and its provinces to military purposes and the consequent neg- lect of the levees of China’s great rivers have resulted in wide- spread floods whose toll of human life also runs well into the mil- lions. The enormous taxes and exactions of the various generals, provincial war lords and bandit chiefs, at times demanding advance tax payments from the vast rural population for as much as seventy years in the future, have so utterly discouraged the Chinese peasants, who constitute more than three fourths of the country’s population, that agriculture throughout China is in grave danger of a total col- lapse. Should this occur, the resulting famine and epidemics among the teeming millions of the urban population would be indescrib-

able and inconceivable to Occidental readers. What agriculture 175 �[Page 176]176 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

still remains in China is being largely forced by the war lords more and more into the cultivation of opium, from whose traffic these war lords can readily realize cash, but at the frightful cost of in- creasingly debauching the Chinese and spreading the dangerous narcotic habit throughout the world.

The Danger of Allowing the Present Chaos to Continue

Even if the other nations of the world should be callous enough to permit the most populous nation on earth to disintegrate and perish before their eyes, a rational regard for their own safety must arouse the rest of mankind to action. If China perishes, the rest of the world will not go scatheless. Let us ponder once again the his- tory of the Mid. = Ages, when the Black Death, the dreaded bu- bonic plague, stalked out of Cathay and slew one third of the popu- lation of Europe. The utter destitution, misery, filth and disease which are being brought about in present-day China as a result of the chaotic political conditions may again provide a fertile soil for the culture and spread of the disastrous epidemics of former cen- turies; and the rapid means of communication in the twentieth century may carry these epidemics as far and wide among the na- tions of the earth in months as they were spread in years by the slow and infrequent shipping of the Middle Ages. When so re- liable a reporter as Hallet Abend, of the New York Times (in his Tortured China), states that dead bodies floating past the metro- polis of Canton excite no comment and receive no attention, it can dimly be imagined what the sanitary conditions must be in the hinterland.

Through the Narcotic Committee of the League of Nations the countries of the world are at present making an effort to control, to restrict and to eradicate the international drug trafic which is undermining the health of nations, replenishing the ranks of the criminal elements and building an underworld of graft, corruption and racketeering. How futile its efforts, when large sections of China are being forced by her war lords and bandit chiefs to turn from the cultivation of foodstuffs to the propagation of the poppy! �[Page 177]WORLD ADVANCE 177

Opium inevitably gravitates to the countries in which it can be sold for the best prices, and that means the wealthy commercial coun- tries of Europe and America.

Not only is a chaotic China a menace to the health and to the moral welfare of the whole world, but the past two years have plainly demonstrated that there is grave danger that, should China be allowed to disintegrate further, a war involving most, if not all of the great powers may be caused by the general scramble of the powers for spheres of trade and influence, protectorates, and veiled domination of the various parts of China in her threatened break- up. The preliminary danger in this connection has been seen in the veiled Japanese seizure of the three Eastern Provinces of Man- churia, with its dangerous warfare with China, especially at Shang- hai, and in the resulting extreme tension produced by this action between Japan and Russia. The Shanghai battle was only with the greatest difficulty kept from involving the great powers occupying the immediately adjacent International Settlement.

It is reported that Russia contemplates entry into the League of Nations, evidently with the object of securing the assistance and influence of all the member states in resisting the aggression of Japan. What the result may be, with the present militaristic gov- ernment in control of Japan, no man can foresee.

Neither the members of the League of Nations nor the United States have recognized the puppet government of Manchukuo, and the result of this has been the straining of reiations between Japan and the other countries, more particularly Great Britain and the United States. This tension has within recent weeks been greatly intensified by the claim of Japan that she alone is responsible for peace in the Far East, that she is to be the sole judge as to whether or not any action taken by other nations in relation to China men- aces the peace of China and the Orient: and she has intimated that, if in her judgment such action should occur, she will not hesitate to use force to preserve the peace of China. It is true that, after a reminder by Great Britain and the United States to Japan that she is a co-signatory of the Nine-Power Treaty guaranteeing the in- tegrity of China, the open door for trade in China, and agreeing �[Page 178]178 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

to consultation among the Treaty powers in case of danger to China’s integrity, Japan has softened her statement and disclaimed any intention of ignoring the provisions of th¢ Nine-Power Treaty; but the entire incident reveals the dynamite that is hidden in the chaotic situatien of China.

In carrying out her Manchurian adventure Japan resisted and defied the entire League of Nations and has since served notice of her withdrawal from the League for the evident purpose of obtain- ing a free hand in her dealing with China. With France ever alert to increase her influence in Yunnan and South China, with Great Britain’s keen interest in, Tibet and the Hong Kong-Canton area, and the United States vitally interested in maintaining freedom for her trade in China, the situation is fraught with grave possibilities of war on a large scale.

The Impossibility of China’s Saving Herself

China seems utterly unable by her own unaided efforts to ex- tricate herself from her troubles. Ever since the Republic was formed in 1912 she has been slowly sinking into chaos. Eighty percent of her vast population is agricultural; and these families, settled for the greatest part on farms of not over two to four acres, subject to extremely high taxes and frequently plundered and ruined by military bands, have been reduced to the lowest stage of existence, so that a single crop failure means immediate famine in large areas. Over half the farmers, moreover, are merely tenants and pay exorbitantly high rentals running in some cases up to $42 per acre. The result is that they cannot meet living expenses and are forced into the clutches of money sharks, who exact from 2% to 3% a month in interest on their loans. In Shansi Province, where there are frequent droughts, the interest rate is 100% per annum.

At the present time it is estimated that there are five million men under arms in China, about half under the control of the Na- tional Government and the remainder undet the control of pro- vincial war lords and bandit chiefs. The bandit armies are con- tinually fed by accessions of ruined and hopeless peasants; that is, �[Page 179]WORLD ADVANCE 179

the peasants ruined by one army of bandits, growing desperate in their hopelessness, themselves join a bandit army and ruin other

ts. And so the co.:flagration that is consuming China spreads. In the west and south of China this hopeless situation is further complicated by the overthrow of the established economic system and the introduction of various degrees of communism. Accom- panying these upheavals there is the wholesale slaughter of thou- sands upon thousands of owners, the seizure of property, and the chaotic conditions which follow so basic a transition in govern- mental organization.

The finances of China, also, are in such a bad condition that outside assistance is imperative, if a sound, efficient and solvent government over the whole of China is ever to be re-established. Practically the entire revenue of the government is spent for mil- itary purposes, and the debt of the country is constantly increasing. The exports of the country amount to less than half of its imports,— a condition which cannot continue indefinitely.

The lack of rapid and easy communications makes it impossi- ble to pacify and unify the country without the use of a strong air force. To support this necessary air force the finances of the country are completely inadequate; and unless China receives financial assistance from other countries, the task of establishing a strong national government whose authority reaches to all parts of the country seems hopeless.

A Peaceful and Prosperous China Would Mean the Restoration of the World’s Greatest Potential Market

Not only the potential dangers of war should move the great powers signatory to the Nine-Power Treaty to get together and save China; but they should be moved to action by the simple eco- nomic consideration that any effort and expense devoted by the powers to this end would be repaid many times over in the profit- able trade which can be done with a restored and prosperous China. The present total of the country’s exports, to which the total im- ports must inevitably in the long run conform, amount to only �[Page 180]180 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

$561,164,000,— a little more than a dollar per capita. Even at the lowest point of the recent depression the exports of the United States amounted to about fifteen dollars per capita, and in the prosperous year 1929 they amounted to about forty dollars per capita. At the former rate the exports and imports of China would amount to about 634 billions, and at the latter rate they would rise to the enormous total of about 18 billions. It would, of course, be many years before the trade of even a fully restored China could rise to any such figures; but they afford an idea of the vast potential trade that could be transacted with a full quarter of the human race, whose wants have not been supplied beyond the Medieval stage of the Western world.

Wo ‘not be wiser for all the powers signatory to the Nine- Power i _-y guaranteeing the integrity of China to cooperate in restoring this vast potential market for their trade, rather than to allow China to sink ever more deeply into the bog of disintegration and chaos, in the course of which they all run the gravest danger of being embroiled in a general war to secure a part of the dead carcass? Has the world failed to learn, even after the tremendous jesson of the World War, that no nation wins in the enormously expensive and destructive warfare of the present day? Cooperation of the powers in the restoration of a sound, all-China government is the road not only to peace and prosperity for China, but also the road to constantly increasing trade and prosperity for all the powers doing business with the world’s most populous nation.

The Restoration of a Sound, All-China Government

The feeble and trifling efforts and resources of the League of Nations are entirely inadequate to solve the problem of China's pacification and restoration. This tremendous problem requires the united and wholehearted efforts of the great powers which in the Nine-Power Treaty have guaranteed the integrity of that great nation. No doubt it would be vnly with the greatest difficulty that the clashing interests of the powers could be reconciled and their united and sincere aid offered to China in her extremity: but would �[Page 181]WORLD ADVANCE 181

it not be better for all concerned, that these clashing interests should be openly presented and thrashed out around the council table than that they should be fought out on the battle field, where everybody, including China, would be the loser? It is idle to ignore the almost insuperable difficulty that would arise in an attempt to establish united action among the powers. Can Russia with her avowed ambition to establish communism in China work together with Japan with her ambition to exercise a general overlordship in the Far East? Can Britain, France and America, with their keen trade rivalries, agree upon a plan for the restoration of China? Can Germany and France agree upon anything?

The basis of possible agreement among the powers would necessarily have to be limited to the very minimum terms on which sound government could be restored in China. Could the clashing interests possibly be reconciled on the basis of three simple con- ditions: (1) that there would be no seizure of territory or particu- lar spheres of influence for any of the powers, but an open door for equal tra. = facilities for all; (2) that a federal form of govern- ment would be established, leaving the decision of the political and economic structure of each of the provinces to the decision of the population of that province; and (3) that a joint lien on the Chinese customs should guarantee the gradual repayment of the necessary expenses incurred by the powers in the pacification and the unification of China? In view of the extreme complexity of the problem, these three suggested terms are put forth only tenta- tively as a possible basis for discussion.

It would, of course, be absolutely necessary to obtain the con- sent of the Nanking Government to any plan of the powers for cooperation in the restoration of China. No intervention could be successfully imposed upon the Chinese people. Any action taken must be upon the invitation and with the hearty approval of the National Government of the country.

What the cost of a campaign for the restoration of China by the powers would be is very problematical; but it would certainly be less in the long run than the losses in trade and the danger of widespread warfare with the enormous preparatory expenses which �[Page 182]182 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

the powers will incur, if the situation is simply allowed to drift. The pacification of China under such a plan would doubtless in- volve joint o cupation of the ports, the railroad centers and the arsenals of t' e country. It would probably involve the use of an air fleet of several thousand planes, in order to bring effective pres- sure upon the provincial chiefs in compelling them to sit down at a general council table and, with the aid of a committee of the powers, to come to an agreement upon a national political organi- zation; and, after such agreement had been reached, to compel them to disband or merge their troops in the national army.

After all is said and done, however, the fundamental cause of China’s distress is over-population; and until the Chinese people modify their views on ancestor worship, at least to an extent that will permit the restriction of the country’s population to a number that the country can comfortably support, there can be no permanent solution of the Chinese problem. This, of course, will involve a long period of education, a wide understanding by the Chinese people of the higher standard of living existing in Occidental coun- tries, and the creation in them of an earnest ambition to achieve that higher standard of living for themselves. �[Page 183]ON RACE SEGREGATION by

LESLIE PINCKNEY HILL Cheyney Training School for Teachers

ks world in which we actually live today is not governed by truth or logic or reason. It is controlled chiefly by those prejudices, inherited and acquired, which have come down

from prehistoric ages. The world is not a »nited world. It is definitely divided up into races and nations. And the feeling of race and nationality is deeper in human life everywhere today than ever before. This is in no way difficult to understand. We have only to remember that we are still in the long wake of the World War. War has always intensified the group feeling and developed the positive sense of belonging. We had thought for a while that transportation and communication, in all their subtle modern forms, nay, that the war itself, might break down the bars and give us a united world of brothers. That is what all good men want. That is the end and the dream, But the actual world is still completely divided up into self-conscious and intensified groups, races and nations.

It must be carefully understood, of course, that I am not con- sidering now, in this brief statement, that marginai life of all people, wherein there is a perpetual blending and crossing, and where individuals are free from all group bonds. In the long teaches of unpredictable time this marginal life may come to be the universal life. I am speaking now strictly of men in the mass the world over. These masses everywhere, without regard to race or place, broadly speaking, are segregated. And it is not a question of whether this segregation has come about by force or by choice. No intelligent person is advocating it. It is simply a hard universal fact. My concern is that we Negroes shall recognize the fact and

183 �[Page 184]184 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

decide what we are going to do about it. Here, there should be one mind.

The first need is that we shall face the facts frankly and intelli- gently. And the first bitter fact is that races and nations in the crossing of their paths have always meant exploitation and war and hatred. This is because tribes and races and nations up to this moment have been motivated by the idea of dominance. All these separated world groups, through millenniums of time, have de- veloped skills, services, behaviors, ways of looking at life, and richly varied expressions of the meaning to them of human exist- ence. And all these things are, in themselves, good. The evil has lain always in the assumption, against all truth and reason, that one should profit at the expense of another, that the strong has a right to exploit the weak, that some are superior and others conse- quently inferior. The truth is that every people, every gift, is good and necessary. These varied gitts are the effective bridges from one group to another. They are proofs after all of a oneness of mankind in its response to whatever is good or beautiful or true. The enduring races of man thus far have failed of this perception. And right at this point. we come to the sublime opportunity of the Negro, even in his segregated life. I am profoundly stirred when I contemplate this privilege, lest by division among ourselves we lose it.

Let us not be frustrated or stultified or split up, brothers, by the ugly force of this world curse known as segregation. We are bound to all men everywhere by the bond of suffering which the word connotes. Segregation operates upon us disastrously as it operates upon all people. It undermines health by keeping good people out of clean streets and sanitary houses. It shuts off a thou- sand enjoyments. It cheats our children out of a proper education. It prostitutes law. It corrupts government. It steals from the poor wages, shelter, clothing and food. It blinds men, stops their ears and hardens their hearts. It keeps white people and black people ignorant of one another and brings a spiritual impoverishment

upon the land. But the other side of the picture is to me the more important �[Page 185]ON RACE SEGREGATION 185

and compeliing. If group life, segregated life, is at this moment inescapable for us and for all men, my counsel is that we organize our part of it for the highest racial and world ends. Let us keep a vision of a world of brothers. Let us cooperate and associate with all good hearts and all liberal minds round about us, building a new life under a new ideal from the ground on which we stand. Let us center ourselves in the great determination to develop a world service by showing in America, for instance, that twelve millions of us refuse to commit the follies by which so many other clans and tribes and nations have been destroyed.

My meaning here is very plain. While others have welded themselves together through the centuries for conquest and always failed, we may unite for service, the only banner under which de- feat is impossible. While others have stood for hatred and ex- ploitation and war, and sunk into less than nothingness, we may give our uttermost to good-will and cooperation—to that type of association which Mazzini preached. Instead of minimizing any other race of men, we may magnify all. In place of the doctrine of inferiority and superiority, we may exemplify and teach a funda- mental equality. Instead of making money and creature comfort the measures of human worth, we may exalt again the imperishable things of the soul. If we are losing our bread-and-butter footing anywhere in the white world, let us stand together in supporting Negro business and the Urban League. If the law breaks down where Negroes are concerned, let us work, unitedly, without any wasteful conflict of leadership, for public servants who will ad- vance the interests of all the people. Let us rally to the support of the N.A.A.C.P. So in education. If the great white colleges and uni- versities are naturally centered in that learning which serves best the needs of the great white race, let us support the National Asso- ciation for the Study of Negro Life and History, and build up by solid race support centres of learning where Negro youth shall have the still more liberal learning which they need today for sur- vival and progress. Let us support effective Negro schools of every type. Where the white stage, white literature, and white art con- spire to represent us chiefly as zanies, or as defeated, helpless, de- �[Page 186]186 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

pendents, let us compound our intellect and our genius to lift up our own vast drama in dignity and power. Let us have unity with- out a break in standing before the whole public school system everywhere on the great principle which insists that our children shall have teachers, whatever their color, who know these children and have a deep and consecrated will to serve them. No other teacher is fit, for in this proper education of our children we reach the very bed rock of all our hope. When the world goes bitter let us keep our poise, our native grace, our humor and our rhythm by an exalted resolution.

Jt is not isolation or segregation that men need any longer, but the association and cooperation of a world of friends. And these vast boons will come to us, I am convinced, in the degree in which we develop our own self-respect, self-reliance, and a wide world service. We have the challenging privilege of pointing out nothing less than a new way in unity for all the sons of man.

‘This is the sublime opportunity which even our present segre- gated existence affords. Nobody can do these great things for us but ourselves. And when we do build in unity, in mutual conf- dence, and in self-respect, refusing to let a wor ' stalemate us or suspicion and internal strife divide us, we may by this high spiritual accomplishment go over the bars. We shall have defeated segrega- tion. We shall find that we are united iadissolubly to a multiplying world made up of like liberal mind and generous gift in every race. So may we construct at least the vanguard of the Kingdom.

Reprint from ‘‘The Crisis’’ by courtesy of the Editor. �[Page 187]INTERPRETING HUNGARIAN CULTURE by MEDA LYNN

Executive Secretary, Hungarian-American Society

UNGARY, to most Americans, I venture to say is a vaguely

thought of backward nation. Her identity merged for cen-

turies with that of Austria, she ias been thought of, if at

all, in terms of Austria. Yet curiously enough, now that she has become an independent nation, a separate entity, she is not associated in the minds of most Americans with Austrian culture. Perhaps this is because American tourists as a class have not ven- tured beyond Vienna into the unknown hinterland.

This Magyar nation, of entirely different racial origin from that of the Austrians, has a rich cultural past and present. It has a history as a nation that dates back a thousand years, and a culture which in 896 A.D., the date of the founding of the Magyar nation in Hungary, was interestingly vivid. This “nation on horseback,” sweeping across Europe on Arab thoroughbreds, was the first to introduce into Europe the stirrup. Naturally enough, the saddles of the early kings and nobles, were works of art—luxurious cre- ations of leather, velvet, gold and jewels.

When the conquering riders settled down on the broad and fertile plains of the Danube basin, they gave up their nomadic life of dashing color and devoted their talents to the making of a na- tion. A people delicately sensitive to beauty, whose art has flower motifs running throughout its entire history, a people whose daily lives are lived with music—is it any wonder that during the Re- naissance, their culture had so developed that the court of King Matthias vied in splendor with that of the renowned Medicis? Scholars, poets, artists and musicians gathered in Buda (Budapest). The Corvina Library, collected by King Matthias was one of the finest in existence. It was an artistic triumph, for although printed

187 �[Page 188]188 WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

books were then known, this library of about 3,000 volumes was comprised almost exclusively of exquisite hand-illuminated manu- scripts.

From then until now, Hungary has played her part in the artistic, literary and scholarly life of the world. It was to interpret this culture that the Hungarian American Society was formed dur- ing the difficult days following the war by some of the men in- terested in the reconstruction of Hungary. The idea upon which was based the determination to found such a society was the funda- mental one that back of any world peace lay mutual understanding and cooperation.

The purpose of the organization is

1. To cultivate closer relations between the peoples of Amer- ica and Hungary and to draw them together by bonds of intellec- tual friendship.

2. To disseminate among the public of both countries a better knowledge of the ideals, aims and intellectual and artistic accom- plishments of one another.

The policy of the society is strictly cultural and non-political. Its methods are:

1. Disseminating information about Hungar’. The society

ssesses an extensive reference library of information, having ac- quired a valuable collection of books on Hungary, representative articles of the folk crafts, costumes, photographs, current economic and financial reports, pamphlets, etc.

2. Providing material for lectures on Hungary, including Stereopticon slides and motion pictures.

3. Preparing articles and furnishing illustrative material about Hungary and Hungarian culture for magazines, newspapers, and other publications.

4. Securing special information, etc. for producers of plays and motion pictures dealing with Hungarian life.

5. Preparing study courses about Hungary and Hungarian culture and arranging Hungarian programs for clubs.

6. Publication of English translations of Hungarian literature of merit. �[Page 189]INTERPRETING HUNGARIAN CULTURE 189

7. Publication of pamphlets dealing with various phases of Hungarian life.

8. Fostering and creating interest in travel to Hungary.

9. Sponsoring Hungarian lecturers visiting the United States.

10. Aiding writers, students, etc., to make the proper contacts in Hungary to facilitate their study.

11. Arranging for exhibitions of Hungarian art, including paintings, sculpture, books, porcelain, and embroideries, and spon- soring Hungarian exhibitions arranged by other organizations or individuals.

12. Offering special courtesies to distinguished Hungarians visiting the United States.

13. Maintaining at its headquarters a social center for all friends of Hungary.

14. Collaborating with other organizations.

That these methods are not theoretical abstractions is proven by the work of the past five years, even though part of these years fell within the depression period. Increasingly the society has be- come the center of information about Hungary in the United States. It has been in contact with, cooperated with, or given information to a hundred and fifty organizations and numerous individuals. It is estimated that a reading public of seventeen millions of people has been reached. In one way or another the work has extended into twenty-five states and into Canada, though if we considered those reached by magazines and newspapers, the total would be much higher.

So the work of creating a better understanding between the United States and Hungary moves on. The social significance of such work in terms of world peace cannot be evaluated in the present, for educative processes are slow. These are days of im- portunate, immediate, vital needs. The disaster of this present Crisis must be met. The ills of this present social order must be cured. The jobless must be taken care of; the hungry fed, but even so, side by side with this curative work must go the work of inter- national understanding to eradicate the causes of the ills that un- dermine the social order.

The forty-first modern movement presented in the department ‘‘The World We Live In.”

�[Page 190]NOTES ON THE CURRENT ISSUE

The juxtaposition of “The Celestial and Terrestrial Currents” and “The World’s Seven Great Historical Religions” in this issue was not deliberately planned, but simply happened. The result, however, is symphonic to an extraordinary degree. No sensitive reader will fail to perceive the inevitable harmonies set up in the contrast as well as in the similarities between these two essays.

Dr. Sunderland supplies a necessary background of religious history and doctrine—necessary to any adequate effort to seize upon the fundamental values existing in the disturbances of our own day. Mr. Yewdale, in turn, furnishes an important clue to the whole rhythm of human civilization.

Upon this foundation one may with deeper discernment face the tremendous, perhaps the crucial problem described by Oscar Newfang in his “Plea for Peace in China,”—in reality, a plea tor the peace and security of the entire world. This analysis of the international gravity of conditions in China reminds us of the spe- cial characteristic of modern life: the responsibility laid upon man- kind for knowledge of and obedience to the moral and social laws. This age stands apart from previous times precisely in that it pre- sents unescapable problems in which every vital aspect of social morality is definitely exemplified.

The response made by teachers like Prof. Alder, like that made by statesmen of the order of Benes, indicate how quickening to the human mind and conscience this increasing realization of responsibility can be. The response made by Prof. Hill, in his remarks “On Race Segregation,” may have been written as a spirit: ual challenge to the Negro, but it stands as a far greater challenge to the whites.

190 �[Page 191]UNITY HISTORY SCHOOLS

1934 and 1935 UNDER THE DIRECTION OF Mk. F. C. Marvin, M.A., F. R. Hist. Soc. It has now been arranged that a Unity School shall be held in

ROME, at EASTER, 1935

It will be organized in conjunction with the Institute for the Study of the History of Science in Rome, and has been approved by the Italian authorities. The subject will be

SCIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD

and it is intended to arrange for a full week of sight-seeing in Rome, in addition to the course of lectures, for which it is hoped to secure a panel of international lecturers. Dr. Enriques, the head of the Institute in Rome, conducts the Inter- national Journal Scientia.

A full iat sg will be issued later. Meanwhile we hope that many who have been to former “'Schools,’’ as well as new members, will be able to make plans to join us.

FOR 1934

it is proposed to hold a shorter and more informal gathering in

BATH, FROM APRIL 20TH—23RD

Discussions will be introduced by: PROFESSOR HERBERT DINGLE, of the Imperial College of Science. PROFESSOR R. B. MOWAT, of the University of Bristol. Mr. F. S. MARVIN. Among the subjects which it is thought might usefully be discussed on this oc- casion are: 1. The present risks of peace in the world and means of meeting them. 2. The effect of dictatorshiy governments on the prospects of world peace. 3. The effect of science on the peace of the world.

During the week-end conducted visits will be arranged to the Roman remains and places of interest in Bath, and a lecture on the history of Bath will, if possible, be included in the programme.

Inclusive fee for Bath week-end, covering board and accommodations, with tips and school fee:

Friday evening, April 20th, to Monday afternoon, April 23rd, £2 2s. Saturday morning, April 21st, to Monday morning, April 23rd, 30/s-.

Applications to the Hon. Sec.:— Mrs. K. E. INNEs, 29 High Oaks Road, WELWYN GARDEN CITY Herts. I9I �[Page 192]BOOKS ABROAD

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IN THE APRIL 1934 ISSUE: Lytton Strachey and the French Influences

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and reviews by such prominent critics as Albert Guerard, Sidney B. Fay, J. F. Muirhead, Samuel Putnam, Muna Lee, etc.

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