Faom 4 Connsaronoen, Few newspaper "stunts" of recent years have caught on so well as one recently put over by the London "Daily Express." Its editor succeeded in persuading 10 popular modern authors to each, write a personal article on their religious delicts. Some famous writers refused" the invitation, and Mr, Bernard Shaw referred the editor to his play, "Back To Methuselah." The 10 authors whose opinions were published are Mr, Arnold Bennett, Mr. Hugh Walpole, Miss Rebecca West, Mr. Compton Mackenale, Mr. H. Vere Stacpoole, Mr. Zangwill, Mr. Conan Doyle, Mr. Phillips Oppenheim, Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, and Mr. J. D, Beresford. It ult to believe that the religious views of some of them would be But the in-have excited] proves that the editor of the paper has accurately grasped a curious idiosyneracy of the gene: ly pass over unread any article in a newspaper written by a clergyman of.any denomination but it will take a lively interest in any personal ttatament on by a fairly well-known layman, if it thinks he has no particular axe to grind, Heterodoxy of Views The articles were published on consecutive days and immediately} provoked a number of replies from leading divines. A curious feature been the fact that some of the essayists Have Deen MtemeRee heterodoxy of their views and commended for the wisdom: of them by clergymen of the same denomination, It would appear that there is room in the Anglican community for some pastors who would judge Unitarianiam ax a rather narrow dogma, and for others who still hold fast to the literal interpretation of the Bible as taught in the early decade of the 19th Centar; Mr. Arnold Bennett's article has provoked most controversy.
more plain statement than any of the others and begins in Mr. Bennett's usual downright style, do not believe, and never have! at any time believed, in the divinity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the Immaculate Conception, Heaven, Hell, the Immortality of the Soul, and] the divine inspiration of the Bible.'
oes on to say that "the Christian dogma does not enter into} my social, spiritual, or intellectual] life at all: Nor does the dogma of any other religion. Of all the Oriental steeds of which I have knowledge the Christian creed is to me the least only that of Mohammedi believe that there is a God, if only for the reason that I can imagine no other explanation of this marvellous, scientifically ordered and law-controlled universe. But what may be the attributes of God and his ultimate aim, I have not the slightest idea. And I do not ise my brain in trying to decide what His aim is, because I feel that my brain is utterly unequal to so sublime a problem, and could not possibly solve it. There is, however, another argument for the existence of God which, for me, is more cogent even than the rather physical argument from design—namely, that in everyone of us is a force which we call conscience, force which tends always in the direction of justice, mercy, and Kindness. Nobody is without feonscience; the conduct of nobody la entirely uninfluenced by his cot science. The universality of conscience, together with the browd uniformity of its influence on eon nct convinces me, far more sat factorily than anything else, that must have been implanted in us by s Creator Who had a clear aim Grhatever that aim may be) in the creation and slow evolution of His verse." "My religion is necesily -n.religion of works rather than faith. T'absolutely dismiss the extraordinary and too convenient notion that a man may do as he chooses provided he, dies in a certain faith. Such a° notion insults my reason. I do not say that it ingulfs "everybody's reason, for obviously it does not; but it merely insults mine, I think that every act counts forever, either for or against the ultimate fulfilment of happiness. "Tt seems to me. that Christ, better than anybody, tnderstood' the secret of happiness his, He avowed, the of all" religious beliefs. "He taught us to jadge not that we be not judged, He taught the return of good for evil." humility, forgiveness, and as the suffering of fools gladly, no amount of works' can be effective or have any real value in a religious cense. I think that Christianity as force might have effectively lustily survived if it had not for centuries 30 notoriously forgotten tthe teaching of its own founder."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.