Communism and Christianism: Analyzed and Contrasted from the Marxian and Darwinian Points of ViewBrown, William Montgomery
Religion
Communism and Christianism: Analyzed and Contrasted from the Marxian and Darwinian Points of View
Brown, William Montgomery
Christian socialism; Communism; Communism and Christianity
You will be surprised, and I do not expect you to understand me, when I
tell you that by translating the services and hymns from the language of
my old literalism into that of my new symbolism, I am getting as much
good out of them as ever and indeed more. I love the services,
especially that great one, the Holy Communion, and the hymns, especially
those great ones, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah; Lead, Kindly Light;
Abide With Me; and Jesus, Lover of My Soul.
My experience has convinced me that the sentimental and poetical
elements in religion, to which I attach as much importance as ever, are
as readily excited and securely sustained by fixing thought and sympathy
upon the martyred human savior, the working class, as upon a crucified
divine saviour, who after all, as the suffering son of God, is but a
symbol of the suffering sons and daughters of man, the workers, from
whom all good things come.
If grace at dinner means anything, it is addressed to a god who is the
symbol of the many workers who did the innumerable things necessary to
the producing and serving of it, without whom there would be nothing of
all the good things on the table.
In the representation about my pleasure in the services of the church
and their value to me, and in many representations scattered throughout
this letter, I have in mind the question of an unanswered letter of
yours, bearing date, February 25th, 1919, the one in which you ask, in
effect, by what right a man can remain in an institution after he has,
as I have, abandoned its chief doctrines and aims as they are
authoritatively interpreted.
The right of revolution is the one by which I justify my course, and
surely no consistent Protestant Christian or American citizen will doubt
the solidity of this ground; for Protestantism and Americanism had their
origin in revolutions.
Our national declaration of independence contains this famous
justification of political revolutions, and it is equally applicable to
religious ones, for religion and politics are but the ideal and
practical halves of the same social reality:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account