Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/827

 THE RECENT CENSUS OF RELIGIOUS BODIES 813

divisive has become a unifying force. The lines of cleavage at the present time are not primarily religious but ethical or philosophical. There is no doubt then that religion plays a part in promoting social unity today which it has never been able to play before. Communication has increased mutual knowledge of those belonging to different bodies. Knowledge has lessened antagonism and increased toleration. Social unity is now being aided rather than hindered by religious beliefs.

Cecil C. North, De Pauw University A statistical inquiry is always open to the danger of giving impressions not in accordance with the facts of the subject investigated. This seems to me particularly possible in a study of this bulletin on religious denomi- nations, and I think that one of Professor Coe's remarks indicates a possi- bly erroneous interpretation. His statement was that the figures indicated a very considerable increase in the heterogeneity of our religious beliefs in America, basing that conclusion on the increase in the number of denomina- tions enumerated. These figures, however, express only the formal side of the matter, and do not at all touch the equally important fact that in a large number of respects we have grown more homogeneous in our beliefs. While, of course, the fact is not amenable to a statistical inquiry, we are all quite conscious that the people of all denominations have had a ten- dency to accept a considerable number of common elements of belief. For example, the differences between the Calvinists and the Arminians are much less acute, and there is a decided tendency on the part of churches holding these different theological tenets to unite on certain fundamentals and neglect or minimize their differences. In fact the differences between the various denominations seem to be resolving themselves into a difference between the conservatives and the radicals, just as there seems to be a realignment in the membership of the two dominant political parties. Any complete account of the religious beliefs of a community must consider these harmonizing processes as well as the mere increase of denomina- tions. This same fact seems to have been neglected in Professor Gidding's excellent paper yesterday in which he reached the conclusion that in respect to religion we were becoming more heterogeneous in America.

Another of Professor Coe's statements seems to contain a possible error. On the basis of an increase in church membership relatively greater than the increase in population during the sixteen years under consideration, he concludes that religion is not losing its hold on the people of the United States. Here again there are some facts which the figures do not indicate, namely, the meaning of church membership to the individual. A rather definite impression prevails that joining a church is a much less serious matter for us than it was for our fathers. It is a well-known fact, of course, that many churches have considerably changed the requirements for