Prejudices, fifth seriesMencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
History
Prejudices, fifth series
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
American essays -- 20th century; American literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- History and criticism
It is, of course, quite true that there is a region in which science
and religion do not conflict. That is the region of the unknowable.
No one knows Who created the visible universe, and it is infinitely
improbable that anything properly describable as evidence on the point
will ever be discovered. No one knows what motives or intentions, if
any, lie behind what we call natural laws. No one knows why man has
his present form. No one knows why sin and suffering were sent into
this world--that is, why the fashioning of man was so badly botched.
Naturally enough, all these problems have engaged the interest of
humanity since the remotest days, and in every age, with every sort
of evidence completely lacking, men of speculative mind have sought
to frame plausible solutions. Some of them, more bold than the rest,
have pretended that their solutions were revealed to them by God,
and multitudes have believed them. But no man of science believes
them. He doesn’t say positively that they are wrong; he simply says
that there is no proof that they are right. If he admitted, without
proof, that they are right, he would not be a man of science. In his
view all such theories and speculations stand upon a common level.
In the most ambitious soarings of a Christian theologian he can find
nothing that differs in any essential way from the obvious hocus-pocus
of a medicine man in the jungle. Superficially, of course, the two
stand far apart. The Christian theologian, confined like all the
rest to the unknowable, has to be more careful than the medicine man,
for in Christendom the unknowable covers a far less extensive field
than in the jungle. Christian theology is thus, in a sense, more
reasonable than voodooism. But it is not more reasonable because its
professors know more than the voodoo-man about the unknowable; it is
more reasonable simply because they are under a far more rigorous and
enlightened scrutiny, and run a risk of being hauled up sharply every
time they venture too near the borders of the known.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account