The War and the Churches

The War and the Churches

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Title: The War and the Churches
Author: Joseph McCabe

Release Date: June 22, 2006 [eBook #18650]
Language: English
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THE WAR AND THE CHURCHES
by
JOSEPH McCABE

[Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Limited] London: Watts
& Co. 17 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C. 1915

WORKS BY THE AUTHOR
Modern Rationalism (Watts), 2nd ed. 1/-
Peter Abelard (Duckworth), 2nd ed. 3/6.
Saint Augustine and his Age (Duckworth), 2nd ed. 3/6.
Twelve Years in a Monastery (Smith Elder), 3rd ed. 6d. and 1/-
Life in a Modern Monastery (Grant Richards). 6/-
Life and Letters of G. J. Holyoake (Watts), 2 vols. £1/1/-
Talleyrand (Hutchinson). 14/-
The Iron Cardinal (Nash). 12/-
Goethe (Nash). 15/-
A Candid History of the Jesuits (Nash). 10/6.

The Evolution of Mind (Black). 5/-
Evolution (Twentieth Century Science Series). 1/-
Prehistoric Man (Twentieth Century Science Series). 1/-
The Principles of Evolution (The Nation's Library). 1/-
The Decay of the Church of Rome (Methuen), 2nd ed. 7/6.
The Story of Evolution (Hutchinson), 2nd ed. 7/6.
The Empresses of Rome (Methuen). 12/6.
The Empresses of Constantinople (Methuen). 12/6.
Church Discipline (Duckworth). 3/6.
Can we Disarm? (Heinemann). 2/6.
In the Shade of the Cloister (pseudonymous--Constable). 6/-
The Bible in Europe (Watts). 3/6.
The Religion of Woman (Watts), 2nd ed. 6d.
Woman in Political Evolution (Watts). 6d.
Haeckel's Critics Answered (Watts), 2nd ed. 6d.
From Rome to Rationalism (Watts), 4th ed. 4d.
The Origin of Life (Watts). 1/-
Secular Education (Watts), 2nd ed. 1/-
The Martyrdom of Ferrer (Watts), 2nd ed. 6d.
The Religion of the Twentieth Century (Watts). 1/-

A Hundred Years of Education Controversy (Watts). 3d.
The Existence of God (Watts). 9d.
Shakespeare and Goethe (Cole). 6d.
George Bernard Shaw (Kegan Paul). 7/6.
The Religion of Sir Oliver Lodge (Watts). 2/-

PREFACE
The searching crisis through which the nation is passing must have the
effect of securing grave consideration for many aspects of our life and
institutions. We have already traversed the acute stage of suspense, and
are gradually becoming sensible of these wider considerations. It was
natural that for a prolonged period the disturbance of our economic
conditions, the anxiety for the safety of our nation in face of an
appalling menace, the personal concern of millions about the lives of
sons or brothers who have bravely responded to the call, should keep
our thoughts enchained to the daily or hourly fortunes of the field of
battle. Now that the initial disorder has been allayed and we have
attained a quiet and reasonable confidence in the issue, we turn to other
and broader aspects of this mighty event of our generation. How comes
it that the most enlightened century the world has yet seen should be
thus darkened by one of the bloodiest and most calamitous wars that
have ever spread their awful wings over the life of man? Where is all
the optimism of yesterday? Must we reconsider our reasoned boast that
our civilisation has lifted the life of man to a level hitherto unattained?
Is there something entirely and most mischievously wrong with the
foundations of modern civilisation?
A dozen such questions will press for an answer, but it will be granted
that one of the most urgent and most interesting of the many grave
considerations which the war suggests is its relation to the prevailing
creeds and standards of conduct. The war coincides with an advanced
stage of what is called the spread of unbelief. In each of the nations of

Europe which are engaged in this awful struggle complaints have been
made every year for the last two or three generations that Christianity is
losing its moral control of the white race. In the cities, especially in the
capitals, of Europe there has been a proved and acknowledged decay of
church-going; and, however much we may be disposed to think that
these millions who no longer attend church retain in their minds the
beliefs of their fathers, the slender circulation of religious literature
makes it plain that the vast majority of them do not, in point of fact,
receive either the spoken or written message of the Christian