The Social Problems of Religion

99:2.1In­sti­tu­tional re­li­gion can­not af­ford in­spi­ra­tion and pro­vide lead­er­ship in this im­pend­ing world-wide so­cial re­con­struc­tion and eco­nomic re­or­ga­ni­za­tion be­cause it has un­for­tu­nately be­come more or less of an or­ganic part of the so­cial or­der and the eco­nomic sys­tem which is des­tined to un­dergo re­con­struc­tion. Only the real re­li­gion of per­sonal spir­i­tual ex­pe­ri­ence can func­tion help­fully and cre­atively in the pres­ent cri­sis of civ­i­liza­tion.

99:2.2In­sti­tu­tional re­li­gion is now caught in the stale­mate of a vi­cious cir­cle. It can­not re­con­struct so­ci­ety with­out first re­con­struct­ing it­self; and be­ing so much an in­te­gral part of the es­tab­lished or­der, it can­not re­con­struct it­self un­til so­ci­ety has been rad­i­cally re­con­structed.

99:2.3Re­li­gion­ists must func­tion in so­ci­ety, in in­dus­try, and in pol­i­tics as in­di­vid­u­als, not as groups, par­ties, or in­sti­tu­tions. A re­li­gious group which pre­sumes to func­tion as such, apart from re­li­gious ac­tiv­i­ties, im­me­di­ately be­comes a po­lit­i­cal party, an eco­nomic or­ga­ni­za­tion, or a so­cial in­sti­tu­tion. Re­li­gious col­lec­tivism must con­fine its ef­forts to the fur­ther­ance of re­li­gious causes.

99:2.4Re­li­gion­ists are of no more value in the tasks of so­cial re­con­struc­tion than non­re­li­gion­ists ex­cept in so far as their re­li­gion has con­ferred upon them en­hanced cos­mic fore­sight and en­dowed them with that su­pe­rior so­cial wis­dom which is born of the sin­cere de­sire to love God su­premely and to love ev­ery man as a brother in the heav­enly king­dom. An ideal so­cial or­der is that in which ev­ery man loves his neigh­bor as he loves him­self.

99:2.5The in­sti­tu­tion­al­ized church may have ap­peared to serve so­ci­ety in the past by glo­ri­fy­ing the es­tab­lished po­lit­i­cal and eco­nomic or­ders, but it must speed­ily cease such ac­tion if it is to sur­vive. Its only proper at­ti­tude con­sists in the teach­ing of non­vi­o­lence, the doc­trine of peace­ful evo­lu­tion in the place of vi­o­lent rev­o­lu­tion—peace on earth and good will among all men.

99:2.6Mod­ern re­li­gion finds it dif­fi­cult to ad­just its at­ti­tude to­ward the rapidly shift­ing so­cial changes only be­cause it has per­mit­ted it­self to be­come so thor­oughly tra­di­tion­al­ized, dog­ma­tized, and in­sti­tu­tion­al­ized. The re­li­gion of liv­ing ex­pe­ri­ence finds no dif­fi­culty in keep­ing ahead of all these so­cial de­vel­op­ments and eco­nomic up­heavals, amid which it ever func­tions as a moral sta­bi­lizer, so­cial guide, and spir­i­tual pi­lot. True re­li­gion car­ries over from one age to an­other the worth-while cul­ture and that wis­dom which is born of the ex­pe­ri­ence of know­ing God and striv­ing to be like him.