“Recently religion in the Western world has tended to place less emphasis on dogma and more on social values. It has also tried to reconcile its doctrines with scientific knowledge.”-Samuel Koenig.
A more radical group is represented by the Humanists. They have rejected all connections with conventional Christianity. To quote Barnes they have attempted to construct a religion based entirely, “upon the service of man rather than the worship of God.”
John H. Dietrich, one of the chief exponents of Humanism points out that “Humanism believes in the supreme worth of human life and that man must therefore be treated as an end, not as a means to some other end….. Humanism is the effort to enrich human experience by means of human inquiry…. It has no blind faith in the perfectibility of man, but it believes that his present condition can be immeasurably improved……. Humanism accepts the responsibility for the conditions of human life and relies entirely upon human effort for their improvement.
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The humanist makes no attempt to shove the responsibility for the miserable conditions of human life onto some God or some cosmic order. He fully realises that the situation is in our own hands and that practically all the evils of the world have been brought up by men by themselves”.
Humanism, it may be said, represents an attempt to divorce religion from supernaturalism. It tries to secularise and socialise it completely. Humanism actually is not at all different from other idealistic social reform movements. Many will doubt whether it can be called p religion.
The trend towards the socialisation and secularisation of religion is there no doubt. Religious leaders are advocating greater participation by the Church in meeting social problems and Concentration upon the ethical rather than the dogmatic content of religion.
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As MacIver has pointed out if religion emerges as a social force above tribal and national egoisms, with the help of science, it will become consistent with a purely moral code and thus be brought into harmony with the needs of life.
As Barnes has pointed out religion adapted to our changed conditions of life is worth preserving and it must seek to organise the masses and guide their activities for the benefit of society rather than for the purpose of pleasing the God.
It is doubtful whether an institution which has been devoted to the supernatural can be changed into one dedicated to furthering the welfare and happiness of mankind here on earth.
It is highly questionable, wrote Barnes, that a religion with a mass appeal can exist without elements of mystery and fear dominating. It is equally doubtful whether a religion exists without dogma and ritual.