it him. Muscular Christianity is what
the ignorant people want. I regard all these efforts--including
those made by Mr. Moody and Mr. Hammond--as evidence that Christianity,
as an intellectual factor, has almost spent its force. It no longer
governs the intellectual world.

_Question_. Are not the Catholics the least progressive? And are
they not, in spite of their professions to the contrary, enemies
to republican liberty?

_Answer_. Every church that has a standard higher than human
welfare is dangerous. A church that puts a book above the laws
and constitution of its country, that puts a book above the welfare
of mankind, is dangerous to human liberty. Every church that puts
itself above the legally expressed will of the people is dangerous.
Every church that holds itself under greater obligation to a pope
than to a people is dangerous to human liberty. Every church that
puts religion above humanity--above the well-being of man in this
world--is dangerous. The Catholic Church may be more dangerous,
not because its doctrines are more dangerous, but because, on the
average, its members more sincerely believe its doctrines, and
because that church can be hurled as a solid body in any given
direction. For these reasons it is more dangerous than other
churches; but the doctrines are no more dangerous than those of
the Protestant churches. The man who would sacrifice the well-
being of man to please an imaginary phantom that he calls God, is
also dangerous. The only safe standard is the well-being of man
in this world. Whenever this world is sacrificed for the sake of
another, a mistake has been made. The only God that man can know
is the aggregate of all beings capable of suffering and of joy
within the reach of his influence. To increase the happiness of
such beings is to worship the only God that man can know.

_Question_. What have you to say to the assertion of Dr. Deems
that there were never so many Christians as now?

_Answer_. I suppose that the population of the earth is greater
now than at any other time within the historic period. This being
so, there may be more Christians, so-called, in this world than
there were a hundred years ago. Of course, the reverend doctor,
in making up his aggregate of Christians, counts all kinds and
sects--Unitarians, Universalists, and all the other "ans" and "ists"
and "ics" and "ites" and "ers." But Dr. Deems must admit that only
a few years ago most of