Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-30

If the material, political, industrial
and social evils l have described mean
anything; if the effects of our present
social system on the workers. the home,
the school are not a myth; if the num-
Der of unemployed and the increased
cost OF living are honest statements of
facts, then it is evident that the present
industrial system is not the best posi-
BILE.
The religious ranters and the social
denagogues are everywhere using the
facts quoted to show that the church
is a humbug and a fraud. In Ger
many the workers believe this, today;
and unless we are aroused the workers
of America will believe it also. The
truth is nothing could be further from
the facts; the church, today, stands
as the only institution by which men
can find light, truth, liberty and God.
On the other hand, we must not forget
that the church stands in the midst of
new industrial conditions; she fails
in many things to represent the king
dom. However, l wish you to study
this problem through the eyes of those
concerned. First, shall we ask what
THE WORKERS THINK OF THE
CHURCH.
I have read the statement that not
more than per cent. of the working
men of the large cities are regular at
tendants at church. The following
question was asked: What in your
opinion takes the place of the church
in the life of the average working
MANI" Two hundred workingmen an
swered as follows: after toiling all
day in the vile and unsanitary condi-
tons of the workshop, where shall we
spend our evenings? In our homes,
bare, bleak and desolate? No. 1t re-
quires the theatre, or the saloon with
it's glittering light, it's fitful music,
the whirl of the dance, and, alas, the
tempting drink, to make US forget the
incessant drudgery of the day and the
morrow. There is no other way to
get away from the maddening, intoler-
able effects of our hard struggle for
bread. While the workers are doomed
to this heartrending struggle their
pleasure will be unnatural"
BAK IN HIS RELIGION OF SOCIAL
ISM
says Socialism utterly despises the
other world with it's stage properties
we leave that to religion" A labor
leader is reported in the Outlook as
saying, Il say, frankly, that the
churches do not welcome the working
men, and the workingmen do not care
for the churches. The churches are
made up mostly or employees and they
are trying TO get all they can out of
their men, and don't care for them as
Christ and the Social Problem Up 62)
declares to vast majority of those
most concerned with the social prob
lem, the Christ of the churches is an
object of complete Indifference, if not
of absolute scOrn. 1t is only too true
that the masses think the church is
an institution of the rich, that it is not
honest in its assertions of brotherhood;
that it's promise of a heaven beyond
this life is an artifice to evade the is
sue
Here theIf are two conceptions held of
the church by the masses. First-The
church is chiefly concerned with etern-
ity; if life is about to end then the
ShuiNH' anu tliC pIlCSI may nave lIltlI
turn. Second-The church has little if
any interest in the struggles, or the
defeats of the working people. Again
the modern revolutionist thinks the
church the defence of the property
holding class, and that the theologians
are their tools hired to distract the
minds of the unfortunate by promises
of prosperity elsewhere. Peabody
quotes one Phelix Holt as saying, Eve
give them back little of their heaven
and take it out in something for us
and our children in this world. This
is what the workers think of us, nor
a glowing opinion is it?
What do the well-to-do and the rich
think of the church? One word tells
the story. liberation, almost indiffer-
ence. The lake, the summer cottage,
and the club make church work and
church attendance almost impossible
The business man of today directs so
many interests that unless he has an
overmastering passion for God, he is
tempted to leave the church to herself
The merchant holding q telephone re-
ceiver to his ears six days, cannot be
greatly blamed if he seeks silence on
the seventh. Our modern industrial life