The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-10-13
The Woman Who
Went to Church
(The Outlook.)

The Ladies' Home Journal recently
sent a woman on an experimental toul
through the metropolitan churches
Her reception varied from warmth tC
frigidity. The inference naturally to
be drawn from the record of her ex-
perience is that the, churches which
received this woman coldly were
blameworthy, and that those which re-
ceived her warmly were praisewortny
| Such an inference is based on the no.
ton that one who goes to a church
service to worship has the right to
think of her personal treatment.
The conception of the church SER
vice as an occasion for promoting the
interchange of social courtesies among
it's members and for extending social
courtesies to others places on a low
| level, if it does not altogether destroy,
the motive of church attendance. It
| is based on the conception of the
church as club. 1t assumes that the
church is owned by its members, that
those who attend its services do so
upon sufferance, and that it is there
fore the business of the members of
the church to make any stranger who
enters it's walls for worship feel like
an honored guest.
1t is the weakness of American
Professionalism that this club concep-
ton prevails among the Protestant
churches of this country. No one would
think of attempting to take the social
temperature of Roman Catholic
churches by applying to them a jour
nalistic thermometer. In a Roman
Catholic church no woman would ex-
pect personal attention unless she had
made her wants known to the priest
or to some one who could take her
case to the priest. To the credit of
Roman Catholics be it said that they
attend church services for the purpose
of worshiping God. They do not expect
to receive a welcome in church, any
more than the user of a public library
expects a welcome when he sits down
to read. The real test for the social
value of a church would be the ex-
perience Of a newcomer who, desiring
really to participate in the life of the
church, made his presence known as
one who had a right to share the re-
ligious institutions of the community.
But this test is not here under con-
The experiment of this Journals rep
resentative cannot be accepted too
seriously. If she had gone to church
to hear the truth, or so much of the
truth as the preacher might give her,
if she had gone to worship God, she
would not have been greatly concern
ed whether she was warmly or coldly
received. She did not go to listen or
to worship. She went to see whether
people would pay any attention to her
old clothes. AS a test for the true
character of the churches she visited,
We do not see that her purpose was
valid. Indeed, would not most respect /
able poor people spurn as an intrusion
and an impertinence any action based |
on the assumption that they go to |
church for the purpose of securing at |
tention? Is it proven, indeed, by this |
test that any poor woman who should |
go to any of these churches to ask |
plainly for assistance would not re- |
ceive it? Nevertheless, the experiment !
is not without its value.
1t reduces, in the first place the club !
of a church to an absurd |
ity. 1t shows that in the city, at least, |
few large churches can conform to this
consistently. In other |
words, it indicates that, however
stanchIy Protestant Christians may /
maintain their church privileges as
though they were the privileges of a
club. they are forced by modern con-
1itions to forego their duties as dis
Densers of church hospitality. This ex-
pertinent, in the second place. helps to
emphasize, by contrast, the conception
Of a church as a community institu-
ton. 1t shows not only where the
present weakness of Protestant church.
IS lies, but also the direction in which
hey must move if they would indeed
become the churches of the people.
Professionalism has weakened itself
oy casting away the dignity of the
Church; it has weakened itself by bid
ling for patronage. All sorts of people
criticize it on this its own assumed
position. If the churches will but say
boldly and frankly, Those who enter
lere for worship need expect no social
attentions, for this is the place where
nan draws near to God and God draws
lear to man, more would attend
hurches than now. Avowedly based |
IN democracy the Protestant church
inds its principal weakness in its lack
# democracy. The assumption that a
'isitor to a church desires attention
$ an assumption that places the Wis