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PARTISAN REVIEW
without a single assertion. I would blame our educational system for
this, or whatever it is that has reduced a great philosopher and aesthe–
tician like John Dewey to the dismal common denominator of School
of Ed., and the whole of naturalism to something dreary and tone–
less.
3., 4., and 5. Culture can certainly exist without a positive
religion. This is true both in the limited sense of art, and in the
broader anthropological definition. One of the best modern examples
of both, unfortunately little known, is the secular Yiddish culture
that grew up round Y.
L.
Peretz in Warsaw at the turn of the cen–
tury. Both secular and religious cultures have flourished and degen–
erated-and this is of course a truism, but it seems to have escaped
the notice of those who call for a return to religion, as though
religion of its own accord bestows viability. On the contrary, the
existence of such a call is usually a sign of the degeneracy of the
culture in which it is issued. Ours is a degenerating mixed culture
of sacred and secular elements. That religion has contributed to the
degeneration of this culture is obvious even to the religious who have
not lost the capacity of blushing for their beliefs. Consider the average
sermon or the reactionary role that the various churches-in particular
the Catholic-have played in politics, in the perpetuation of authori–
tarian superstitions and in obstructing measures even remotely ap–
proaching reasonableness in matters of sex. The position of the
Catholic Church on sex is one of the very worst features-secular or
religious--of our entire culture; unfortunately it happens to be
both secular and religious, and the damage the Church does in sup–
porting the general cretinism that marks our cultural attitude toward
sex is thereby doubled. One may argue that these are the faults of
the institution, not of the underlying religious beliefs. This argument
is false for two reasons: the doctrines of all present-day religions, as
understood and observed throughout the world, justify most of the
institutional practices which one might call upon them to correct; and
secondly, it is impossible to separate the beliefs from the institutions
in which they are formalized in any way which would be significant
for culture. So far as the culture is concerned, religion
is
the sum
of religious institutions. Besides, a culture in which religious in–
stitutions disappeared would inevitably become purely secular; in time
it must become the culture of the remaining institutions. Religion
