The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-23
Newspapers and Relation.

dent is away on his vacation. The
decadence of the Christian religion
| is one of these subjects. Often it is
taken up from i'll will and often sim
cerely, but always with blindness as
to the facts. 1t is true that there
does not a day pass in which either
the cornerstone is laid for a new
church or the finishing touches put
on one.
The charge that thoughtful men
are losing interest in the church is
not true for wherever a pulpit is oc-
cupied by man who has a living
message TO deliver he does not lack
for listeners. The newspapers really
interest themselves in religious mat
! tiers for not a week passes that the
leading papers of the country do not
have editorials on religious subjects
Burlington Free Press.
DR.. Buckham's attitude is the usual
attitude of the scholarly recluse
whose habits of thought, life and in
clination lead him away from the
wider activities of life. Disagreeing
with what the newspapers say, these
very fine but misguided old gentle
men promptly come to the rostrum
with some such utterly unjust and
unfounded generalization as that
which states that newspapers refer
to religious subjects always with
blindness as to the facts"
The Herald has not made can
yass, but will state offhand that a
very large majority of the editors of
Vermont newspapers are church
members, many of them officers, pro-
badly all of them in close and con
slant touch with the spirit of church
work. The presumption that they
are deliberately blind to religious
conditions is therefore unreasonable,
to begin with, while their first-hand
knowledge of the church-world on
one hand and the world of politics
and business on the other makes
them peculiarly fitted to form correct
and just opinions.
DR.. Buckham finds in his quiet,
studious circle of friendships and OBJ
seryations sincere and profound
interest in religious matters. The
editor in the wider and more active
circle finds a very large proportion
of men absolutely Indifferent to the
conventional church. He finds a
very large number who support the
church by reason of family and tradi-
ton, but who frankly doubt its value
and fail to Justify its existence as
serious factor of the communities
needs. He finds perhaps fewer men
who are frankly in advance of aver
age church thought and find them
selves bored and irritated by the the
illogical absurdities which the old
style minister still exploits.
The average editor, by training
and direct knowledge of living condi-
tions is perhaps better fitted to
preach than the average minister.
He lacks the training; that's all
The learned president of Vermont's
state college says that a man with a
message can always fill his church
That is true, but it applies equally to
Phillips Brooks and Robert G.. Inger-
sell. 1t is just as true of Gilbert Hub
bard as il is of DR.. Albertson. w
j. Bryan draws as well as DR. Clark
More audience is no argument. nor
does the Herald propose a serious
controversy.
In the same pile of mail on the
Heralds desk with DR.. Buckham's re-
ported speech was the following. de
liyered last night by w II. Jordan,
director of the New York agricultur
al experiment station at Geneva. He
said:
Since 1880. three hundred and eigh-
teen strictly rural churches have de-
creased over 1000 in membership. In
1850 only about one-third of them
had settled pastors and one-sixth
had no pastoral care of any kind.
Now ffty-one are dead and ffty-two
more are vacant, and no great i'm
proyement in pastoral care is seen
The country church has largely ceas-
I'd TO be center of social activity and
he guide to determinative thinking.
IN many places in New York no re-
Iigious organization Of any kind holds
, place of real influence in the life
and thought~of the people.
The country church has suffered
from the agriculture depression in
the Eastern states caused by the
rapid extension of western produc
ton and the effect of labor saving
machinery in breaking up home and
village industries Through agricul-
tural colleges. experiment stations
and popular educational efforts agri-
culture is becoming more rational
and the material interests of the
eastern farmer are proving up grade.
II is doubtful if the same can be said
of his social and religious interests.
IN many cases larger agriculture pro
fits are not being used to improve the
quality of human living
The country church should be
prominent factor in developing high
type Countrywide institutions. To
this end its efforts should not be so
much extended as redirected. The
rural church should be social ser
vice church and federate itself with
all other agencies looking 20 com
munity betterment. The local
churches of small communities
should federate their efforts. 1t is a
shame if denominational difference
prevent such churches merging their
love to God and man in a united
Christian service. In its Technology
and expression of religious truth the |
country pulpit should be adjusted to
the spirit and conditions of modern |
thought
The rural people, like most Others |
are not satisfied with traditional |
faith for the day of science in their
vocation has given them point of |
view which they are not inclined to |
forsake on Sunday The country pull |
pit should also be adjusted to its |
whose thought and in |
terest have range and> character of |
their own. New economic and social |
forces now react upon religious work |