Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-18
AMERICA FOSTERS
MANY RELIGIONS
United States Shelters Thou
sands Teaching So-CaIIed
Heather Beliefs
200 CHRISTIAN SECTS- IN U. S.
Or. Bliss Complies Volume Giving
History of Country's Re-
IigiouS Bodies

under its tolerant and ample folds
thousands of representatives of a num-
Der of the so-called heather beliefs,
in addition to more than 200 various
sects of Christianity according to
census bureau statistics dealing with
the religious life of the country Among
the former are Buddhists, Confucian-
lists and Bahaists, who are engaged in
an organized way in the spread of
their doctrines in this country
The data forming the basis of the
volume in qnuestion were gathered in
1906. 1t is now in proof, but there is
no assurance as to when it will be
given to the public. In addition to
statistics of the various denominations,
the work will present a brief history
of each, also the pertinent facts re-
garding their doctrine and policy. The
compilation is the work of DR.. T. c.
Bliss.
Up to the time of the investigation
there had been no effort to effect any
organization for the promotion of Con-
fucianism, but the text tells Of So
ciety Of the Chinese sage's followers
which was organized in New York city
in 1907 among the Monaghan students
in Columbia university. Contendtng
that Buddhism is only a system of
ethics, they undertook to demonstrate
that Confucianism was a real religion
and so regular system Of services
was established by well-deflned or
ganization.
TEACH BUDDHISM
The organized followers of Buddhism
are Chinese and japanese. Ihelr
churches, known officially as temples"
by the irreverent are referred to as
Joss houses. There are slXty-two
Chinese and twelve Japanese temples
in this country, the former being dis
tributed over twelve, the latter over
than half of the Chinese houses. About
three states. California shelters all
but three of the japanese ana more
forty which went down under the san
Francisco cataclysm had remained in
ruins to the time of the enumeration.
New York boosted fifteen of the Chi
nese temples, the remainder being scat
tered over ten states, mostly in the
west, The Chinese Buddhists have
only one priest IN this country and
conduct no recognized system of Wor-
ship. There is no record of MEMBER
ship; they have no sermon, keep no
and have no religious service.
The only use for their temples are as
places at which individual devotees
may consult their patron saints. Three
deities are recognized in the American
temples. The God Kuan, a mighty
duke of the ancient Han dynasty; the
Goddess of Fortune and the Goddess OF
Mercy.
The American Japanese Buddhists
are of the progressive Shin Shiu sect,
which is missionary in character. Iney
discard the ascetic practices OF the
more austere Buddhists of Asia, allow
the priests to marry ana nave no pan
on meat or 9th food. The societies
are well organized, each having a
priest. General headquarters are in
San Francisco, and they have both
and schools devoted to the
of the faith. In 1906 their
in this country was 1887,
of which 778 were females.
There is no Shintoism, an explana-
ton of which is found in the fact that
this religion attaches Itself too closely
to the person of the japanese en-
peror.
EAST GAINS CONVERTS
In a way the Hindu religion is rep
resented by the Vedanta society with
in New York, Pittsburg,
san Francisco and Los Angeles. 1t
was organized by some Hindu teach-
ers who came here in 1893 to the
worlds fair. IT. name from an an
Client Hindu philosophy meaning the
end of all wisdom" 1t is non-sectar-
ian. seeking to harmonic all religious
systems. Oriental PHILOSOPHERS as
taught by the Theosophists have four
bodies with 1886 members in the United
States.
While Bahaism, strictly speaking. is
a nom Christian and foreign, its fol-
lowers are native and not necessarily
I'M Christian. This is comparatively
new sect, growing out of the teach
incs of a Persian leader of the middle
of the last century named All MO
manned. He claimed to be the fore
runner "of him HON God would man
fest" and called himself BAD, or
'the gate" Later came BAHIA Una,
who claimed to be the one whose com
ing had been foretold, and from MN
the real name of the body is derived.
In 1906 he had 1880 followers in the
United States, who worshiped III
twenty-four places through fourteen
states. They teach tolerance, love-
charity and regard all religions as dl-
vine. Hence, they profess not 20 IN
terfere with the ordinary doctrinal be-
liefs of their members.
Another church of Asiatic origin, but
still Christian, is the Armenian, which
has seventy-three organizations in TINS
country, most of them in the eastern
states. twenty-nine in Massachusetts
ally Armenians, many of whom lied TO
this country to escape persecution
Thea eastern orthodox church, or
Greek church, has 1905 commune
cants. This is the state church of Rus
sia and Greece. OF the All churches
here ffty-nine represent the former
There also are SerVlan
and Syrian branches. The Greeks have
334 organizations throughout the coun-
try, with New York, Illinois and Mas
sachusetts leading. The Greek mem
oership is 90751. Twenty-Five of the
6fty-nine Russian churches are in
The volume also will tell of the vari-
ous Christian sects which are con-
sidered more purely American, and Will
show the various branches thereon IL
will show that while there are only
Ifty-seven main bodies there are 2l5
church organizations, many of them
protesting a faith only a shade dlr-
'erent from others. For instance, there
ire seventeen Baptist bodies, twenty
'our Lutheran, fifteen Methodist and
.Welve Presbyterian. The same is true
IF less known organizations. There are
fifteen Mennonite, seven Adventists, |
our bunker or Dunkard and four |
Quaker or Friend bodies.
ARNIENIANs STRONG
There appears no division in either |
he Roman Catholic or Protestant Epis- |
opal church, although it is shown that |
Efforts to modify their creeds have re-
suited in the establishment of indepen- |
lent bodies. They are designated as
he Reformed Catholic and the Re-