The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-11-14
The Rev. Harvey Dee BroWn An
nounces Cause of Withdrawal
From Baptist Ministry
is A CONVERT TO SOCIALISM
Will Give Up His Time to Working
Along the Lines of Christian So
cia1ism, But Has No Fixed
Program for the Future

| The Rev. Harvey Dee Brown, Phi
D., for the past three years pastor OF
! the First Baptist church, and man
widely known among Baptist minis.
tiers in this and other states, IN his
pulpit on Sunday announced that he
had become a convert to Socialism
and that ia consideration of his new
beliefs he had deemed it necessary
for him to sever his connection with
the ministry of the church which he
had served for the past fifteen years,
leaving the pastorate of the church on
Nov. "a.
DR.. Brown gave a most remarka BILE
statement in which he arraigned the
church for its inactivity in teaching
the Christ life among the 1aboring
people of the world, and declared that
to him George d. Heron was man Of
divine inspiration. DR.. Brown, since
coming to Kenosha, has been close
student of Socialism, and his CONVEX
sion to it's tenets had been known to
his friends for some time. The fact
did not become publicly known, how
ever, until he resigned his position as
pastor of the church.
In formally severing his connection
with the Baptist ministry DR.. Brown
said in part: '"The reason why the
church has lost power to help and in
spire the masses of people is that it
has never mastered the principles of
economic justice and undertaken the
esta b1ishment of that justice IN life.
When conventional Christianity
does undertake to deal with the econo-
mic life Of men it does so from point
of view which is unethical and un-
christian not to say atheistic. 1t
speaks from point of view of be-
lief in justifab1e individual selfish
ness, a justifable control of one man
by another through onon1ic power,
justifiable surfeit of plenty on the
part of few and of poverty and need
on the part of many, a justifable TAX
ing from labor of as large share Of
its, product as economic power can
grasp, justifable progress based up
on the destruction of human life, up
on child labor, and commercial wars,
iustifable subordination of the
spiritual to the material-in short it
speaks as believing ia justifiable So
cial denial of what Jesus taught In
the sermon on the Mount and reversal
of one of the ruling principles of his
1ife-the love of neighbor as ones
self
"The formal religious teachings Of
today assume that these vast social
sins and crimes are justifiable and
tries to work within the limits of such
a world view to save individual souls.
This world view is, it is true, common
to the life and mind of today and
there may have been a time when the
principles of physical individual in
which are relied upon for this justifi.
cation had relative value. But in
view of the knowledge and material
and spiritual resources, of life today
and of the new world of the indepen-
dence of mankind, such mental at
|
trying to serve humanity without
questioning it, in pretending to repre-.
sent Jesus without condemning it, is
becoming useless and is putting dark
ness in the place of light even tc
those whom it seems to serve. Ir
following the evil mind it has lost the
Christ mind and become servant Of
the ruling economic powers"
'The working class, which has its
destiny wrapped up in the coming OF
new economic order as it begins te
understand and feel the principles OF
economic justice and the power Of
associated effort, becomes Indifferent
to Christianity because its new co
operative mind condemning what the
church tries to justify is in antagon
ism to the very assumption uhde1
which religion is trying to work. L
( is not lack of, nor hostility to re
ligion itself the real religion o.
Jesus spirit and consciousness
which is turning the working elias.
from the church. 1t is the old an(
morally outgrown 1ndividualisti'
world assumptions under which tht
church without realizing its blindnes:
is seeking 20 teach religion. Let he.
teach the spirit and heroism and love
of Jesus under the new world con
ceptions of the socialist mind of tn.
working class and her power will re
turn. Let her master the just prin
ciples Of the distribution of wealth
which would base reward upon serv
ice rendered, not upon strife and Gun
ming and accidents of ownership
which would treat wealth as servan
of the race and not as a center of rul'
over mankind; which recognizes ant
\ trusts the common will of man as tn,
will of God and the progress of hu
manity as the glad becoming of God
rather than bows to the divine RICH
of men of money, which would ex
press mans faith in an activity towarC
new and human order instead O
dreams of an after death heaven il
short let her teach the spirit of Jesu
under the universal assumptions o
the waking mind of the worlds work
mo nP0u1a instead IF those 0f th,