Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/829

 RELIGION

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RELIGION

With all his zeal for religion, man b constantly lapsing into offences against the Deity. These oflences, whether ritual or moral, deliberate or in- voluntarj', present themselves as obstacles more or less fatal to the bliss-bringing communion with the Deity which is the end of rehgion. The fear of forfeiting the good will and help of the Deity, and of incurring His punishment, gives rise to regret, which in higher religions is made more meritorious by the sorrow felt for having offended so good a God. Hence the offender is prompted to acknowledge his fault and to seek reconciliation, so as to restore to its integrity the ruptured union of friendship with God.

III. Objective Religion. — Objective religion com- prises the acts of homage that are the effects of sub- jective reUgion, and also the various phenomena which are viewed as the manifestations of good will by the Deity. We may distinguish in objective re- Ugion a speculative and a practical part.

A. Speculative. — The speculative part embraces the intellectual basis of reUgion, those concepts of God and man, and of man's relation to God, which are the object of faith, whether natural or super- natural. Of Wtal importance to right religion are correct \Tiews concerning the existence of a personal God, Di\-ine providence and retribution, the im- mortaUty of the soul, free will, and moral respon- sibiUty. Hence the need is recognized of firmly establishing the grounds of theistic beUef, and of refuting the errors that weaken or destroy the virtue of rehgion. Polytheism vitiates rehgion, in so far as it confounds the one true God with a number of fictitious beings, and distributes among these the reverent service that belongs to God alone. Re- ligion is absolutely quenched in Atheism, which tries to substitute for the personal Deity blind physical forces. Equally destructive is Pantheism, which views all things as emanations of an impersonal, un- conscious world-ground. Agnosticism, in declaring that we have not sufficient grounds for asserting the existence of God, also makes religion impossible. Scarcely less fatal is Deism, which, putting God far from the i-isible world, denies Di\-ine providence and the efficacy of praj-er. Wherever religion has flourished, we find a deeply rooted behef in Di\nne providence. Free will — with its necessarj- implica- tion, moral responsibility — is taken for granted in the creeds of most reUgions. It is only in grades of higher culture, where philosophic speculation has given oc- casion to the denial of free will, that this important truth is emphasized. BeUef in the immortality of the soul is to be found in practically all rehgions, though the nature of the soul and the character of the future life are in most reUgions crudely conceived. Di\-ine retribution is also an element of religious belief throughout the world. One of the common errors fostered in recent works on anthropology and the historj- of religions is that only in the higher reUgions is moral conduct found to rest on reUgious sanction. While the standard of right and wrong in lower religions is often grossly defective, allowing the existence of impure and cruel rites, it is neverthe- less true that what is reprobated as morally evil is verj- generally viewed as an ofTence against the Deity, entailing punishment in some form unless expiated. Many religions, even those of savage and barbarous tribes, distinguish between the fate of the good and that of the bad after death. The bad go to a place of suffering, or they perish utterly, or they are re- born in vile animal forms. Practically all give evi- dence of belief in retribution in the present life, as may be seen from the universal use of ordeals, oaths, and the widespread recourse to penitential rites in times of great distress.

These fundamental elements of belief have their legitimate place in the Christian religion, in which they are found corrected, supplemented, and completed

by a larger knowledge of God and of His purposes in regard to man. God, ha\ing destined man for fiUal communion with Himself in the life of grace, has through the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ brought within the reach of man the truths and prac- tices needed for the attainment of this end. Thus, in Christianity the things to be beUeved and the things to be done in order to obtain salvation have the guar- antee of Divine authority. Right beUef is thus essen- tial to rehgion, if man is to do justice to his moral and religious duties and thereby secure his perfection. The popular cry of to-day for religion without dogma comes from the failure to recognize the supreme im- portance of right belief. The dogmatic teacliings of Christianity, supplementing and perfecting the in- tellectual basis of natural reUgion, are not to be looked on as a mere series of intellectual puzzles. They have a practical purpose. They ser\-e to enUghten man on the whole range of his religious and ethical duties, on the proper fulfilment of which depends his super- natural perfection. Closely allied with the data of revelation are the attempts to determine their mutual relations, to explain them as far as possible in terms of sound science and philosophy, and to draw from them their legitimate deductions. Out of this field of reUgious stud}' has arisen the science of theolog}'. Corresponding with tliis in function, but the very op- posite of it in worth, is the mythologj- of pagan reU- gions. Mytholog}- is the product partly of the ten- dency of the human mind to reaUze and partly of man's attempts to account for the origins of such factors in life as fire, disease, death, and to ex-plain the succession of natural phenomena in an age of ignorance when a fanciful personification of nature's forces occupied the place of scientific knowledge. Hence arose the mj'thical stories of the gods both great and small, many of which in later generations gave scandal because of their absurditj- and immoral- ity. M^-thology, being born of ignorance and un- bridled fancy, has no legitimate place in sound reU- gious belief.

B. Practical. — The practical part comprises (1) the acts of homage whereb)" man acknowledges God's dominion and seeks His help and friendship, and (2) the extraordinarj' reUgious experiences viewed by the worshippers as manifestations of Divine good will.

(1) The acts of homage may be distinguished into three classes: (a) the direct acts of worship; (b) the regulation of conduct outside the sphere of moral obUgation; (c) the regulation of conduct within the recognized sphere of moral obligation.

(a) Acts of Worship. — The acts of worship proper consist of those wiiich directly express adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and propitiation. In these are included acts of faith, hope, love, humility, and repentance. They take the external form of prayer and sacrifice. Prayer, as an outward act, is the verbal communication of man's thoughts and needs to God. In the lower religions petitions for earthly favours are the chief objects of prayer. Expressions of thanks, too, are not unknown. Besides these there are in the higher religions praj-ers of adoration, of petition for moral impro\ement, also penitential prayers. Sacri- fice is equally common with prayer. Scholars are not all agreed as tfl the priraarj' idea underljing the use of sacrifice. The most likely \iew is that sacri- fice is primarily a token of respect in the form of a gift. It is often called a gift or offering, even in Holy Scripture (cf. Gen., iv, 3-.5; Matt., v, 23). Among the nations of antiquity, as well as most peoples of to-day. no inferior would think of approaching his superior without bringing a gift. It is a token of respect and good will. It is not a bribe, as some have objected, though it may degenerate into such. In like manner, man from the earliest times, in doing homage to the Deity, came into His presence with a gift. Besides being a visible proof of man's respect,