What Has Science Done To Religion?1)

Abstract

Definitions of religion cover a distressingly wide range in consequence of the essentially non-convergent outcome of a struggle to reach agreement about this word. At one extreme, Communism, the very antithesis to religion in most people's minds, has been termed a religion on account of its appearance as a system of intense emotional dedication to doctrinal principles by those within its fold. Recently I heard Felix Greene, the cousin of Christopher Isherwood and of Graham Greene, describe this dedication within Communism; Greene had just returned from five full months in Red China where he even was granted a personal interview with Chou en Lai. The near half a billion Chinese people live in a political and economic system which is controlled by a hard core of just several million Communist Party Members. He continually ran into Chinese youth who described to him their real despair over being refused membership in the Party because of failure to measure up to the fantastically high standards of conduct and commitment required of a Party member.. He likened the Party to a reigious order in every sense of the word in which some of the choice youth of China have evidently found themselves through utter and absolute commitment to the Party. They exhibit a selflessness that is frightening in its future implications and renders a stark warning to the apathy and easy-going faiths of so many of us in America in general and in Christianity in particular. Without doubt, the definition of religion is not violated when it is stretched to include Communism, at any rate, when it is stretched to include that element of Communism related to commitment.