lmost unceasing strife about
details of ritual and interpretation, while the great fundamental truths
have been too frequently ignored. The conflicts of Catholics and
Protestants, Puritan and Cavalier, and Northern and Southern
Presbyterianism, have not been waged on account of basic beliefs like the
three outlined above, or about the Golden Rule, but on account of
comparatively trivial details which to the impersonal student have
scarcely more than the value of individual preference.

Judaism, the next great religion, has already been mentioned as the parent
of Christianity, to which it gave the concept of a Supreme Being, as well
as that of a Messiah. It is a purer monotheism than its outgrowth, whose
trinity is more like certain elements of Greek theology. Jehovah is the
one supernatural power, the creator and lawgiver and immediate cause of
all the workings of nature. It is he who shapes the world out of
nothingness and who separates the waters from the dry land; he parts the
waters of the Red Sea to save the Israelites, and brings them together
again to overwhelm the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh. It is his voice that
thunders from Mt. Sinai, and his finger that traces the commandments to
rule the lives of his chosen people upon the tablets of stone intrusted to
Moses the Seer. At the behest of Joshua he holds the sun and the moon in
their courses above the vale of Ajalon so that there will be more time for
the destruction of the Philistines. In brief, Jehovah is the eternal god
of law and power, demanding sacrifice and priestly atonement, and
promising happiness eternal upon the bosom of Abraham to those who
recognize their responsibility to him and obey his precepts. Again, there
are three fundamental beliefs, that differ from those of Christianity as
the Talmud diverges from the New Testament scriptures.

Mohammedanism is another outgrowth from this group of religions. The
teachings of the Koran give the institutional and ritual forms to the same
three elements distinguished above. God is the identical single God; and
Mohammed is His Prophet, as Jesus is the New Prophet of Christendom. The
true believer's responsibility entails active warfare upon the heretics,
that is, those who do not accept the Koran. The immortal state of
Mohammedanism is a very different thing from the heavenly bliss of
Christianity, for the promised rewards are such as would appeal to the
warm-blooded Southern temperament.

Turning now to As