Sir Oliver Lodge Rushes To The Defense Of Spiritualism

1920

By United Press Leased Wire

London. -- The church should "cast off its hard shell of doctrine" and investigate, or at least keep an open mind toward discoveries of spiritualistic phenomena, Sir Oliver Lodge, famous British scientist, asserts in an article to be published in the next issue of the Hibbert Journal, leading British philosophical quarterly.

Lodge criticizes vigorously the attack on spiritualism which featured the Leister church congress. The church, he says already has discarded its old believes in the "fixity" of eternal fate at death or in two extreme regimes in the hereafter," but has not yet constituted for itself a new creed of equal strength.

The scientist recommends that the church investigate claims of communication with spirits, adding that if "ministers really open their minds to the evidence, if they examine the proofs carefully and without prejudice, they surely will be guided in the direction of truth."

"It will be the miracle of this generation," he asserts, "to find that by the kindly help of living persons who possess certain facilities" we may communicate with the dead.

"Our friend on the other side is not so far away from us," Sir Oliver continues. "He is removed from range of our animal sense organs, that is all. If the truth be as it certainly is -- that death makes no sudden change in personality or character, if existence is continuous and only surrounding conditions change, even that change being not nearly so great as had been anticipated, then there is nothing especially holy,or profoundly painful, or even unduly solemn in the thought of communicating with the dead."

While he recognizes the church is not free to explore new regions of thought, Lodge urges it to investigate and determine its attitude by proofs.

Only the widespread misery of war bereavements induced him to submit to publicity in defense of his belief in spiritualism, Sir Oliver said.

"Invaluably one communicates most by little traits," he said. "Special reminiscences give striking proofs of identify of the spirits," the scientist adds, declaring his own son Raymond, who was killed in the war, maintains close touch with his family.

Sir Oliver will soon leave for the United States on a lecture tour.

--The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 2, 1920, page 1.