The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Page 52

50
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1967
bringing it within the reach of an
ever-increasing number of people to
be of paramount importance. The poet
envisaged the day when “one man’s
success is not another man’s misery”,
in a world where power would cease
to be the ultimate goal to strive for
and fairness in every exchange among
men would be accepted as “the
supreme commandment”; (I, 211)
where “an ode to the sun is sung by
all the common heirs of mother earth.”
(II, 518). The foregoing makes it easy
to understand why Stephan G.
Stephansson was a pacifist whose feel-
ings were deeply wounded by the
numerous outbreaks of war that oc-
cured in his time (cf. for instance III,
132-210).
IV
In a poem from his later years
(III, 194-195), Stephansson suggested
that because of his deep understanding
of the world around him, Christ was
subjected to mockery, and that his
benevolence and his ability to distingu-
ish between truth and falsehood
aroused a feeling of hatred among his
fellow-men.
Considering the above reference it
comes as a surprise, perhaps, to many
of Stephansson’s readers when he re-
fers to himself as an “agnostic” (1, 344).
It appears that by using this term the
poet meant to imply that he rejected
some of the fundamental tenets of the
conventional Christian faith. He felt
that the Church as he knew it had
become stagnant because of unalter-
able dogmas (1, 41-42) and that it had
failed to give enough consideration to
life on earth—the life which accord-
ing to Stephansson was “God himself”
(3, 98).
As a -child Stephansson received the
kind of religious upbringing which was
customary in 19th century Iceland.
This involved a good deal of reading
in strictly orthodox literature, as for
instance ‘The Sermons of Bishop J6n
Vidalin’ (Vxdalfnspostilla) (4, 83-84).
Upon his arrival in North America,
Stephansson joined a Lutheran con-
gregation as was customary for other
Icelandic immigrants, and in spite of
some disagreement with the church
minister, he remained an active mem-
ber of the Church during his early
years in North America (4, 86-87).
During his stay in North Dakota
(1880-1889) Stephansson’s affiliations
with the Church deteriorated and
came to an end. At that time he did
not only join a group of men who had
become dissatisfied with their church,
but lie also played a leading role in
organizing in his district a society of
freethinkers which received the name
Hi5 fslenzka menningarfelag (‘The Ice-
landic Cultural Society’). Stephansson
was entrusted with the task of outlin-
ing the aims and objectives of this new
organization. This he did in the follow-
ing preamble to its constitution:
(cf. Timarit I’joSraeknisfelagsins
1967, 12).
(See Page 51 for illustration)
As one can easily imagine the found-
ing of the Icelandic Cultural Society
in North Dakota was frowned upon
by the leaders of the Icelandic Luther-
an Church. In their own home district
the members of the Society ran into
considerable opposition (cf. Loc. cit.),
and the Icelandic press in Winnipeg
referred to this new society of free-
thinkers as a fellowship of disbelievers
who had most of them come from the
ranks of “unenlightened farmers”
(Sameiningin 1888, no. 1, 13).