are going, it doesn't look much as if the America of the future will
trouble itself about any kind of a church. The march of science must
very soon produce a universal scepticism. It is in the nature of human
progress. What all intelligent men recognize today, the masses must
surely come to see in time."

Father Forbes laughed outright this time. "My dear Mr. Ware," he said,
as they touched glasses again, and sipped the fresh beer that had been
brought them, "of all our fictions there is none so utterly baseless
and empty as this idea that humanity progresses. The savage's natural
impression is that the world he sees about him was made for him, and
that the rest of the universe is subordinated to him and his world, and
that all the spirits and demons and gods occupy themselves exclusively
with him and his affairs. That idea was the basis of every pagan
religion, and it is the basis of the Christian religion, simply because
it is the foundation of human nature. That foundation is just as firm
and unshaken today as it was in the Stone Age. It will always
remain, and upon it will always be built some kind of a religious
superstructure. 'Intelligent men,' as you call them, really have very
little influence, even when they all pull one way. The people as a whole
soon get tired of them. They give too much trouble. The most powerful
forces in human nature are self-protection and inertia. The middle-aged
man has found out that the chief wisdom in life is to bend to the
pressures about him, to shut up and do as others do. Even when he thinks
he has rid his own mind of superstitions, he sees that he will best
enjoy a peaceful life by leaving other peoples' superstitions alone.
That is always the ultimate view of the crowd."

"But I don't see," observed Theron, "granting that all this is true, how
you think the Catholic Church will come out on top. I could understand