Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/473

 CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND SOCIAL UNITY 459

Religious instincts are as elemental as the lust for blood. They are not something learned, and so added to life. Religion is life — or, perhaps better, is one way of living. This was one of the messages of Jesus : to be religious is to live with God as well as with men. If one life is natural, so is the other, and if reli- gion is one way of living, it can be a bond of lives in so far as it calls into action original and essentially human elements. Ignor- ing all questions as to the relations of his ancestors with his tribal god, the savage in the Pacific islands today kneels at the altar of the God whose first messengers he devoured. The man of culture bows before God, hesitating perhaps to assent to any sharply articulated theology, yet wishing to let his faith find expression in deeds, if not in words. The philosopher, who more than any other man appreciates the difificulties which lie inherent in theistic belief, still sees in religion a philosophy of the whole of things, and cannot believe in anything less than a general unity lying back of all sensible variety. The root of all this belief in each class of men is undoubtedly the same, whatever may be the variety in its expression. Were religion the luxury of the rich or a necessity of the poor, it would be far otherwise, for somewhere the instinct would disappear with creed, and awe with knowledge. But as the call to war leads men away from the accidents of life, the differences of business and culture and station, and binds millionaire and pauper, clubman and cowboy, into a regiment, so Christianity, if only it is true to religion, can call men from business and daily routine and join them into the indivisible kingdom of God. In the broadest sense of the word, it is faith that makes social life possible. To make men trust God better is to make them more ready to trust men better. To make them resemble God in universality of interest is to make them more companionable, more eager to do good, less eager to succeed through oppression, less isolated and self-centered, more intent upon performing duties than upon demanding rights. If men are God's sons, then must they be each other's brothers. 2. But such a statement as this leads us directly to the posi- tion of Christianity. It is fundamentally a religion, but on its social side gains its great centripetal force by the fraternal