Accident of Birth

Religious preference is, for most of us, but an accident of birth. We belong to different faiths because the ancestors of each accepted the faith of the community where they happened to live, and we in turn accepted without question the faith of our family. Thoughtful people know there is no reason to believe their religion is the one true religion.

"The faith of your choice" is misleading. We do not choose our religion--it is indelibly branded into us by indoctrination in childhood much as calves are branded on a Western ranch. THE GREAT AND INEXCUSABLE TRAGEDY IS THAT PEOPLE OF THE HIGHEST INTELLIGENCE IN NONRELIGIOUS FIELDS AND OF THE GREATEST GOOD WILL REMAIN DIVIDED AND IN CONFLICT BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO EVALUATE OR PERMIT OTHERS TO EVALUATE THAT WHICH THEY ACCEPTED IN IMMATURE AND INEXPERIENCED CHILDHOOD.

The Sectarian Mind

Members of the board of trustees and faculty of a college in Rhode Island subscribed annually to the doctrinal statement following: "We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and as the supreme and final authority in faith and life." Untold millions of people agree. Could any but a sectarian mind believe that a loving, merciful, just God would harden Pahraoh's heart (Exodus 11:10) so that he would not let the Israelites go, then kill in each Egyptian family because he would not (Exodus 12:29)? Or kill everybody on the earth except the few people in Noah's Ark? Surely the slaughtered children were not to blame! Your sectarianism may be less crude than at the Rhode Island college, but sectarianism is basically the same everywhere--a blind and blinding belief which will not permit the sectarian to make free use of accumulating knowledge or other evidence which disproves or casts doubt on the basic sectarian commitment.

Conspiracy of Silence

Persistence of sectarianism is promoted strongly by the "conspiracy of silence" or so-called "religious toleration." There is a deadly parallel between the "conspiracy of silence" on sectarianism today with the "conspiracy of silence" on the "social diseases" a few years ago. So long as people were "too nice" to mention gonorrhea and syphilis, these diseases went largely untreated and ate away at countless victims. Because we are "too nice" to call attention to the errors and other evils within one another's sectarianism, they eat away at our religious life. The less defensible the practices of a sect, the more it stands to gain by the "conspiracy of silence." While critics of sectarianism generally remain silent, zealous sectarians urge their points of view with emotional fervor. Free and frank evaluation would reduce many evils of sectarianism, but neither sectarian leadership nor sectarian dictatorship willingly submits to such evaluation.

The "conspiracy of silence" seems as prevalent among educators as among others. The president of the West Liberty State College of West Virginia wrote we that he approved of Truth First discussion groups in religion but that the discussion should never question doctrine or belief.

Channels of Communication Closed

Many channels of communication are restricted or closed to those who would evaluate sectarianism. The Editor of Free World wanted to publish my article "Brotherhood: New World Religion" but some members of the editorial board objected and it was never published. A paper in a neighboring city has refused to run the ad. "Which is Wiser? To remain divided into the hundreds of religious sects into which we happened to be born, or to unite in an inclusive Brotherhood to replace existing sects?" on the ground that "Our publisher feels that the interests of the greatest number of our readers are best served by avoiding controversial subjects of a religious nature." A Boston paper has rejected the ad, "Brotherhood Church is a free pamphlet."

When I submitted an ad of my Toward World Brotherhood to World Report, its Vice President in Charge of Advertising returned the check with the comment: "We do not think, however, that our columns can be available for this type of advertising, since we are quite sure it will involve us in controversy with other sects. If you feel there is some other way of writing your copy so that the controversial angle will not appear, then we'd be perfectly happy to run it." Is there any field except sectarianism where a great national magazine feels it must avoid a controversial issue?

Calling itself "Holy" and its tradition "Sacred," a sect considers any "attack" on it too wicked to be tolerated in the public press. Would any but a group unsure of itself deny its critics the opportunity to sell their points of view in an open market of ideas? Is that which must protect itself by such censorship really worth protecting?

Bulwarks of Sectarianism

These, then, are the four bulwarks of sectarianism: (1) Childhood indoctrination: (2) Reluctance of sectarians to reexamine their beliefs and practices freely; (3) "Conspiracy of silence;" (4) Closing of the lines of communication to those who would evaluate sectarianism.

Can anything be done to break through or by-pass the bulwarks?