NEW FAILURE OF NERVE
23
to justify them, follow from the theological dogmas that preface
their announcement. This is no more surprising than the absence
of connection between the pleas for divine guidance which since
the war stud the speeches of
all
statesmen of belligerent countries,
except those of Stalin,* and the content of the speeches. Specific
proposals to insure peace, security and freedom warrant attentive
consideration no matter from what quarter they come. But their
value in effecting what they claim to accomplish depends not on
pious faith and good will but upon their consequences which can
be adequately explored only by rigorous scientific thought without
benefit of theology. To the extent that the scope of scientific think–
ing is restricted or limited to judgments of bare fact, the new
social consciousness of the Christian churches will have just as
little relevance to the future as their old consolatory ideals to
the past. At best it will take flight from power politics; at worst
it will act as a cover for it.
*
* * *
The new failure of nerve in contemporary culture is com-
pounded of unwarranted hopes and unfounded beliefs. It is a
desperate quest for a quick and all-inclusive faith that will save
us from the trouble of thinking about difficult problems. These
hopes, beliefs and faiths pretend to a knowledge which is not
knowledge and to a superior insight not responsible to the checks
of intelligence. The more fervently they are held the more com–
plete will be their failure. Out of them will grow a disillusion
in the possibility of intelligent human effort so profound that
even if Hitler is defeated, the blight of Hitlerism may rot the
culture of his enemies.
*For Stalin the dialectic takes the place of Providence. And since June 22nd, 1941,
the Soviet radio has discovered that Nazism is a movement which seeks to destroy
Christianity.
