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to belittle either educational theory or political theory, but to put them
in their organic place.
IV
The question of the relation of culture to religion must now be
raised. The question has to be put in two forms: as from the sociol–
ogist's point of view, that of the disinterested observer, and from the
point of view of the Christian, the relation of culture to the faith in
which he believes. Even from ,the former point of view, it is probably
a false simplification to take the culture of a people as the fundamental
fact, and regard its religion as a special development of that culture.
For the religion is the body of beliefs which gives that culture signifi–
cance, and has also a profound effect upon the form which the culture
takes. The influence of culture upon religion, and of religion upon
culture, can be observed wherever the same religion has been adopted
by peoples of widely different languages, racial stem, and habitat:
on the one hand the varieties of cultural background tend to lead to
diversity of cult, and on the other hand a uniformity of belief tends
to a.Ssimilate these peoples to each other. In the more primitive and
self-contained peoples, where the culture and the religion are co–
terminous, the distinction between religion and culture can hardly
be said to exist. The religious sanction may extend to many activities
which in more highly developed societies are quite distinct: in the
social-religious pattern of primitive society it is impossible to separate
religion from political structure, the administration of justice, the
arts,
warfare, domestic customs, agricultural regulations, or anything else.
Such a condition makes for cohesion (as in the early Jewish world)
and for survival of a group surrounded by alien and hostile groups;
it may also tend to arrest development. But a characteristic of early
society is not necessarily one that it is desirable to outgrow altogether;
and the ideal society, so far as we can imagine it, would have much
the same unity on a much higher plane. The distinction between the
religious and the other aspects of a culture, and the consequent re-
moval of religious sanctions and tabus from a large area of activity,
permits scope for enterprise and innovation, certainly for improve-
ment, but it has its disadvantages also. It is not only that the spirit
of enquiry, scepticism and innovation enters into the religious cult
also-that is a late stage, and indeed a necessary one-but that the
requires, not so much a class of guardians in whom wisdom reposes, as intellec·
tually and aesthetically adventurous groups."
It would seem that Mr. Carr-Saunders has read
Man and Society,
but without
regarding the admonition of Dr. Mannheim which I have quoted above.
