Let Us Fully Think Through Our Liberation—From a lecture by Dr. N. F. Čapek, January 1925

Norbert F. Čapek and his wife Mája, seated together at the centre. Photo from 1927 (NSČU Archive)

As I have been working to translate the third edition (1939) of Norbert F. Čapek’s book, “To the Sunny Shore: A Guide to Living Joyfully” (K slunnému brehu: Prúvodce do radostného Zivota), I came across another, much shorter, text of his that seem to me important to translate into English and I offer the following, first draft, of that here. I think many readers of this blog will find in it ideas and aspirations that remain relevant to our own day and age. Corrections/alternative suggestions from Czech readers/speakers will be most welcomed, and the original Czech text of this pamphlet can be found at this link. Be in touch either via comments section below or via the contact form on this blog. I need all the help I can get!

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The Pulpit of the Free Fellowship 8

Let Us Fully Think Through Our Liberation (Domysleme své osvobození)

(From a lecture by Dr. N. F. Čapek delivered on 25 January 1925 in the Great Hall of Slovanský Ostrov in Prague and repeated on 27 January in the Great Hall in Heinovka).

Our liberation has not yet been completed; that is a generally recognized fact. But we have not yet fully thought through our liberation. I will not concern myself with the question of how far we have thought through our liberation in the political sense; that is a matter unto itself. My task will be to concern myself with the question of whether we have fully thought through our liberation culturally. And here I will dare to assert with the utmost certainty that we have not yet thought it through and, for that reason, have not properly begun. We have been too absorbed by national and political questions—and what has been done culturally has been done and is still being done only through the lens of nationality and politics.

No matter how much is written and spoken about cultural and specifically religious questions here, it is always sharpened, to a greater or lesser extent, by politics and limited territorial concerns. However, culture is something that dies the moment it halts at any temporal or political borders. This applies even more to religion. Religion that would exist solely for the Czechs would be something as absurd and contradictory as a doctrine about the stars that would be true in Bohemia but would need to be changed beyond its borders.

I do not deny that religious thought has an enormous influence on political and national life and that it is not indifferent to a nation and its development what religious directions predominate. Havlíček already taught us that church absolutism is a cushion for secular absolutism. And, as Masaryk also stated, absolutism everywhere has rested on historically given religion.

The question of the relationship with churches, as the current bearers of historical religion, is all the more pressing because the maintenance of beliefs and things that are against their conscience and that, according to their convictions, harm the state, endanger its free development, and always provoke new discontent.

And because there is always insufficient support for invalids, the sick, those unable to work, and others in need, it is all the more regrettable that significant sums of taxpayers’ money are spent on the pomp and splendor of wealthy representatives of medieval church absolutism.

To fully conceive our religious liberation, the separation of church and state is not enough; much more is needed—and that much more can be achieved regardless of how soon our politicians implement that separation.

It is not enough to secularize the state. It is high time for religion itself to be freed from the church, depoliticized, and rid of all magic, superstition, and parasites. Only then will it be a religion where one can breathe freely, a religion that sanctifies daily life and acts as a cultural yeast for the whole nation.

I am not speaking empty words about secularization, this no mere talk. The declaration of the demand for secularization is an act that will give birth to further actions. I know well that I will not please many by this, but it is not within my power to hold back what had to be expressed and also initiated.

The demand that religion be secularized is justified by one great truth, namely, that the churches have outlived themselves. They actually outlived themselves a hundred years ago, but it was thought that religion had also outlived itself along with the churches. That was a fallacy. Religion cannot be outlived and become obsolete because, in the depths of their souls, human beings are religious beings, and if they are healthy, normal, and harmonious, they cannot help but be religious, regardless of the form in which they express their religion. The forms are transient, changeable, and always correspond to the level of culture and education, but the essence remains. Churches are also a form.

Religion was often identified with churches, and it was thought that religion without churches was inconceivable. And what do we see today? That religion within the churches is declining and awakening outside them. This interesting phenomenon can be observed in the culture of all countries, and I could provide many examples to support it.

The most churched country today is undoubtedly America. There, in proportion to the population, there are the most churches — and American churches are mostly empty. The youth avoids them. Only movements that have more or less secularized and depoliticized themselves show success.

In our country, it might seem that we are a nation where church affairs have the most blessed ground, because a significant number of our citizens have recently changed their church affiliation, thus showing some kind of religious awakening. But this tells us nothing about the motivations behind it. 

If it were the result of a purely religious movement, we would see evidence of it in the literature inspired by this or that church, or at least the literature found within its fold. However, we would not count as literature anything that concerned nationality, church organization, or were simply the usual handbooks and educational literature of the church. It would have to be something original, fresh, something that sprang from the soul of the people, something that was not commissioned, something that is not merely defensive but boldly creative. If such literature exists, I would love to hear about it. I do not know of it.

And yet, since the times of the Hussites, there has never been so much written about religion as there is today! One book follows another. All are passionate and come from the inner drive of their authors to promote religion — but all stand on non-church and anti-church ground. (Malý, Kozák, Weinzelt, Gama, Rádl, Masaryk, etc.)

If churches, or whatever kind they may be, had enough inner religious strength and attraction, they would have to draw people in with the regular, simple expression of their worship or teachings. But we do not find this. People always gather where there is some spectacle, where there is something extraordinary, where there are exceptional phenomena — but we are not talking about those. Churches attract people almost exclusively through these extraordinary means, where religious feeling is subordinated to other, secondary purposes.

It is possible to change church affiliation out of defiance, for political reasons. It is also possible to invoke Hus without knowing why or in what context he is being invoked. It is possible to adopt the name Czech Brethren for the beauty of the name alone. “Evangelical churches have adopted historical confessions of faith, which allow them to proclaim themselves as descendants and successors of the Czech Brethren. Essentially, it is dictated by the desire to place themselves in the glow of the past.” — “Why not stand on one’s own merits?”) (Kozák).

Churches are losing ground, position after position, gaining none in return, and nowhere do they assert themselves as a public or cultural forces. The most terrible war the world has ever seen occurred, and they were lost in it. The social question arose, they lagged behind it, but they themselves lead nowhere. The war left behind many mentally ill, but they do not treat them.

They do only one thing: they defend their old positions as they retreat. They unite in defense against the rising resistance to church institutions.

Not one of the foundations on which churches were once built remains untouched by impartial scientific inquiry. For who today believes that the Bible, the Old and New Testament, is Scripture especially inspired by God? Who believes that a priest or clergyman is a special person who is closer to God than anyone else? Who believes that God, the cosmic, all-encompassing Being, containing billions of solar systems, is particularly interested in what clothing a certain priest wears or in what rituals he expresses the faith of his church?

Therefore, I make this call: let us consider our liberation in religious terms as well. Let each of us place ourselves on the level corresponding to our actual knowledge and aspirations, so that inner harmony may arise, which is the condition for strong character, good health, joyful moods, and victorious, creative life.

I believe with Masaryk that “it is no longer enough for us to speak against clericalism, etc. — we have a duty to work religiously.” This means today, above all, that those for whom religion is dear must unite against the churches.

For a religious Czech person, I see only three paths. I am not speaking of those who remain Roman Catholics out of superstition, comfort, or ignorance. Whoever wishes to preserve old religious monuments and ideas and adapt them only slightly to the modern age, whoever truly believes what the Czech Brethren catechisms teach about the Bible as infallible divine revelation, about miracles, about the fall of Adam and God’s wrath, and the need for blood to reconcile with God, about heaven and hell, angels and devils, the miraculous birth of Jesus, his resurrection and ascension, and his coming to judgment, etc., and who is not troubled that the Bible has always been a support for both slavery and militarism and aligned with all the old social orders, such a person can, with a clear conscience, join one of the Czech evangelical churches.

I include the Czechoslovak Church in the second group. It has preserved enough of the Catholic Church to facilitate the transition, and it is progressive, critical, and tolerant enough to enable development. It accepts the Bible critically, acknowledges evolution in religion, and recognizes only one God. For all those leaving Rome and in need of a church, priests, and certain rituals, the Czechoslovak Church is the best.

I include all others in the third group. It may never be possible to fully unite them, but it is possible to create among them an avant-garde of that religion of the future, which will be de-churched, corresponding [to modern needs], and free of all superstitions. And this avant-garde will be, and already is, the Free Brotherhood [or Fellowship] (Svobodné Bratrství).

In recent times, secular society has made more rapid progress than churches have been able to keep up with. During the time of the monarchy, the nobility shared governance with the people.

In the church, priests and church dignitaries corresponded to the role of the nobility. If we demanded that governance of our affairs be returned to us and that the sovereign ruler become the nation itself, then it is even more necessary to make such a demand in the name of religion.

There is no doubt that in cultivating pure religion, there is no need for any intermediaries, augurs, or individuals specially trained to mediate with God. Everything valuable in religion can be accomplished even by the simplest person without any learning. It is, above all, love, sincerity, moral purity, and integrity — a beautiful character. That is why it has always been simple people who brought reform and renewal to religion: Jesus, Valdus, Gregory, Chelčický. And where learned people emerged, they did not excel because they were learned (for there have always been many learned people, but only a few have stood out), but they excelled through their simplicity, their childlike devotion to recognized truth, and their great love for the people they served.

Learning and wisdom were necessary for organisational and literary activity and defense, but they were not necessary for carrying out what is essential in religion. Learning was also needed to prevent blind fanaticism and narrow sectarianism, although the same learning has often supported the defense of superstitions, fanaticism, and clerical despotism.

And if it concerns any ritual that we might consider necessary, it is essential to spread the understanding that when such a ritual is performed by a simple person with good character, it has at least the same validity as when performed by anyone else. And learning the ritual is not so difficult that a simple person, who knows how to read, could not manage it.

Whenever a living spring of pure religion sprang forth in our nation, its heralds were, at first, usually “non-experts.”

Only later was everything organized more officially, in a guild-like professional way, and the greatest concern of believers was no longer the inner life and brotherhood. It was primarily about the needs of clergy and church. And so many things were created that tended to stifle inner religion instead of benefiting it.

In today’s spiritualist circles, I see the best proof that a popular, non-church religion is possible. A few people begin to gather regularly in the home of one of the participants or in a rented space and create a way of being together that allows for education even without a learned leader. It sometimes happens that a simple, uneducated woman rises in the role of a medium and delivers a speech that no priest would need to be ashamed of.

When we succeed in convincing participants that in most cases the medium speaks through their own spirit, and that it is not necessary to fall into unconsciousness for the springs of subconscious impressions to be released, then we have created the basis for religious gatherings free of superstitions and church ballast, which can take place anywhere and are perhaps better than today’s priestly services.

For now, a simple talk or the reading of selected passages with singing, with suggestions, and a calming of the mind is enough. Through experimentation, we will gradually reach the best way of cultivating devotion and spiritual life in small groups. A few groups will be joined into a working collective, and several such collectives will form a central body. Everything else will come about through the course of healthy development — and we will leave the worries about churches, priests, temples, and rituals to other people.

Thus, we will complete our religious liberation when we de-church, de-politicize religion, free it from clerical magic, and make it a servant of true humanity, a servant of God who reigns in the hearts and souls of people.

We always begin with the highest, the broadest, and the most moral concept of God, as the soul of our soul and the life of every life. If we were to seek him anywhere outside of ourselves, we would be moving further away from him. If we believed that priests are closer to him than other people, we would make God a partisan of the clergy. If we believed that he is more present in some ritual or sacrament than in the life of our life – we would make him a magician. If we believed that he needs some intermediary or advocate, we would make him a participant in all favouritism and partisanship.

Closer than breath and the beating of one’s own heart is he. He can never be bound to place, time, ceremonies, or robes.

Where two or more are joined in his name, there he is their connection and the sanctification of their bond.

Every person is an incarnate child of God, and in every person, God strives for a higher expression. Just as the sun cannot be blamed for its rays reflecting differently in the surface of a pure stream than in some ditch, so too God cannot be blamed if a person has not yet reached where they might be in a few thousand years.

Churches teach that religion becomes more valuable because of something someone does or has done for us (for example, by Jesus — or through indulgences). We understand that everyone is only what they are themselves, personally and presently, through their actions, their character, and their life. Crediting someone with another’s merits, except as inspiration for moral conduct, is harmful to moral education.

Churches place great weight on saying certain words and names and on their frequent repetition, such as God, Jesus, Christian, brother. For us, words will be secondary; instead, the state of mind, effort, action, life, and character will be everything.

Churches emphasize firm confessions, preferably ones heavily marked by age. They further emphasize rules and commands. In contrast, we will emphasize development, growth, progress, and the cultivation of moral strength and natural human abilities.

For the churches, the resolutions of councils, assemblies, and synods are paramount — for us, the sovereign personality of the individual and a clear conscience stand higher.

For churches, a person is a means to something, as they were once a means for the powerful in the political sense. According to churches, a person is born to worship someone, obey someone, and, so to speak, serve as material for carrying out or executing something. In our view, let a person be an end unto themselves. The more perfect a person becomes, the greater the gain for God, who always achieves his purpose through a more perfect expression of himself in the person.

Churches consider themselves, their ceremonies, and all religious expressions as ends for which the person is a means — we, on the contrary, consider the church, ceremonies, religion, and all human expressions merely as means for the person to become happier and more perfect.

​​The churches teach that worship is something that can take place between a person, an individual, and an invisible God or something superhuman. They go so far as to claim that even mere participation in something that someone else performs is worship. We, on the other hand, recognize that true worship cannot take place without the participation of a person to whom we render some service or to whom we express our brotherhood or friendship.

With these principles, brothers and sisters, we stand in the company of the greatest religious geniuses of the entire world and all times, but especially in our Czech history.

However, we must take a step further and not be satisfied merely with thinking it through — our reflections must lead to action.

Let us also be pioneers in something.

Let us give God within us the opportunity to manifest through us in the creation of a living, de-churched, creative religiosity, which would enable the creation of safe groups throughout our dear homeland, groups that would further spread mental health, joyful and creative life, and harmony of souls.

Then we will not have lived in vain. Then there will be no monuments in Bohemia more beautiful than such souls rejoicing in new life, acting as the vanguard of a better future and the full liberation of our beloved nation.

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Works by Dr. N. F. Čapek:

• Cestou k obrodě (Towards Renewal) a modern religious orientation — Kč 2

• Silná vůle (Strong Will, How to Train the Will) — Kč 1.50

• Písně Svobodného bratrství (Songs of the Free Brotherhood/Felloship) — Kč 1.50

• Cesty a Cíle, list nové generace (Paths and Goals, journal of the new generation, annual subscription) — Kč 12

• Bůh anebo člověk (God or Man) — Kč 1

• Praha s hlediska světového (Prague from a Global Perspective) — Kč 1

• Revoluční úkoly moderní církve (Revolutionary Tasks of the Modern Church) — Kč 1

• Náboženská výchova dětí (Religious Education of Children) — Kč 1

• Je racionalism oprávněn? (Is Rationalism Justified?) — Kč 1

• Proč v Svobodném bratrství zavrhujeme víru v zázraky? (Why Do We Reject Belief in Miracles in the Free Brotherhood/Fellowship?) — Kč 1

• Věčné mládí (Eternal Youth) — Kč 2

• Základní idee Svobod. bratrství (Fundamental Ideas of the Free Brotherhood/Fellowship) — Kč 1

• Náboženské řešení sociální otázky (The Religious Solution to the Social Question) — Kč 1

• Nálada (Mood) — Kč 9

• Rytmus tvůrčího života (Rhythm of Creative Life) — Kč 9

Available at “Unitária,” Prague I, Karlova 8.