Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-20
IS TELEPHONE
SINFUL DEVICE?
DUNKARDS' CONFERENCE so
DECLARES
DEcRY MODERN CONVENIENCE
Ukase Recently Issued Prohibits Menn-
bers From Maintaining instrument
Of Communication In Their
Homes or offices

Imagine the world without a tele-
phone, and then consider the force of the
recent ukase by the Dunkards, or old
German Baptists. issued at their ma
tional conference at Flora, Ind, a
few weeks ago. which is, in effect, an
order that all members of that church
shall Immediately remove telephones
from their homes and places Of busi-
ness and cease to use the instruments
under any circumstances.
This bit of intelligence, when pub
lished to the world, came with such
startling effect upon the general public
that The Herald has attempted an in
vestigation into the views of the local
clergy to ascertain IL the views ex-
pressed by the Dunkard conference to
the effect that telephones are wicked
contrivances and their use Is q
sin against God, were shared by the
church world at large.
The result of such an investigation
reveals the fact to be that no other
creed or sect recognizes the alleged
sinfulness of the inanimate instrument
of convenience and that modern
progress and inventions are regarded
as aids to the usefulness of man and
promote his general and spiritual well
fare.
Is lnordinate Folly
Rev. J. L. Pitner, presiding elder of
the San Diego district of the Methodist
conference, treats the subject as very
amusing, saying:
"It is simply an inordinate bit of
folly. 1 believe they misconstrue the
civilizing influences of Christianity, and
1 also believe God anticipated these
improvements millions of years ago.
The influence for evil in telephone
is a new idea to me and 1 am unable
to understand how the inanimate and
highly useful instrument could be an
agency for evil, unless through the
agency of an already existing evil
mind to convey messages of an evil
nature, which might as well be attrib-
uted to the telegraph, the train and
other means of transportation. Such
views, if they should become general,
would mean that the world would
travel backward and we would have
to return to the primitive days of old,
when such conveniences as are now
deemed indispensable in our social,
religious and business life were un-
known"
Rev. A. S. Phelps, pastor of the
Central Baptist church, attributes the
peculiar idea to economical reasons,
saying:
1.-THE idea is new one to me, but I
suppose it originated in the we'll known
views of the church regarding economy
and simplicity in the manner of their
living. 1t is said that, in order to save
from an unnecessary expense, the men,
bers of the denomination do not believe
in wearing buttons on their clothing
except where they are absolutely neces-
sary. They probably consider the con-
venience of telephone an unnecessary
one, luxury probably, and their in
tention to do away with it is, to my
mind, not because of the alleged sin
desire to economize wherever possible"
Convenient for InvaIids
Rev. w. C. Clatworthy, pastor of
Emmanuel Baptist church. does not be-
lieve in the wickedness of the telephone;
on the contrary. his experiences teach
him that it is a very convenient instru-
ment, not only in business life, but as
a means of spreading the gospel among
those who are the victims of misfortune
and invalidism and unable to attend
church. He says:
1.-THE telephone has been used, to my
knowledge, for purposes of permitting
invalids to listen to the sermons de-
livered by ministers in their churches.
An instance of this sort occurred re-
Gently in Chicago. The invalid mother
of Dr. De Bloys, pastor of the First
Baptist church, was enabled by using
the telephone to listen to a sermon
by her son for the first time in many
years, and her delight thereat was in
deed worth many times the cost of the
instrument I can see no wickedness
in the modern invention and do not
approve of the views attributed to the
denomination alleged to be opposed to
it's use"
Rev. W. H. Walker, pastor of CAL
vary Baptist church, treats the matter
lightly, saying:
Probably local conditions have some
thing to do with the peculiar views.
Probably there have been times in all
our lives when the service was so poor
that we felt worse than we dared ex-
press. But. seriously. I do not indorse
the views in opposition to the telephone.
In fact. am in favor of installing the
telephone in all churches for the con-
venience OF the pastor and congrega-
ton as we'll as for those who are un-
able to attend church and yet desire to
listen to the sermon"
-
Do Not Neglect the Children
At this season of the year the first
unnatural looseness of a childs bowels
should have immediate attention. The