It is almost as low as at Paris, where hardly a tenth of the population
attend church on Sundays. In other large towns of Germany the condition
is, as in England, proportionate. Almost in proportion to the size of
the town is the aversion of the people from the Churches.

It is absolutely impossible in the case of Germany to determine, even in
very round numbers, how many have abandoned their allegiance to
Christianity, though, when one remembers the enormous rural population
and the high proportion of believers in the smaller towns, it seems
preposterous to suggest that the country has, even to the extent of one
half, become non-Christian. But I am anxious to do justice to this plea,
and would point out that it is the educated class and the men of the
large cities who control a nation's policy. The rural population--the
general population, in fact--follows its educated leaders. Now there is
no doubt that in Germany, as elsewhere, this body of the population--the
middle class and the workers of the great cities--has very largely lost
the traditional belief. The workers of Berlin are solidly Socialistic,
which means very largely anti-clerical. And I would boldly draw the
conclusion that the responsibility for the war is shared at least
equally by Christians and non-Christians. The stricture I have passed on
the Churches of Germany is based on the fact that they, being organised
bodies with a definite moral mission, were peculiarly bound to protest
against the obvious political development of their country, and they
entirely failed to do so. But I should be the last to confine the
responsibility to them. Not only religious leaders like Harnack and
Eucken, but leading Rationalists like Haeckel and Ostwald, have
cordially supported the action of their country. So it was from the
first. Of that large class of men who may be said to have had some real
control of the fortunes of their country a very high proportion--I
should be disposed to say at least one half--are not Christians, or are