RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Religion, Philosophy of Religious Corporations
ceive it, then infinite being as such is spiritual, and man has his ground in the infinite spiritual Being,, and is dependent upon it. If the religious consciousness assumes this final universal as God, it is easy to regard the same as transcendent, without this being essential for religion. If it further ascribes to God personality and ethical attributes, these involve the conception of the being of God in contradictions, and can not define the same metaphysically; they become matters of faith, or objective conceptions adaptable to human need, whose satisfaction may be regarded as necessary; but according to their content these determinations defy proof. The intellectual proofs for the divine existence from the time of Aristotle, as also the apologetic arguments, are not final. Most convincing is the teleological, yet this halts before the evidence of much that is not purposive, and before evil in the world, which is regarded by the religious as belonging to the plan of the whole and is overcome, but not convincingly explained, by intellectual thought. The weakest is the moral argument, which assumes unproved premises. Though not final, these arguments at most increase probability. Proofs for other specifically religious, in a measure Christian, dogmas, such as that of the Trinity, are still less convincing. Here appeal must be made to faith, not to reason. See Religion; God, IV.
(M. HEINZEf.)
Bibliography: For the history of the philosophy of religion consult: J. Berger, Geschichte der Religionsphilosophie, Berlin, 1800; C. Bartholmess, Hist, critique des doctrines religieuses de la philosophic moderne, 2 vols., Paris, 1855; A. Stoekl, Lehrbuch der Religionsphilosophie, Mainz, 1878; B. Piinjer, Geschichte der christlichen religionsphilosophie seit der Reformation, 2 vols., Brunswick, 1880— 1883; idem, Grundriss der Religionsphilosophie, ib. 1886; G. Runze, Der ontologische Gottesbeweis. Kritische Darstellung seiner Geschichte, Halle, 1881; H. K. H. Delff, Grundzuge der Entwickelungsgeschichte der Religion, Leipsic, 1883; A. Gilliot, Etudes historiques et critiques sur les religions et institutions comparees, Paris, 1883; L. Carran, La Philosophic religieuse en Angleterre depuis Locke jusqu'a nos jours, Paris, 1898; O. Pfleiderer, Religionsphilosophie auf geschichtlicher Grundlage, 3d ed., Berlin, 1896, Eng. transl., Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of its History, 4 vols., London, 1897; idem, Philosophy of Religion, 2 vols., London, 1894 (Gifford Lectures); A. Caldecott, The Philosophy of Religion, in England and America, London, 1901; N. H. Marshall, Die gegenwartigen Richtungen der Rvligionsphilosophie in England und ihre erkenntnisstheoretischen Grundlagen, Berlin, 1902.
For studies in the philosophy of religion consult: J. Matter, Philosophic de la religion, 2 vols., Paris, 1857; A. M. Fairbairn, Studies in the Philosophy of Religion and History, London, 1876; I. Richard, Essai de philosophic religieuse, Heidelberg, 1877; H. Lotze, Grundzuge der Religionsphilosophie, Leipsic, 1882; J. Martineau, Study of Religion, its Sources and Contents, Oxford, 1888; idem, Seat of Authority in Religion, 2d ed., London, 1890; R. Seydl, Religionsphilosophie in Umriss, Freiburg, 1893; J. Caird, Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, 6th ed., Glasgow, 1896; A. Sabatier, Esquisse d'une philosophic de la religion, 7th ed., Paris, 1903, Eng. transl. of earlier ed., Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion, London, 1897; F. Engels, Religion, philosophic, socialisme, Paris, 1901; R. Eucken, Der Wahrheitsgehalt der Religion, Leipsic, 1901; A. Dorner, Grundriss der Religionsphilosophie, Leipsic, 1903; G. Galloway, Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, Edinburgh, 1904; E. Troltsch, in Die Philosophic zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, Festschrift fur Kuno Fischer, pp. 104-162, Heidelberg, 1904; J. Watson, Philosophical Basis of Religion, Glasgow, 1907; B. Wehnert, Wissenschaft, Philosophic, Kunst und Religion, Dortmund, 1910. Much of the literature in and under Religion is pertinent.
RELIGION, PRIMITIVE. See Comparative Religion, VI., 1.
RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
Legal Basis (§ 1). Method of Incorporation (§2). Corporations Sole and Aggregate (§ 3). Objects of Incorporation (§ 4). Powers (§ 5):
The corporation formed for the purposes of religion is an important element in American ecclesiastical organization. The American religious corporation differs in origin, function, and i. Legal power from the ecclesiastical corpora- Basis, tion known to European law which is the product of canon law, and has been developed by analogy from the corporation of the civil law based upon the Roman law. It is not an American development of the English legal ecclesiastical corporation, which is composed entirely of ecclesiastical persons and subject to ecclesiastical judicatories. The religious corporation in the United States belongs to the class of civil corporations, not for profit, which are organized and controlled according to the principles of common law and equity as administered by the civil courts. Distinction is necessary between the corporation and the religious society or church with which it may be connected. The church is a spiritual and ecclesiastical body, and as such does not receive incorporation. It is from the membership of the religious society that the corporation is formed. The corporation exercises its functions for the welfare of the church body, over which, however, it has no control. It can not alter the faith of the church, or receive or expel members, or dictate relations with other church bodies. While the religious corporation is frequently organized to carry on some religious enterprise without connection with a local church body, the greater number of religious corporations in the United States are directly connected with some local church body, and it is in this connection that their powers and duties will be considered.
Only a sovereign power can create a corporation, and this power now rests with the legislative branch of the state governments and of the 2. Method federal government. Prior to the of Incor- American revolution religious corpoporation. rations were created either by royal charter or by provincial authority derived from the crown. After the revolution they were incorporated either by special acts of the state legislatures or under the provisions of general statutes. In its charter are contained the organic law of a corporation and the legal evidence of its right to the exercise of corporate franchises. When incorporation is effected under the provisions of a general statute, the terms ol such a statute applicable to that particular corporation are by law read into its charter. Such a charter is a grant of powers by the State, and it also has the nature of a contract in such a sense that it can not thereafter be altered or revoked without the consent of the corporation unless the State has reserved to itself the right so to alter or revoke. The general statutes under which
Religious Corporations Religious Dramas