attacked the religion's blind faith in its own infallibility without ever losing sight of the Church's many beneficial traits. In a 1928 edition of The Austin Pulpit (a sister publication to Reason) he referred to the bible as being the "First among equals" among religious texts, provided that it is "interpreted rationally". In his 1920 book The ABC of Spiritualism, Austin answered the question of how Spiritualists should relate to the organised Christian church by reminding his readers that Churches have "done good in many ways". He advised his followers to learn from the many centuries that the Christian church has in religious work as "they cannot but have learned some wisdom". He does finish, it must be admitted, by saying that "a frank acknowledgment of the good done by churches makes the way open for a clear statement on their fallacies and falsities" ix. As in all things Austin praised an honest and frank view of the Truth. Life in America In 1903 Austin moved to the United States to become the principal of William Smith College for Women in Geneva, New York. Though the college's founder, William Smith, was a well-known Spiritualist the college was officially non-sectarian. That said the school's mission included a wish to raise young women of 'a noble spirituality'. Austin also commented at the school's founding that he hoped that, "opportunities for psychological research shall be afforded along the lines of the Psychical Research Society of England, namely experiments for the illustration of psychic phenomena and the collection of facts and experience in regard to the powers and possibilities of man's spiritual nature, with a view to finding a rational explanation thereof and of demonstrating, if possible the continuity of life after death and of communion with the spirit realm. Such research, however, must not be compulsory." The school, it seems, had a not entirely subtle Spiritualist inclination. Austin was the pastor of the Plymouth Spiritualist Church in Rochester, New York from 1906 to 1911. Austin also became a trustee of the New York State Spiritual Assembly. During his time in New York, Austin became the editor of a Spiritualist magazine called Reason. The magazine became a very widely known and respected voice in Spiritualist circles. Austin's daughter Beatrice Evelyn was the associate editor of the magazine. She was a strong follower of the Spiritualist movement, and was a well-regarded 'healer'. Austin's only son,