Religion: Creative Revolutionary

The multifaceted wit of the late George Bernard Shaw often did more to conceal than reveal his deep convictions. But last week a paragraph from his will made it clear where the author of Saint Joan, Heartbreak House and Back to Methuselah stood on the question of religion:

“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative revolution. I desire that no public monument or work of art or inscription or sermon or ritual service commemorating me shall suggest that I accepted the tenets peculiar to any established church or denomination nor take the form of a cross or any other instrument of torture or symbol of blood sacrifice.”