Democracy anb IRellglon.

47

not in France where it was to be proclaimed mostgloriously, nor yet in America , from whenceLafayette brought it, but in Heaven the eternalfatherland of reason."

But besides these lines of connexion there aredifferences that distinguish French and hencecontinental democracy from that of England andAmerica , differences to which far too little atten-tion is paid.

The French Revolution means that democracyis cut loose from its parent soil in religion. AsAulard says, widespread unbelief prevailed amongthe upper classes of the French nation, even whenthey declared religion to be necessary " for thepeople." This unbelief was buttressed in part bya materialistic philosophy, in part by a brilliantscepticism. This is still to-day the predominantattitude of the intellectual bourgeois Frenchman,organised as so many of them are in the ranks ofFreemasonry with its tendency towards atheism." Le bon Dieu " is something for old women andyoung girls, a subject to be dismissed with a jestby an enlightened mind.

Corresponding to this attitude in the upper andmiddle classes is the deep rooted distrust of religionwhich prevails among the working classes. It isenough for the word " God " to be mentioned andthe most progressive speaker is thereby stampedas reactionary. And thus for example, the pacifistpropaganda has to employ non-religious formulaein order to gain a hearing from working-classaudiences.

It is very different where democracy has become