How are Christian Dogmas Faring?
The Light (Pakistan), 16th December 1921 Issue (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 3–4)
The West is in the main dissatisfied with Christianity. It is amply borne out in the proceedings of the Churchmen’s Congress, recently held at Cambridge. The Congress was made conspicuous by the presence of such men of light and leading as Dr. Baker, Rev. Parson, Rev. Major, Principal of Ripon Hall, Dean of Carlyle and others like them. The views that most of them expressed did credit to their intelligence and conscience. In the presence of orthodox Christians, they made bold to make pronouncements which were true, but were calculated to bring about a radical change in the faith. The eminent scholars named above propounded, one and all, that the dogma of the deity of Jesus was untenable, and was nowhere supported in the Gospels, Jesus never claimed, according to their knowledge of the scriptures, to be God, or an incarnation of God. They maintained, on the other hand, that Jesus was a mortal, his physical body was subject to decay and death, and that he had a human heart with human feelings and aspirations. They also admitted that he was not all-knowing as has been preached from the pulpit and popularly believed.
The great World War has brought it home to the westerner that Christianity has been a signal failure. Instead of inspiring Christian nations with “the love of their enemies” or that of non-Christians at least, it contributed to make them jealous even of one another, hate one another, and inflict atrocities on one another. Painful experiences like these set the people thinking. The clergy as well as the lay men, the learned no less than the uneducated masses, have all been equally affected. The change having swept over the nation as a whole, the clergy came to the front to share the views of the sceptical. The opinions pronounced by them at the famous university have been received by the masses with great satisfaction. To cure the disease of irreligion and discontent, they have gone to the very root of the matter, and among other things emphasized that Jesus should not be looked upon as God. Such was bound to be the fate of a religion, which drew its strength from superstition and played upon the credulity of the people.