The Teaching of Religion and the Democratic Ideal

M OST OF US who belong to this association have been accustomed to think of democracy as the ultimate, happy organization of society towards which the whole world was moving. It has been a kind of faith to which most American people have subscribed. We have believed in the educability of the individual and in his power both to control himself and with other free men to control the society to which he belongs. The progress of enlightenment would involve the adoption of the democratic ideal everywhere. Democracy, we thought, was the inevitable logic of history. But this faith has been badly shattered by the course of events in recent times. Not only in Europe is democracy regarded as a foolish and impractical ideal, but in America as well there is a widespread conviction that democracy has proved a failure. There are many reasons for this mood of disillusionment which has come over our people, but there are two contributing factors of particular importance. The first is the lack today of a frontier in America with all the opportunities which existed for people of courage and industry to develop the resources which were there. Heretofore we have placed great emphasis upon individual initiative. The self-made man, meaning usually the poor boy who has succeeded in becoming rich, has been regarded as the particular ornament of a democratic society. Opportunities for material success have abounded in the past, and therefore we have stressed the advancement of individuals at the expense of the equally important democratic principle of the responsibility which the individual owes to society. Now that there is no longer an expanding frontier, the kind of life which we believed to be characteristic of democracy is no longer possible except for a relatively few, and, as a result, we question the value of the system which seems to have failed us.