Religion
Deceptive idols
Martin Sullivan
In a famous passage Francis Bacon reminds us that there are four kinds of idols which decieve the human mind. They are idols of the Tribe, of the Cave, of the Market Place and of the Theatre. The idols of the Tribe are founded in human nature itself, the intellect of man acting like an uneven mirror which distorts the images thrown upon it. We make our rules and think that nature conforms to them because we count the hits and not the misses. This is the way in which superstitions arise. Such are the idols of the Tribe. The idols of the Cave are erected when we subordinate our minds to some idea which captivates them and lose our judgement in the process. The idols of the Market Place are even more troublesome, arising from the association of words and names, and because words for the most part are unfit instruments for dealing with abstruse and complex ideas, solemn disputations often degenerate into mere verbal wrangles. The idols of the Theatre are theories received by us &mil without, which, like plots on the stage are neater and more pleasing than the events of history.
It would be easier to set uP these idols as Aunt Sallies, in many fields, and then knock the'i down. But this is a religious column and I propose, therefore, to confine my comments and examination to this field. Long before Bacon, the prophet Ezekiel uttered similar warnings. He wrote about idols in the heart, and a judicial blindness which followed upon the worship of them.
There are forms of religious aetivity which fall under this salve condemnation. Prayers for example, often degenerate int° slogans used without meaning, hot a man contents himself because he has said them. He has paid homage to his idol. Or worse sti".; he approaches the altar ano receives the Holy Communion, once or twice a year, as if he were paying a visit, out of a sense of duty, to someone's shrine or grave. It is an old old storyA reforming Israelite king took his people to task for falling down and worshipping the brazen serpent produced by Moses, because theY still thought it had magic in it, and he named it for what it was,' 'Nebushtan,' a piece of brass. A great deal which passes for religion to-day is Nebushtan. I saY this deliberately as I take note that the great Christian festivals still attract large crowds to our churches. St Paul's Cathedral registers record that there were
six people present at Holy Cornmunion on Easter Day 1800. This year there were nearly siX hundred. But increased numbers might mean increased idols.
How then do we replace these dummies in the tribe, and in the market place? There is only one way. "The mind of man," says an ancient writer, "is the throne of Godhead." And unless God is enthroned in the inmost sanctuarY of the heart, the vacant place will be filled by some substitute bearing His name. St Augustine's famous words provide the begin' flings of the corrective we need. "Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till theY rest in Thee," and for fear that this statement may become so vague that it also points only to another idol, let us try to make it a little more particular and concrete. Contemplation must issue in action, so that God's enthronement in us means that we begin to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly. We shall think constantlY upon things true, lovely, noble and of good report. Frivolousness and lack of reverence are much more dangerous than positive vice, and indifference to true religion is onlY part of a general indifference to all the higher interests of life. We still have Gods, not primarily as ohjects of worship, but phantoms which float between our eyes and the truth and prevent us from seeing things as they really are. Is this the malaise of our time?
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