The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1896-12-15
THEY HAVE NOCREED
POLITICS AND RELIGION COMBINED BY
A STRANGE SECT.

% In Three Towns Total Membership
! Ii Ono Thousand.
There is in Los Angeles a church
movement so extraordinary in the char
acter Of its creed as to Ia without par
Allel or anticipation hy the creed of any
ecclesiastical idea Ger before brought
into the world.
In point of fac, the only seinblance
of ecclesiasticir:l which this movement
bears abides n its name Of Church"
and in the ct that it expresses itself to
be forrr the worship of God. Other
than IT, acre is nothing about its off,
GERS, meetings or any ceremonies
ther which might suggest it to en-
be- phase of religious thought as re-
J .ous thought comes to US today
ilrough articles of faith, psalters and
edifces.
This newly originated institution is
palled New Era church, and it was
brought into being through state char
ter granted upon the filing of articles Of
incorporation in 1894. DR.. w. 9. Bow
man was tho originator of the idea of
such church and stood at the helm
while it was getting into shape. He
calls it 'civic church. and rs such it
has spread until the os'Angeles body
now numbers about 700 members, and
there are churches at Compton, Azusa
and Clearwater. each of them having as
great a membership as any of the 'old
line" churches which are in those towns.
Altogether it might be said that the
membership Of the church is about
1000, but from this nucleus the church
officers declare the faith will spread, as
the present activities show, until il be-
comes the most conspicuous church
movement in the state.
The idea is recognized by some as
about the same sort of breaking off from
the orthodox faith as Professionalism was
from Catholicism. 1t is based upon the
claim that the churches Of today assert
that their only purpose is to care for the
souls of individuals and have no concern
for their earthly we'll being further than
obtains 20 morality and charity, the last
OF which graces the New Eras declare
is in its church acceptation and practice
simply fraud. "
In short, this New Era church min
giles politics with religion, and Of the
two runs mostly to politics. There is no
regular preacher, and the sermons bear
no flavor of theology. Twice on Sunday
the members gather to hear discourses.
A brother or sister will rise and deliver
prepared or extemporaneous address.
He may take some Bible theme for his
base of argument. but il he does he. will
use it only as a wall from behind which
shots will be taken at political ques-
tions Of the day.
After this is finished some member
will arise and comment upon the words
Just spoken. This will continue until
dozen others have spoken. All sorts Of
subjects will be talked on. Socialism
comes in for large part Of the speech.
making, for many Of the members are
socialists. Then there are protectionists,
ardent and excitable free traders. Single
Takers, goldites, silverites. those who
want the railroads owned by the govern
ment, those who want only the road
beds owned and the traffic management
thrown open to competition, those who
wish government ownership Of the tele-
graph and who are otherwise opposed to
socialism.
One of the sections of the constitution
of this church reads:
I'm matters of belief and opinion
there will be absolute liberty Of mind to
accept whatever is proved or seems prob
able and to reject whatever is disproved
or seems improbable, and that its range
of investigation and instruction will be
unlimited, drawing freely from all
sources-scientific, literary, historic,
ancient and modern, sacred and profane,
christian, Jewish and pagan-drawing
most largely from those sources which
seem instructive and helpful, freely
handling every question in the problem
of human life and aspiration, whether
relating to this life or the life to come
or whether concerning the body or the
soul of man."
The expressions of its founder, DR..
Bowman, as to the beliefs Of the church
are much in line with the above. He
says, eve believe that the surest way
to take cSre of another life is to make
the best possible success out of this one;
to make earth itself as much like heaven
as possible--a place Of equal rights to
all and special privileges to none"
The absolute lack of theological doc
trine in the structure of this church ap-
pears, however, in what is specifically
declared to DO its creed, which reads as
follows:
81 believe in the eternal principles of
Justice and righteousness, embosomed
in the infinite soul of the universe, re-
vealed in the face Of nature and the ex-
pert essences of human life believe
in the betterment Of the world by end
less progress. believe in the triumph
of light over darkness, good over evil
and life over death. believe that the
earth, with its stored resources, its
bounties and civilization with its bless
ings are the rightful heritage Of the peo-
x~lo ~-l xha< oil oho,,JI bova fasr y,1uv