The Washington herald., 1911-02-05
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Jew. and American Christianity.
ism writes more incisively on current
movements in the world of the churches
than Howard A. Bridgrnan, managing
editor of the Congregationalist. of Boston.
He concludes a discerning Interpretation
of the recent gathering Of leaders Of the
liberal wing of the American Hebrews in
New York with these words:
when we think of the future of the
Jews, We must remember change
among them ALMOST as profound as their
abandonment of the sacrificial system.
We speak of the Jewish race, but Prof.
Fishberg has shown in his recent study
that the unity of the Jews racially can
no more be asserted than the uniformity
of their religious history. They were
once active in making converts. but now
are SO no more. Yet proselytism has left
its ineffaceable mark upon them. The
Jews everywhere conform in physical
type and cranial measurements to the
people among whom they reside. They
are blonds in the North. blacks in
AbysSinia and India, Chinese in China
The very facial expression which We rec
ognize as theirs is the product of segre-
cation and the ghetto life.
THE liberal Jews of the United States
have come long way to meet our mod
ern life They are enthusiastic citizens,
having no other dream of nationality
than ours, and proud and glad that New
York is the chief Jewish city of the
world We do not expect them to become
Christians by wholesale, though many of
them have come into the churches. and
some of the most honored names in the
ology, church history, the pastorate, and
the sciences are the names of Christians
of Jewish BIRTH
Women Celebrate Fifty Years.
Washington has celebrated the women s
Jubilee of missionary work, and has so
forged one more link in the chain Of
meetings being held throughout the coun-
try in celebration of fifty years of Or
Eanized work by women for foreign mis-
sions. For the last two or three months
the distant and Middle West has been the
scene Of operations. During February
and March leading cities in the East and
South will be given a chance to take the
measure of the remarkable unity and
defniteness of purpose behind this un-
dertaking. 1t represents in the field of
women'S work the same enthusiasm
which has been finding expression in the
Laymen's Missionary Movement.
Thus far, the appeal has been particu-
1arly successful in reaching not only
women already informed and active, but
many who have hitherto known little and
cared less for such things. The audiences
have generally filled large churches or
halls. and from 500 to 1,5OO women in city
AFTER city have paid for the privilege of
attending the luncheonS. Drawing-room
meetings have also been a telling factor.
and the mission study class has been en-
phasized anew, leading to the formation
of many new circles in churches, Sunday
schools, and homes. Stress has been put
upon the comparatively small number of
women enlisted in missionary work, and
the corresponding obligation of increas-
ing, particularly from circles of infiuen-
tial society and club women, the number
of those who will find in the missionary
movement at home and abroad an oppor-
1unity to enlist their peculiar talents.
ReorEa MIXING Boy Scouts.
The White House at Washington is to
have a conference on St. Valentines Day.
1t is a meeting of the leaders in the
Boy Scouts of America, called the execu-
tive board, but some members of the
national council of the scouts will at
tend. President Taft is the honorary
president of the organization, and he will
make the formal address at this White
House gathering. 1t is stated that the
venture, headed for a time by Mr.. Will
lam R. Hearst, and bearing a slightly
different name, has been absorbed and
merged in the larger one and that some
OF the members of the smaller have en-
tered the management of the larger.
A new general secretary for the Scouts,
James E. West of this city. an attorney
v1d fnr1 ,Ssplr- hnc a ~ y,lo
ment in Washington. has entered upon
his duties. His headquarters are SOL
Fifth avenue, New York City. Co-operat-
ing with the new movement are not a
few interests already strong, among them
the Young Mems Christian Association,
some brotherhoodS, and similar bodies in
the churches. At the same time the
Scouts art not religious in their aims,
save as social service, manliness, doing
for others. and a healthful growth of
boy nature is religious. The Scout idea
comes from England and is growing rap
idly in this country. Potentially, it is a
fine idea. Actually, it will require all
the skill. patience, and devotion of men
of every faith and vow, to make it go as
1t ought to go in America.
New Interest Everywhere.
Laymen in missions abroad and religion |
at home will, apparently, lead this year |
Laymen are not coming forward in criti- !
Cism of clergymen. but solely to help |
them. The new interest is not Protest
ant, not Roman Catholic, but general. |
taking different forms in the |
respective bodies. To this end institutes
will be held in many cities. From now |
until September preparations will be |
made for a religion campaign.
Behind it are the Young Mems Christian |
Associations and the brotherhoods. These /
orotherhoods started with one named for |
st. Andrew, in the Episcopal Church, but |
have now extended to almost all Prot
,stant bodies. The real campaign begins
n September and continues until May of |
next year. Up-to-date methods are to be
employed. yet it is pledged that they will
De dignified.
In both missionary and spiritual cam
laigns speakers are formed into faculties,
Experts covering different lines, and
ravel is from city to city, with no time
,r money lost in transportation. Finan-
,ial affairs connected with these modern
campaigns are conducted after the most
approved manner.
Girard Barred Religious QuarreIs.
South of the built-up portion of Phila-
lelphia, between the Delaware and
'chuylkill rivers, the Girard estate, which
till manages intact the property which
stephen Girard, the Philadelphia mer-
hant and philanthropist, left, owns
ract of $50 acres of land This
rae. is now being covered by the estate
With small houses, to contain all possible