In this light, a devout individual in a devout community can not
be called a case of reversion, since he is abreast of the average
of the community. But as seen from the point of view of the
modern industrial situation, exceptional devoutness -- devotional
zeal that rises appreciably above the average pitch of devoutness
in the community -- may safely be set down as in all cases an
atavistic trait.
It is, of course, equally legitimate to consider these phenomena
from a different point of view. They may be appreciated for a
different purpose, and the characterization here offered may be
turned about. In speaking from the point of view of the
devotional interest, or the interest of devout taste, it may,
with equal cogency, be said that the spiritual attitude bred in
men by the modern industrial life is unfavorable to a free
development of the life of faith. It might fairly be objected to
the later development of the industrial process that its
discipline tends to "materialism," to the elimination of filial
piety. From the aesthetic point of view, again, something to a
similar purport might be said. But, however legitimate and
valuable these and the like reflections may be for their purpose,
they would not be in place in the present inquiry, which is
exclusively concerned with the valuation of these phenomena from
the economic point of view.
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