The Teaching of Dogmatic Religion in a Democratic Society.

The article presents information on the teaching of dogmatic religion in a democratic society. People become dogmatic to exercise power over others; or to quell dissent and promote unity; to vent their feelings; and to establish confidence in themselves and others especially with regard to aims, values, and courses to be taken. The term is used in several senses: in the primary sense of affirming undemonstrated and even indemonstrable propositions; or again, in a second sense of claiming a certainty of revelation that makes human criticism irrelevant and impertinent; and again, in a third sense of claiming to represent preeminently a supreme value, which justifies a person or group in bidding for a controlling or even exclusive authority. The argument presented in this paper is that dogmatism in the second and third sense is sufficiently dangerous and inimical to democratic society so that such societies should endeavor to reduce it just as far as they can. It is also argued that dogmatism in these two senses is a mistaken service to religion and to God. On the other hand, to try to remove dogmatism from religion in the first sense of eliminating the affirmation of undemonstrated and indemonstrable propositions seems to imply an extreme scientific Puritanism.