A "Church of America"

" The world today is drifting toward a spiritualistic movement which, though still in its infancy, may develop to greater heights." The speaker is not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but Rev. Herman Page, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. Sir Arthur himself says: " I can see a great church forming which will take in all sects from the Roman Catholic Church to the Salvation Army."

This is a repetition of what Sir Arthur said last fall. But as yet the " Church of America " which he predicted has not arisen in considerable proportions. Yet his second visit is arousing more interest than his first, and the orthodox seem less inclined to scoff, as is proved by the remark of the Episcopal Bishop, made at a meeting of a ministers' association.

Conan Doyle was driven away from Christianity by the miracles. He now returns to Christianity by the miracles, explaining the Transfiguration, the walking on the water, and the resurrection of Jesus in the same manner in which he explains his "spirit photographs." These photographs, taken by a medium, show "ectoplasmic hands" and " estoplas-mic personalities" appearing in the midst of a crowd praying at the Cenotaph which London erected to its war dead. Conan Doyle says that Moses and Elijah appeared in the Transfiguration as such " estoplasmic personalities"; that "estoplasmic hands" could sustain Jesus as he walked on the water. The handwriting on the wall described in Daniel 5:5 was the writing of an ectoplasmic hand, according to Sir Arthur. He declares that the vital Christianity of the first three hundred years is now dead, because church leaders have not the understanding to interpret their writings, which are crammed with spiritualistic meaning.

Conan Doyle lost a son in the war, and his communication with the dead appeals to millions of hearts, which, like his, have suffered the wrench of separation. If such communication can be established, it is indeed " far more important than international politics, Bolshevism, or the Ruhr," as he declared. Millions would try to get in touch with their dead, and the church would have to take account of this spiritual longing, or give place to a new church.

But the proofs are still unconvincing to such a scientist as Steinmetz, who declares: " It is obvious that the alleged manifestations of spiritism must be fake, or self-deception, since they are manifestations of energy." Steinmetz holds the Kantian philosophy, that the noumenal world (of spirit) and the phenomenal world (of matter and energy) are absolutely separate realms of experience. Conan Doyle says that " nothing is as dogmatic as science." He has finished his lectures in New York and will tour the United States showing his "spirit photographs." The "new church" may or may not spring up in his wake, but the old churches will view his progress with interest.