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reason they have devised explanations for all phenomens of nature
they could not unerstand. In this connection it is well to note
that religion deals only with the unknown (excepting its ethical
laws) and that as science and knowledge advance the field of reli-
gion grows smaller. It is also interesting to find that whenever
man has developed his science enough to test the truth of some
theological explanation of the universe he has invariably found t
that the religious explanation was absurd ( again excepting moral
laws). The only reason that the idea of a deity still exists in
religion is that science is not yet able to test the truth of this
hypothesis.

Returning to the idea that an ordered universe demands
a god as as explanation of cause, let us examine the law of cause
and effect. According to the eminent philosopher, David Hume,
"Tis only when two species of objects are found to the constantly
conjoined, that we can infer one from the other." John Locke al-
so, believed that all knowledge was derived from experience. Fiske,
the eminent american historian, in his Cosmic Philosophy
voices the opinion man can have no knowledge of anything which
can not and has not affected his senses.

In other words our experience is the only criterion for
deciding whether a supposed case of causation is valid. If we can
recall some previous case in which the same result was due to a
certain cause we have some reason for assuming the same cause if
we again encounter the same result; if we had had numerous such
experiences previously we would have very good though not perfect-
ly valid grounds for assumint the same cause for the same effect.

However man has had no experience of a god creating a
universe; therefore he has no reason to assume that this universe
was created by a god. Nevertheless, let us grant the validity of
causation as an element of "a preori" knowledge/ Then, granting
the existence of a deity which some set up under this theory, there
must have been a cause for the existence of this deity so we have
solved nothing by this assumption.

The secong principal argument which has caused men of
all times to believe in a deity and which is especially potent to-
day is the belief that morality must have some supernatural or di-
vine backing. else there would be no reason for living virtously.
For this reason religion contains the idea that god is the altima-
te ground of morality and Jewish theodacy was developed to explain
why god permitted the existence of evil and suffering in the lives
of the rightous.

Evidently this second argument would be refuted if it
could be shown that man tended to be moral and virtous without any
divine promise of reward and punishment simply because natural
laws provided for his compensation in this life. Hobbes believes
that man loves only himself; he cares for others only as they min-
ister to his own pleasure. Locke goes on to show that there are
no innate practical or moral principles. He believes that the