Atlanta Daily World

Culture Vs Truth
A Menace To Christianity

By THOMAS E. WATSON

(NOTE: The word "culture," as used in this article, does not have the meaning commonly applied to it (refinement), but is a strictly sociological term which includes all the habits, ideas and interactions (good and bad) of a people.)

The culture of American life has integrated a doubt of the existence of God with its evaluation of "the dollar." This doubt, although natural and seldom professed, is born of ignorance of truth and a desire to know the true meaning of God and the significance of Jesus Christ. But through fear of asking too many questions, lest one subject himself to public ridicule, many of us have become indifferent with the matter of religious ethics and beliefs rather than to follow a natural procedure of searching for truth following our doubt. Others of us, lost in the midst of doubt and uncertainty, overrate our own "intelligence" on the basis of our egotistic infallability: but to believe one's self to be infallible is a possible symptom of ignorance.

This fallacy in American culture is the inevitable result of economic discontentment and pioneering urge notable of early Americans, and which exist today on a larger scale than ever before. We have proved our mental disability to integrate our religious training and conception with our industrial set-up. However, we are not ignorant as to the cause of this,

Beginning with the industrial revolution, there has been noticed a definite tendency for the family to disintegrate from its strong union bonds typical of the medieval family. Before this new problem arose, all the principal functions of life were carried on within the household. This was a very simple social unit which was able to blend its recreational, religious, political and industrial aspects harmoniously

But now every individual, as well as every family, has realized the necessity of a purposive effort of adjustment to a new and more complex order of things, or be trampled in the stampede of heedless, headlong humanity. As a result, we find ourselves neglecting not only the church, but all the principles of Christianity, which seem to have no immediate value to us in our quest for a livelihood. But we need not look for proof of the fallacy of this attitude. Our recent depression and present industrial maladjustment are the fruits of such base ignorance and lack of foresight.

To illustrate this, consider the common phrase, "In God we trust,—but the dollar comes first." Whenever you hear someone make this statement, humorously or otherwise, he usually means just that; and if you watch this actions close enough you'll see. Yet, we are not in a position to judge such an individual, for, after all, he is a victim of the culture of which he is a part. He is caught in the snares of his environment and has no other choice than to "string along" rather than to perish completely in body and soul. This condition is so interwoven into our lives that we, as individuals, have little cognizance of its existence in our daily contacts; instead, we indifferently accept things as they are.

And so we tread onward, but I dare not say upward, for we know not what the future will bring. We know not the depths of the hell in which we are—from all indications to "burn". We cannot conceive to any credible extent the "hell on earth" we are to experience in the future as an inevitable result of our failure to seek the truth and live by it