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.
The words “a religion which commends itself to his intellectual conscience” mean a religion that
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → his reason can accept
To commend itself to someone means to seem good or acceptable to that person.
- Intellectual conscience is the thinking mind that checks whether a belief makes sense.
- The passage adds “to the spirit of science”. So the writer means a religion that a thinking person can accept with his reason. Example: The new timetable commended itself to the students because it gave them a free hour.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: praises people who think a lot — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: “Commend” can mean praise. But “commends itself” means the religion wins a person’s approval. It does not praise anyone.
Option 3: asks him to give up reasoning — Incorrect. Opposite meaning: the writer wants a religion that fits “the spirit of science”. Such a religion keeps reasoning alive.
Option 4: society forces on him — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage says nothing about force. The religion is one that a person accepts with his own mind.