Christian Communism?

The claims of the S.C.M. to the interest of the student body have recently been receiving a considerable amount of publicity. In place of criticism it seems that some congratulation is due to the movement on its definite attempt to interest students in the search for spiritual truth.

The task, though difficult, is well worth while, for no one but a fool will dismiss with a shrug a faith which has lived on for two thousand years while empires have risen and fallen to the dust. There is no doubt that some of the so-called intelligentsia in this University have become so obsessed with the comparatively new doctrine of Marxianism that they do dismiss Christianity as of no account. The Communist will say religion cannot be contemplated, as it is completely inconsistent with Marxianism. This must be admitted. The truth is that, while Christianity lives on, the Communist Utopia can never come to pass. A religious belief is hard to kill, as a glance at a history book will show; and in this respect a statement by a former Commissar of Soviet Russia is interesting: "The soul of Russia remains deeply religious. Even those who had been trained from early childhood to accept atheism and had been strictly kept away from any religious influence are now becoming deeply religious. Russia is incurably gripped by religion." If this is so, the Communist ideal has not succeeded in Russia. Are we not entitled, as we look back over the pages of history, to doubt whether the nations of to-day will throw overboard their religious beliefs any more readily than they did in the past?

Christianity should be seriously considered by those who think, not as an enemy but as an ally of progress. Let the intelligentsia explore some modification of Communism wherein materialism is subordinated to the Christian ethic. Only thus, I suggest, can they found a doctrine which will have any possibility of success in a civilised community.

—F.C.