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36
IDEAS AND OPINIONS
ment orders; conscience supersedes the authority of the law of
the state.
The struggle of our own days is being waged primarily for
the freedom of political conviction and discussion as well as
for the freedom of research and teaching. The fear of Communism
has led to practices which have become incomprehensible
to the rest of civilized mankind and exposed our country to
ridicule. How long shall we tolerate that politicians, hungry
for power, try to gain political advantages in such a way? Sometimes
it seems that people have lost their sense of humor to such
a degree that the French saying, "Ridicule kills," has lost its
validity.
About Religion
RELIGION AND SCIENCE
Written expressly tor the New York Times Magazine.
Appeared there November 9,1930 (Pp.l--4). The German
text was published in the Berliner Tageblatt, November
11,1930.
Everything that the human race has done and thought is
concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the
assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind
if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development.
Feeling and longing are the motive force behind
all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a
guise the latter may present themselves to us. Now what are the
feelings and needs that have led men to religious thought and
belief in the widest sense of the words? A little consideration
will suffice to show us that the most varying emotions preside
over the birth of religious thought and experience. With
primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notionsfear
of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage