"  The  Churches — once  the  pioneers  and  champions  of
independent  thought — have  sacrificed  it  to  orthodoxy,
dogmatism,  formality,  emotionalism,  etc.  The  cry  is
still  the  same  :  '  Where  is  the  place  of  understanding  ?  '
All  this  has  been  said  so  often  that  it  is  perhaps  hardly
worth  repeating.  But  it  is  almost  useless  asking  what
are  the  men  thinking  about  things  when  they  are  not
thinking  at  all.  I  have  proved  and  tested  this  in  many
ways.  I  have  had  many  debates  and  discussions,  formal
and  informal,  among  the  men,  and  they  have  always
admitted  this.  Eventually  we  decided  the  next  debate
must  be  on  '  The  Causes  of,  and  the  Remedy  for  Ignorance,*
which  led  to  much  fruitful  discussion.
"  Most  things  really  come  from  this  cause ;  for  instance,
men  are  usually  immoral  from  ignorance  or  thoughtless-
ness or  want  of  understanding  what  morality  means.
They  drink  because  they  are  ignorant  of  intellectual
stimulus.  They  swear — and  this  is  the  perpetual  excuse
— without  meaning  it.  They  cannot  even  use  language
which  has  any  meaning.  Their  letters  are  appalling,
absolutely  failing  in  originality  or  interest.  Their  con-
versation is  the  merest  drivel.  They  spend  hours  in
playing  a  game  like  house,  because  it  requires  no  thought.
A  great  deal  of  this  thoughtlessness  is  due  to  war  con-
ditions. Men  may  have  had  independent  interests  before
the  war,  and  other  opportunities  for  stimulating  thought,
which  are  impossible  now.  Hence  both  officers  and  men
take  the  line  of  least  resistance  and  follow  the  crowd.
