The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1908-03-06
WE'RE DO THEY GO?
QUESTION c. INTEREST TO
CHURCH PEOPLE.
Nonattendant at Religious Services,
Converted in Boyhood, Makes a
Frank Confession That Is
Worthy of Attention.

A recent number of the American
Magazine takes up the subject of Re
Iigion Inside the Church and Out" In
the course of the article, which is a
defense of the church, the following
confession of a young Chicago non
churchgoer is published:
Your story of The Rev. Billy Sun
day and His War on the Devil in the
American Magazine refreshed the
memory of my own conversion back in
1888 under the preaching of another
great r~evivalist. l was II years old at
the time.
Il had been making trouble in school
when the meetings began. My people
were worried about me. The revival
list offered a way to reform. So | was
urged to attend the meetings. OF
course, l heard a great deal about hell
were being converted. There was
great excitement. l was pushed and
pulled. Finally, / surrendered, al
though / was not conscious of any
thing but a desire to please my par
ents, to avoid future punishment and
to effect the necessary reform in my
conduct at school,.
The next step vas joining the
church. That was easy. All l had to
do was to go through the ordeal of q
meeting with the church committee.
composed chiefly of respected old men
in the town whose confidence l was
glad to have.
Il enjoyed the experience Of being
a f~ull-fledged Christian for a long time.
My father and mother were pleased
beyond expression, and for years l
think that l was a better boy-that is,
more restrained in my behavior in
school, perhaps. l cannot recall any
other definite manifestation of con-
version l continued to go to Sunday
school and to church twice Sunday. 1
had become a habitual church-goer.
"By the time l was Is or 10 l began
to grow sick of it all. l began to see
that l had no genuine interest in the
church. / was not going to the bad,
either. Far from it! My conviction
that decency makes for happiness was
taking deep root. l intended to be a
good man, and l began to want to
work it out in my wv way. felt
that l was just about to begin my seri-
GUS life, and-do you want it straight
from the shoulder?II felt that l
wanted to begin outside the church.
l don't know why. l am not arguing
this thing or trying to prove anything.
l am just trying to tell you.
Every soon-I was 81, I think-I
left the little town where my father
and mother brought me up and came
to Chicago to live. That was nine
years ago. And-shall l tell you? 1
have never been inside a church more
than a dozen times since.
"Now l don't want you to interpret
this as a criticism of the church. Do
you think l would rebuke the institu-
ton which has given my good father
and mother that peace which is my
happy assurance of their future we'll
being? Neither do / find fault with the
Rev. Billy Sunday. Not one out of
100000 whom he has converted may
turn out the way I have. He may not
try to convert children, either. / don't
know about that. I think that that
makes very little difference, however.
Many people are children, nc matter
how old they are. All l know is that
ever since / can remember the church
es have been rushing names onto their
membership rolls. And yet the cry is
that the churches are falling off in
numbers. Where do they all go?"