Hard Shell Creeds

1922

By DR. JAMES I. VANCE

It was in the smoker of a Pullman car. There, if anywhere, men speak out their minds without reservation.

We had talked long enough for reserve to vanish, when I said: "Gentlemen, what about politics?" The replies were like a machine gun in action. "Politics is ruined. It is gone to the bad. The country can't be saved by politics."

Then after a moment, I said: "Well, "what about religion?" There was a bit of silence. Then one man said: "Religion is a beautiful thing." Right down the line, each of the others repeated: "Yes, Religion is a beautiful thing." "But," added one, "there is one kind of religion I don't like. It is the kind which says that if you want it, you can't get it, if you get it, you can't lose it; and if you lose it, you never had it." "What kind of religion is that?" I asked. "Hard shell!" I could not blame him.

The creed of the hard shell is not a beautiful thing. To try to feed immortal souls on such a religion is like offering a diet of ground limestone to nursing babes.

It is the creed which puts dogma over life, and sacrifices the welfare of humanity to the interests of party or sect.

—Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, April 7, 1922, page 13.