An American magazine prints the following paragraphs:

"Reared in church traditions, the people in the Balkans have very little faith in medicine. They laugh if you tell them that microbes, mosquitoes, flies, rats, and other animals are able to spread disease. They think that sickness is not caused by any outside agency but is sent by God. They say: 'If God sends us sickness and misfortune, he knows best what to do.'

"They think that to take a bath is sin. Such is the viewpoint, based on religion, of the people in the Balkans--at least such are the reports from correspondents who went there to fight typhus."

That in the Balkans there are people who believe that sickness is sent by God we do not doubt. We know the Balkans better than do some of the conceited 2Americans who imagine that their civilization is the best, and that other people are just savages. We do not know, however, which Balkan country is meant by the above statements. In Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece people know how to appreciate a doctor's knowledge and have more faith in a doctor than in a priest. There are not many doctors in proportion to the population, and some of the people have had no opportunity to profit by medical science. No wonder that some in their desperation depend on a priest, a sorcerer, or even a common swindler.

But how is it in America? Correspondents and other bearers of "culture" think that the situation is better here. But a careful scrutiny will show different results. In the same issue of the magazine we read that the police arrested members of a religious cult in Zion City, Illinois, because of immorality. They were lying on their backs, pretending to be possessed of the Holy Ghost.

In the United States there is a special religious sect called the "Christian Scientists". They believe in immortality but reject the use of medicine.

When they become ill, they pray, but they never call a doctor. We do not see in what respect these people are more intelligent than those in the Balkans, who believe sincerely that God sends all good things as well as bad.

We who have lived in the Balkans never heard anybody there say that he was possessed of the "Holy Ghost," as is the case in Zion City, a town in the center of American civilization, in the State of Illinois.

In America religious hypocrisy is far more extensive than in the Balkans. A great number of American universities serve religion and force students to attend churches and hear sermons.

Why indeed should we imagine that things are better here and worse over there--that Americans are intelligent, and that the Balkan people are the victims of delusions? Errors occur constantly; they are nourished and maintained by human stupidity. On the other side we have the selfishness and the greed of those 4who desire to profit by church and religion.