The Rationalist Press Association.
Our readers, especially among the young, should be on their guard against cheap rationalistic literature sent forth by Watts & Co., 5 and 6 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. A selection of names of well-known people who are honorary associates of the Rationalist Press are given, among these being: Marjorie Bowen; Prof. Albert Einstein; Prof. J. B. S. Haldane; Sir John Hammerton, Editor of the World Review, etc.; Lord Horder; Prof. Julian S. Huxley; Prof. Sir Arthur Keith; Prof. H. J. Laski; W. Somerset Maugham; Eden Phillpotts; Bertrand Russell; and H. G. Wells. These are men and women whose voice is listened to and whose writings are read by the thousand. The Rationalist Press Association is not a dead and alive publishing concern but exceedingly active in promulgating rationalist views and literature.
The B.B.C. Again.
The B.B.C. is evidently out to popularise Evolution. Recently there was a talk on “Fossil Apes and Their Descendants.” This talk was given to schools. The youthful auditors were taken back twenty million years as if the lecturer or the children knew what that meant. The rest of the talk was on the same high imaginative plane when this lecturer’s imagination outran his facts. This is the second talk that has been given on the subject. Is the licence money collected by this Corporation to be used in the propagation of pseudo-science? In these days when falsehood in high places is making a bid to catch the ear and minds of men it becomes us to utter a protest against Higher Criticism and Evolution both of which have found a congenial home in Germany and alas! in our own country also. Why is it that the B.B.C. will not give the distinguished scientist, Sir Ambrose Fleming, an opportunity of showing the falsity of this pseudo-science?
The Deadliest Blow Ever Delivered by Germany to this Country.
A writer in the Daily Telegraph (London) recently wrote: “The deadliest blow ever delivered by Germany to this country was the destructive criticism of the Old Testament.” This witness is true. Is it any wonder when God’s infallible truth should be treated as fables, that lying and disregard of treaties should be the order of the day. Yet notwithstanding all this the Rev. L. B. Ashby in his Saturday column in the above paper in an article dealing with the Story of the Creation scouts the plain statements of Genesis and speaks of Genesis narratives as containing sometimes what is legendary. It is this kind of insidious poison which is undermining the faith of thousands—a sowing to the wind with the harvest of the whirlwind. Better have no religious column at all than having such crude, benighted ideas served up as if they were the truth.
“What hast thou to do with Peace!”
The Pope has been praying for peace—rather ominous for peace! “When it is remembered,” says The Covenantor (Londonderry) “that this call is issued by the head of the greatest war-mongering organisation on earth, the retort which Jehu made to Joram and his messengers when they came to him asking, ‘Is it peace?’ is much to the point: “What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me . . . what peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many” (II. Kings ix., 18—22).
Three Miracles Wrought in Honour of the Sabbath.
Robert Haldane writes: “We may here observe that three miracles in honour of the Sabbath, and to secure it against desecration, were wrought every week before the promulgation of the Law at Sinai. (1) Double the quantity of manna fell on the sixth day. (2) None fell on the Sabbath. (3) The manna preserved for that day did not corrupt.”
Anti-Evolutionist Scientists.
Replying to a correspondent who declared that “modern scientists never dream of questioning inorganic evolution,” Mr. Douglas Dewar gives the following list of biologists who have done so since 1928, with references to their published works:—L. Vialleton, Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Montpellier, L’origine des êtres vivants; L’illusion transformiste (1929). G. B. O’Toole, Ph.D., Professor of Animal Biology, Seton Hill College, U.S.A., The Case against Evolution (1933). A. Fleischmann, Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Erlagen, Die Descendenz Theorie; The Doctrine of Organic Evolution in the Light of Modern Research (Trans. Vic. Inst., Vol. LXIV, 1933). L. Merson Davies, F.R.S.E., G.F.S., palæontologist (ibid., Vol. LXVII, 1933). Heribert Nilsson, plant geneticist, Lund, Sweden, The Problem of the Origin of Species (Hereditas, Vol. XX, 1935); Der Evolutionsgedanke und die vergangene Pflanzenwelt (ibid., Vol. XXIV, 1939). E. L. Grant Watson, zoologist, Facts at Variance with the Theory of Organic Evolution (Trans. V. I., Vol. LXX, 1938). D. Dewar, F.Z.S., ornithologist, Difficulties of the Evolution Theory (1931); More Difficulties of the Evolution Theory (1938). G. K. Hebbert, lepidopterist, A Biologist’s Views on Evolution (1928). P. Lemoine, Director of the Natural History Museum, Paris, Encyclopédie Française (Vol. V, 1928). J. Lèfevre, Directeur du Laboratoire de Bioénergétique, Paris, Manuel Critique de Biologie (1938). M. Thomas, entomologist, Paléontologie des Arachnidesum (Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 1940). Edgar Chance, ornithologist, The Cuckoo’s Secret (1922). E. P. Kelley, M.A., Ph.D., botanist, Director of the Landenberg Laboratory, U.S.A., Some Hiatuses in the Plant Kingdom and their Significance, a paper read before the Victoria Institute on April 7th, 1941. Mr. Dewar adds: “The above list does not include biologists who certainly question transformism, but do not appear to have repudiated the doctrine openly, such as Prof. Emile Guyénot, zoologist (La Variation et L’Evolution, 1930), Dr. W. R. Thompson, F.R.S., entomologist (Science and Common Sense, 1938), Prof. A. Rendle Short, Bristol University (Some Recent Literature Concerning the Origin of Man (Trans. V. I., Vol. LXVII, 1935), and D. Wragg Morley, M.I.C., entomologist, Ants’ Ninth Sense (Trans. V. I., Vol. LXXI, 1939).”—Peace and Truth.
Another Blow to Our Pride.
The fall of Singapore is a humiliation to our pride. Millions of pounds were poured out on its fortifications and we were led to believe it was impregnable. But in the day of trial, it was like another Maginot Line, and our enemies soon had it in their grasp. These reverses strike at our national pride and if they would only send us to Him who is able to help us they would be a blessing. We feel for our loyal people in Australia and especially for those connected with as a Church scattered throughout the Island Continent in the serious situation with which they are confronted.
Some Points Worth Noting.
The Roman Catholic Universe (London) informs its readers that Sir Cecil Graves, one of the two new Directors-General of the B.B.C., is a Roman Catholic. It also intimates under the heading: “Catholic Wins Big Labour Victory in the U.S.A.” that Mr. Philip Murray, who smashed the Lewis-Hutcheson Isolationist Confederacy of Labour, is a Papist and a Scotsman to boot. The Universe adds: “Mr. Murray, for many years a coal-miner, bases all his social beliefs and actions on Papal Encyclicals, particularly Rerum Novarum Quadragesimo. It is a pity that Mr. Murray in his spare time would not study something more profitable than the Papal Encyclicals. Who’s Who it seems credits Hitler with retaining the religion of his childhood. In a brief notice of this entry a reviewer in the Universe says: “Well, he hasn’t been formally excommunicated, and no priest would refuse to answer a sick call from him.” If he were a Protestant of a virile type it is likely the thunders of the Vatican would thunder in all Roman Catholic countries. It is worth while watching the Vatican in these days.