The City Worker's World in America

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1917. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X RELIGION Religion is the capacity to face life triumphantly. In discussing the life of working people it is of the first importance to discover whether the group as a whole is hopeful and if so what is the content of the hopes it possesses. Here as in the other aspects of life we have considered, it is not possible to lump all the members of the group under one accurate category. There are persons possessed of high hopes, of indifference, or of despair in every group. But what we have to discover are the main currents of hope as they manifest themselves in the working class. A belief in God is almost as universal as a belief in the rising of the sun. Like that belief it is so taken for granted as to be almost negligible. This kind of belief does not stir the blood or make for action. Life presupposes these beliefs, but they do not necessarily increase vital energy. Such a belief may or may not be a spring of hope. Other religious beliefs similarly are negligible from the point of view of action. Here and there a believer will really believe. He then becomes an exception, almost an eccentricity, sometimes thought of popularly as a pest. For belief makes people uncomfortable. Like a fermenting liquor too strong for its container, belief makes for disruption, a break-up of that calm well-ordered indifference which we have accustomed ourselves to think necessary for social cement. Powerful convinced belief, like its opposite, thoroughgoing scepticism, is rare in all classes. Most people manage to get along without committing themselves wholly to anything. A surrender to truth implies a more closely-knit personality than most people possess. We have invented the name fanatic for the person who stakes all on his convictions, thereby showing our distrust for ...