Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
Startling Decrease Suggests
Grave Reasons.
STILL THERE'S HOPE
THIS IS A RELIGIOUS AGE,
THOUGH.
The Clergy Now and n the Past
Where Men Spend Sun
days.


Written for The Evening Star by william Elliot
Gritis. DID.
Mr.. Frederick Harrison the great comp
fist. declares that Christianity in this TWEEN
tieth century is ''discreditable" His re-
mark illustrates the absence of that sense
of humor. SO often noted in earnest men.
showing defect where We should look for
balance and complete sanity. In all ages
Christianity has been thoroughly ''discred-
| tied" by those who did not accept it. A
Latinized word need not confu-s when
plain Anglo-Saxon term makes the situation
plain.
Nevertheless. if all there is OF Christianity
be in churches. their adherents have dis
tinct cause for disquiet. If the prosperity
of the religion of Jesus rests either upon
the number of church members or the rate
of increase then the cause Of the Founder
shows signs of at least temporary weak
ness. In the Church Of England, though
the statisticans of the year book have a
rosy hue. they are upon analysis disappoint-
ing. In the decade past the number of con-
firmations in a year has fallen, with some
fluctuations. from 214.730 to 1868. and
decrease during the last five years has been
continuous aid rapid. The same phenomena
are seen in the Sunday schools. in the num-
Der Of baptisns. and more strikingly In
the field of total abstinence. Compare these
figures. gloomy as they look, with the in
crease In population and the reason for deep
searchings of heart in England are even
more manifest
American churches tell the same story.
Analysing the material furnished by the
United States census find that though
the statistics Of church membership look
very cheerful the actual gain as compared
with the population is very smaii-not three
per cent. The rolls swell but the rate de-
creases. The number of names given in
individual church reports is never the min
imum. nor do these the average show
close accuracy. If the names Of those dead.
absent or non attendant or of the myriads
whose letters of admission still lie in their
trunks We're erased there would be YER
liable black Friday in shrinkage If any
thing seems certain, 1t is that net gain in
church membership is small, while decrease
in its rate is certain. Whether ritualistic or
with plain service. orthodox" or liberal"
of Dives with social prestige of Lazarus
ever in constant need of help. the churches
tell the same story.
The Discernible Causes.
What is the reason for this state of af-
fairs? Is Christianity declining? Are there
discernible causes of the lack of growth in
church membership-that is. of numerical
Christianity?
Do We listen to the doctors and experts?
We are charmed or dismayed by their dis
agreement The decay of prea ching. the
decline of pulpit ability, a lowering of per-
suitably HI tlt Clergy, 1Ee poor QUALITY OF
the music. the lack of artistic resources.
the hideous ugiiness of the edifices or the
stuffiness of the air in them. the viilainy
of sections. the stupidity of church officers
are causes assigned. The ordinary Prot
estant church, to form and spirit, is al
legged to be survival, village meeting
house in a great city. Furthermore, the
ideals of the preacher are non-strenuolls;
they appeal to the feminine rather than TO
the masculine mind and taste Or the
church is monopolized by the rich. The
workingman can find no food for his soul
here. The people are cold and proud: there
Is no social atmosphere nor winsome per
sonality, etc, and so on, to the end of the
chapter. .-.s.
No reasonable man can deny the force
of these and other criticisms Preachers
are no longer eminent as scholars-pyra-
mds of learning amid vast levels of ignor-
ance.. The brains are now in the pews. The
clergy are not the ideal, but only the aver
age of educated men. For ability in pull
pit and at altar We must depend upon what
the fathers and mothers of each generation
can furnish Yet. even now the people can
make the parson far more than they mag
Inc, and in general the congregation CAN
have very much the sort of minister 1t
wants Undoubtedly music and art have
in many comHuntons a far larger part to
play than In the past.
The church seems to be a place for bon
nets and fine dress rather than for thinkers
and devout worshiperS. Often from the
pulpit there is almost a morbidly feminine
its success in emotion, has been the bane
of popular religion. The vast majority OF
converts thus made are women and girls.
The crop of burnt OUT or hardened faith
ers. who talk before their children In a
way that does not breed respect for the
churches, is large. The clerical standard
of conduct seems negative rather than
manly. Religion is measured more by what
a girl will not than what boy may do.
Hence the male goes where he is respected
and invited-to the lodges, saloons. clubs
and athletic games. The Sunday school
works hand in hand with the church, and
the ideal of religious life rs rather sweet
young girl who will not do anything rough.
In general it is the mother and not the
father who is ever lovely and of good re-
port. We may not wonder that where the
German and Dutch are spoken in our Amer
lean churches the men crowd them, Tor
here no such morbid ideal prevails That
wealth and social ambition dominate many
churches, keeping out the wage earners.
cannot be denied. The workingman has
notion that the chief supporters of Pro-
testant churches are those prominent in
the corporations, which are soulless to a
proverb. Perhaps all will agree that the
rapid and almost unprecedented multipli-
cation of amusements. the multifarious at
fractions and luxuries which come IN the
wake of national prosperity, and the phe-
nomena1 revival of outdoor sports and re-
creations have much to co with the decline
of the churches
No Signs Of Decay.
Yet granting all the facts. there is yet
no sign of decay of the influence Of Jesus
nor Of any real lessening OF the inexhaust-
ible fertility of Christianity. What We see
is merely the transit of activeness, a change
Of emphasis. Our age makes it appeal to
life. 1t is none the less therefore religious.
Faith is not credulity. 1t is vision of the
eternal reality. Never was the power OF
the Founder more manifest than in our
age. We see this in the spread Of popula-
education and in the noble standards OF
public service set forth in our colleges and
universities and their "settlements'' and
extensions, in the humanization of law.
in the increased sensitiveness to suffering
in the multiplication of hospitals, in the
growth of army of nurses, in prison
reform, in social amelioration and in the
Qualification of the ideas which lie at the
basis of human progress. Our true ad-
vance has been not in mechanical inven-
lions, or in methods Of communication and
transit, but in the leavening of a larger
mass by the forces inherent in Christianity
Ours is the era Of spiritual expansion
Never was the army of faith larger or mis-
sionary activity both at home or abroad
greater Many who least profess to be ac-
tuated by the commandments of Jesus are