“Every disease can be cured as soon as it is understood, or if not cured in the individual it can be eliminated in the race. Where religion is due to a mere obstruction in the brain, we shall in time be able to remove it by trepanning; but where it is a hysterical symptom, the only remedy will be to isolate the sufferers, as we now isolate the insane, and allow them to die out.”
A strange light broke on Alistair.
“Is not that what the Catholic Church does?” he said eagerly. “Her monks and nuns—are they not really hysterical patients who are voluntarily adopting the very course that science would prescribe for them?”
The scientist grudgingly conceded that this was so.
“Unfortunately the convents soon became mere refuges for the idle,” he observed. “And healthy girls were forced into them by selfish parents in order to save their dower. Still, no doubt the Protestants made a mistake in shutting up the monasteries altogether and condemning celibacy as a vice. There are plenty of cases in which it ought to be compulsory.”
“Why compulsory?” Alistair pleaded. “Surely it is far better that they should take a vow of their own accord, inspired by the thought that they are helping to save the race?”
The scientist shrugged his shoulders.
“All that is sentiment,” he said—“one of the things for which the healthy have no use.”
Alistair sighed.
“How monotonous the world will be when everyone is perfect! You will have to preserve a few criminals as curiosities, like the lions and tigers in the Zoological Gardens.”