Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/240

 the spirit of these ideas and experiences, and thus a spiritual contagion is spread abroad among the people, and education, too, bears its part, so that the individual breathes in the atmosphere of his people. The children too go in festival attire with their elders to worship, take part in the religious functions, or have something to do in connection with this divine worship. In any case, they learn the prayers, hear repeated the beliefs of the church and of the nation, enter into these and accept them in the same direct way in which uniformity in dress and the customs of everyday life are propagated.

Such is natural authority; but its power is greatest in spiritual matters. However independent the individual may imagine himself to be, it is impossible for him to get beyond this spirit, for it is what is substantial, it is his special nature itself.

This authority is, to begin with, something entirely natural, and has a sure place amongst a people on its own account, without hinting at any prohibition of what is contrary to it. Under such conditions, individuals as units are neither free nor are they in bondage, for there is here no kind of opposition of reflection and subjective thought. We say, such and such peoples have believed this, but they themselves do not call it “believing,” if you understand by belief or faith what involves the consciousness of opposition.

But now different forms of faith make their appearance, different religions, which can come into collision with one another. This collision may take place in the sphere of ordinary thought and of reflection, and the defence may be based on reasons and evidences of truth, but it may also take the form of one people compelling others to conform to their faith, and thus faith becomes compulsory State-authority, enforced partly within the State itself and partly outside of it. This kind of collision has given rise to countless wars. Under this head we may rank the wars of the Mohammedans, the religious