The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-05-02
The Decline of Religious Journal.
ism.

ism.
|@N NE OF the most noteworthy
signs of contemporary jour
nalsm Is the steady decline
in prestige, influence ant
circulation of the religious or denomt
national newspaper. There are still {
large number of religious journals, ol
periodicals. purportng to be so, in the
United States. They were never moro
numerous, perhaps. and never less In
huential. Three-fourths Of then
might be swept away, without Great
ing u void which would suggest the
necessity of filling it as a CONNER.
cal speculation or a pious obligation
| \ few denominational newspapers
still sail against the wind of adverse
times as the recognized or semi-of1l-
cial organs of the clergymen of the
church which they nominally repre-
| sent; but their influence among the
laity is small and appears TO be de-
creasing.
Yet papers of this class are ably
| edited, sometimes even brilliantly
| written. They are not acrimonious:
they are not bgoted they are not
| splenetic they are hardly polemical
| They have buried the "odium theo-
logicum": they do not, as rule. seek
to exalt their tenets at the expense of
other Christian associations. They
contain many interesting articles on
church, Biblical and theological sub
iects which should appeal to eccles-
iastical support and lay appreciation;
vet with all those advantages, the re-
ligious newspaper as such is decay
ing.
AS there is 10 result without It's
predisposing cause, we have to seek
| one for this literary phenomenon.
Where it is to be located is not exactly
| clear, but if it is not wholly due to
the secularization of the religious
newspapers, it is almost 50. The syn
cretism of such journal as the New
York Independent has, naturally and
| inevitably transformed it from Il re-
| ligious journal into an admirable
weekly review of current political, IL
nancial and social topics. IT repre-
sents at the present day the army and
navy quite as much as the church.
The Independent does not stand alone
in this respect. although it is the
most notable example of the cvOlu-
ton of a religious newspaper into a
secular periodical.
In entering into competition with the
IN, hai 10
the religious journals become neither
fish, flesh nor good red herring. \
rehash of the weeks news in one form
or another. can bring no intellectual
enjoyment to the family that takes the
daily newspaper, no matter how re-
fined the editorial gliding may be. An
Unsuitable thirst for news does not
signify an appetite for ancient his
tory. And yet it is to the sympathy
Of the intelligent family, with it's one
or more morning newspapers on the
breakfast table, that the religious
journal must appeal for support.
Another cause Of the revolution III
religious journalism has been brought
about, it is supposed, by the more in
tense interest which the church is TAX
ing in social affairs--in what is known
as the amelioration of the masses,
spiritually and ethically, but above ALL
morally and socially. 1t is said truly
has not the saving grace to be thank
fully prayerful for his afliction. 1t is
also said that until the church be-
comes more attractive than the saloon
to those "ho are tempted to choose
between them, the saloon will receive
its full patronage. that it is as much
the duty of the church to educate the
tian, and that in such a dispensation
the religious newspaper naturally
should be mirror of the times. This
is not fair to the church. There are
some few ministerial eXcmplars of the
strenuous life who transform the par
ish church into q parochial bureau,
emasculate it of its spirituality and
put in its stead system of corporate
altruism, That, however, is not re-
ligion in the sense in which St. Paul
understood it, and may the time be
long in coming when a church, rich
or poor, shall be regarded as mainly
u business concern,
Another fact which is accelerating
the decadence of religious journalism
is the large space willingly and
eagerly devoted To religious news and
theological Intelligence by the daily
newspaper. No pastor who has an
original thought for his brethren need
contine its inspiration within range
of his voice. The columns nf the
daily press are open to him. Still, IA
religious newspaper which is really
such, is invaluable, not as the Inspired
oracle of the home, as some so-callel
religious newspapers would have it,
but as Il convenient and eclectic me-
dum of information and communica-
tion between members of the same
creed. The daily press looks after the
interest of the world, the flesh and
the devil, and may be relied urnn 10
do so. If the religious press is to
maintain a share of what small intlu-
ence It now commands, it will concern
itself mainly with stimulating In the
children OF this world tho soiritual
glacss.
Lieutenant Townley of Manila, fur
nshes another glaring example of the
man who has opened his mouth and
put his foot in it.
The newspaper parasrapher who re- |