Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions:
The two dominant features of our age are science and democracy. They have come to stay and have brought a revolution to human life. We cannot ask educated people to accept the deliverances of faith without rational evidence. Whatever we are called upon to accept must be justified and supported by reason. Otherwise our religious beliefs will be reduced to wishful thinking. Modern man must learn to live with a religion which commends itself to his intellectual conscience, to the spirit of science. Moreover, religion should be the sustaining faith of democracy, which insists on the intellectual and spiritual development of every human being irrespective of his caste, creed, community or race. Any religion which divides man from man and supports privileges, exploitation and wars cannot commend itself to us today.
Which of the following would the writer most likely agree with?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A religion that divides people cannot be accepted today.
The last line of the passage is about such a religion.
- A religion that “divides man from man” and supports unfair privileges “cannot commend itself to us today”. Privileges here are special rights given to only a few people.
- “Cannot commend itself to us” means we cannot accept it. Option 1 says the same thing in plain words.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Science should take the place of religion completely. — Incorrect. Overstated: the writer wants religion to suit the spirit of science. He never says science should replace it.
Option 3: Educated people should give up all religious beliefs. — Incorrect. Overstated: educated people should accept beliefs backed by reason. The writer does not ask them to give up every belief.
Option 4: Religion and democracy cannot exist together. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the writer wants religion to be “the sustaining faith of democracy”. So he believes the two can go together.