A Confession of Faith

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

"A Confession of Faith" is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in The Daily Chronicle on 24 june 1918.


A Confession of Faith

The Daily Chronicle (24 june 1918, p. 2)

To the Editor Daily Chronicle.

Sir, — I see that Mr. Clodd accuses Mr. Marriott Watson and myself of credulity. Some little time ago he wrote that Sir William Crookes was a "very credulous man," and he has several times accused Sir Oliver Lodge of the same weakness. Dr. Russel Wallace, M. Charles Richet, Professor William James, Professor Lombroso, Professor Morelli, and a cloud of other witnesses must come under the same imputation. In fact, everyone who disagrees with Mr. Clodd's views is "credulous," and there the matter must be left, for there is no room for argument in what is pure assertion.

Mr. Clodd remarks upon the responsibility of those who raise hopes in the minds of those who have lost their dear ones. Spiritualists are, as a rule, conscious of that responsibility, and the need for caution is impressed in my book. But is there no responsibility in the case of the man who endeavours, upon the strength of his personal prejudices, to impose his own cheerless beliefs and to remove a legitimate source of comfort from hose who grieve?

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex,
JUne 21.