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 best states the main idea of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Religion today must agree with reason and support the growth of all people.
The passage begins with science and democracy, but most of it is about what religion should be now.
- First, a belief must be “supported by reason”.
- Second, religion should help the growth of “every human being”, whatever his caste or race.
- Option 2 puts both these points together. So it gives the main idea of the whole passage.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Science and democracy have made religion useless today. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the writer does not throw religion away. He wants a religion that suits the spirit of science.
Option 3: Faith should be accepted without asking for proof. — Incorrect. Opposite meaning: the writer says we cannot accept faith “without rational evidence”. He wants proof first.
Option 4: Democracy can work well only without religion. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the writer wants religion to be “the sustaining faith of democracy”. He wants the two to work together.