Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-07-14
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
fFor Sunday Reading. !
+ All sorts Of Opinions. +
1aSsssaa-aa4si.s-i-S..i :
Club Women and Religion.

Club Women and Religion.
The club woman seems rather t.
supplement the church woman thar
"supplant" her, by the account Mrs
Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives o
/ their relations. The Woman's Home
Companion duly prints Mrs. GIL
mans vigorous contribution to the
question. She thinks it rather pitt
full thing that the church should ado
this one more complaint 10 her others
about "the young men" and "the work
| ing people" not coming to church. LAS
| regards the question of allegiance she
| insists that 1.-The church must prove its
| place as leader of life ii 1t wants
| followers" The world needs BROAD
general, swift good work in thou
sand lines of social progress" says
| Mrs Gilman. and considerable initia-
tive in this line she attributes to the
! womans club. She does not. however,
exclude all churches. "A healthy, pros
/ porous church today, like DR.. Rains
| fords in New York. spends two
| thirds OF its efforts on humanitarian
work--like good woman's club" But
while the woman's club is doing some
things not done by the churches. this
activity is in no way detrimental to
the church. Thus:
IF the membership of our women's
clubs could be shown to increase at
the expense of the membership of our
churches. or IL the new activity in ed
ucation and reform were at the eX-
pense of earlier activities in charity
and philanthropy, there would be some
ground for fear of the club movement.
or at least the defender Of the club
would have to show that women in
clubs did more to serve God and man
than they had previously done in the
churches.
NO such contrast need be made.
Our church membership is still COM
posed mainly of women. and the good
works of the church were never so
widespread and efficacious as today.
while there are some club women
who do not go to church, and many
church womer no do not SO to clubs,
still in most cases the strong worker
in the village improvement society is
also a strong worker in the church.
Quite aside from any such numerical
balancing as this we have two things
club membership on the woman her
self, the other the effect of the club
work on the world. I think it can be
shown that on both lines the club will
be found a fellow servant of. the
church, developer of character, and
means of social service. AS to wor-
ship, I have yet to hear of a woman's
club whose meetings coincide with
church services. They do not conflict
in the slightest, but may be of wide
help to each other and to humanity"
The topics chosen for study by
women's clubs cover a wide area, but
none of them, the writer thinks, could
react with anything but helpfulness
to church interests, and some might
serve to show where the church has
lacked. Mrs. Gilman says:
Here is a body of women number
ing hundreds of thousands usually
women of middle age (of one club in
Massachusetts it is said every member
is between fifty-two and eighty-two
years of age). al reaching on. to serve
Even where the purpose of
the club is self Improvement, that en-
larged and enlightened mind is of serv-
ice to all it touches. How can it be
said Of work like this that it 'supplants'
church work, or that the devotion of
the woman to her club supplants her
devotion to the church?
1T is true that certain Of the clubs
in our wide list study the Bible, and
other ethics, and others practical re-
ligion but if their churches had been
meeting every want in these lines we
would mr. CT cd al, hc f0r
Us it not a condemnation in itself
that we must needs form clubs to study
ethics and practical religion, because
the church will linger forever over
dogmas and theories? What teaching
in ethics does it offer? Our Sunday
school teachers are no experts-esti-
mable old ladies and ardent schoolgirls |
mostly; the child learns little from
them
"As to practical religion, that q
Christian church can remain prosper
ous and silent among the glal.fng in
justices and crying needs of today
shows a great lack somewhere. Love
s no good without action; to love the
word means to serve 1T, and the way
If service is plain. The most impor-
ant evil of today is in high places, Il
md needs open discussion and attack;
he most important good of today is
action for social betterment."
The club has placed woman in an
'ntirely new relation such as society II
las never before provided for her, and
hrs. Gilman thinks that the church
'ught to recognize the value of this
citation and encourage rather than dis
courage the club for what it has Gre
ted. She writes:
"a new, conscience is developed in l
;lub work. a new set of virtues, and
hese qualities are precisely those
needed to live most usefully in the Il
world
The woman at home has husband
o rule over her, or, as sometimes hap
'ens, for her to rule; she has children
10 equals no fellow laborers in the
anne field. When she does nlingle
With her kind in visits or entertain
nents, she is giver or receiver-hos-
ess or guest-but not on an equal
,asis.
I'm the club, for the first time in her
life, she finds herself simply a human
icing among others, united for some
COMMON purpose, and measured only
" personal quality. She is not daugh-
err. sister. sweetheart. wife, mother,
-unt. or grandmother She is Mary
Zones. and is liked or disliked for quail
ties. hitherto uncalled for, quail
A. = a.