Religion: Intellectuals

Ominous from a religious viewpoint was a symposium of personal credos by 38 assorted intellectuals which was published this week.* For only one of the 38, Catholic Jacques Maritain, believes firmly in a personal God or in traditional Christianity. As individual as their authors, who range from Humorist James Thurber to Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the credos still managed to agree that the world's state is parlous, that organized religion offers no real solution.

Most specific in his condemnation was British Novelist E. M. Forster: "I cannot believe that Christianity will ever cope with the present world-wide mess, and I think that such influence as it retains in modern society is due to its financial backing rather than to its spiritual appeal. It was a spiritual force once, but the indwelling spirit will have to be restated if it is to calm the waters again, and probably restated in a non-Christian form.''