It  would  be  rejected,  not  by  the  irreligious,  but  only  by  the
ignorant,  who,  as  a  rule,  would  be  prejudiced  adherents  of  some
other  faith.  Probably,  too,  the  emotional  tone  of  true  believers
would  undergo  change.  Verified  truth  is  not  regarded  with
that  peculiar  devotion  to  which  the  adherents  of  religions  are
trained.  There  is  no  need  for  it.  Thus,  in  science  heated  con-
troversies occur  only  about  matters  that  are  doubtful.  No  one
was  ever  fanatical  about  a  mathematical  demonstration.  It  follows,
that  as  verified  truth  accumulates,  the  area  covered  and  emotionally
coloured  by  religion  tends  to  shrink.  For  example,  our  ancestors
held  as  religious  truth  an  immense  body  of  belief  concerning  the
visible  universe,  but  nobody  claims  any  part  of  our  present  verified
knowledge  as  an  item  of  faith,  and,  if  any  of  our  fellows  now  held
that  the  earth  is  flat,  we  should  think  them  foolish,  not  wicked.
But  "  when  we  examine  the  general  culture  of  the  savage  we  find
that  it  is  entirely  religious.  The  savage  not  only  has  religion,  but
apparently  has  nothing  else." x  The  heavens  and  the  earth,  every
echo,  rainbow,  and  lightning  flash,  every  disease  and  accident,  even
the  things  he  eats,  and  the  rocks  and  trees  he  dwells  under,  are
interpreted  by  him  in  religious  terms.  Compare  the  area  covered
by  his  religious  convictions  with  the  shrunken  area  covered  by  the
modern  Christianity  of  the  more  enlightened  peoples.  In  one
sense,  then,  science  is  always  antagonistic  to  religion.  Whatever
is  true  it  tends  to  render  non-religious ;  whatever  is  false  it  tends
to  overthrow ;  and  invariably  it  tends  to  alter  the  emotional  tone,

1  The  Rev.  A.  E.  Crawley,  "  The  Origin  and  Function  of  Religion,"  Sociological
Papers,  vol.  iii.  p.  245,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1907.
