It Is The Religious Impulse Which Supplies

No Doubt Western Civilization Has In The Past Been Full Of Wars And Revolutions, And The National Elements In Our Culture, Even When They Were Ignored, Always Provided An Unconscious Driving Force Of Passion And Aggressive Self-assertion

No Civilisation, Not Even That Of Ancient Greece, Has Ever Undergone Such A Continuous And Profound Process Of Change As Western Europe Has Done During The Last 900 Years. It Is Impossible To Explain This Fact In Purely Economic Terms By A Materialistic Interpretation Of History. The Principle Of Change Has Been A Spiritual One And The Progress Of Western Civilisation Is Intimately Related To The Dynamic Ethos Of Western Christianity, Which Has Gradually Made Western Man Conscious Of His Moral Responsibility And His Duty To Change The World.

Moreover, Behind This Vague Tendency To Treat Religion As A Side Issue In Modern Life, There Exists A Strong Body Of Opinion That Is Actively Hostile To Christianity And That Regards The Destruction Of Positive Religion As Absolutely Necessary To The Advance Of Modern Culture

Unlike Other Peoples The United States Found Their Origin In A Deliberate Act Of Corporate Self-assertion, And Ever Since The Revolution Every Little American Has Been Taught To Associate Himself Personally With This Creative Act.

We Have Entered A New Phase Of Culture - We May Call It The Age Of The Cinema - In Which The Most Amazing Perfection Of Scientific Technique Is Being Devoted To Purely Ephemeral Objects, Without Any Consideration Of Their Ultimate Justification. It Seems As Though A New Society Was Arising Which Will Acknowledge No Hierarchy Of Values, No Intellectual Authority, And No Social Or Religious Tradition, But Which Will Live For The Moment In A Chaos Of Pure Sensation.