Religion: Salvation by Incantation

The biggest threat to Protestantism today is Fundamentalism and popular evangelism, according to Charles Clayton Morrison, retired editor of the Christian Century. "What a travesty of the Christian faith this idolatry of a book called the Bible has been," he writes in the current Century, "[as well as] the false representation of what 'the Bible says.' How can one understand what the Bible says without knowledge of what the Bible is?

"The repetitious emphasis upon the exceeding sinfulness of man and the exceedingly simple way of enjoying the forgiveness of God by registering one's repentance in the signing of a card—this would...