The Washington herald., 1911-01-29
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Samuel B. Capen is a Boston business
man. For many years he has given large
: portions of his time to efforts to make
| the world better. There is no effort OF
| this sort in which he is not interested
| but he is particularly identified with for
eign missions. He is president or the
American Board. the Oldest OF American
| missionary societies.
! ''The old question Of the long ago. Am
I my brothers Keeper: observes Mr.
Capen. lis no longer heard. In its place
| is something positive and Infinitely
| higher, 1 am my brothers brother.
There is an uprising of men In the
United States and Canada for the con-
quest Of the whole world for God. There
are more virile, wide awake. determined
Christian men who are moved by this
passion for service for humanity than
ever before Men are learning to share
their gifts that they may keep them "
Church Membership Growing.
The growth of Christianity in America
!! outstrips in marked degree the growth
Of population in America, rapid as the
latter is from immigration and natural
causes. The Methodist Christian Advo-
cate. of New York. published yesterday
vas director of the governments re-
ligious census in 1890. the first one it
ever took. 1t appears that in 1880 there
were 2O591,OO0 members OF Christian
churches in America. or about one per
son III three of the population Just
twenty wears later there are :33Sco ,0O0
or one to 2O6 of the population. In
other words. Christian church member
ship has grown, during the past two
decades. a third faster than the popula-
ton has grown. And, according 10 the
same authority. the growth was greater
during the second decade. 1890 TO 1910.
than during the first, from 1880 to 1900.
II is stated that this growth is made
almost wholly by Christian bodies that
recite the historic creedS, and are what IS
called orthodox on the Bible and concern
ing the divinity of Christ EN-President
Eliot of Harvard, announced Il new re-
ligoIs creed, and his own religious body
is almost the only one. large or small
in all America. that does not grow IN
numbers. The great campaigns Tor ms
sions. for religion among men. for world
peace, for solving solutions of the work
ing man. for wipins ont tuberculosis.
and for prevention of child labor. are
gotten up and prosecuted by the old
fashioned evangelicals. There are now
in America. all names, $" br. Carr"ll
finds, l.O1S; ministers of the Christian
religion. and elS.Ii7 churches. both OF them
very largely increased since 1880, AMI
even greater increased since 1900.
Some DenominatiOnal Statistics.
In his data concerning growth last year
among various Christian bodies in Amer
lea. DR. Carroll. himself a director OF one
religious census. finds Roman Catholics
have grown 1l0n0. MethodiSts. l0S,We:
Disciples Of Christ. 5000; Baptists. S.-
90 and LutheranS. 10000. The last
named have now passed the Presbyter-
ians as 4 denomnationaI family. and
stand third. with a total membership OF
c,3Ol O0o Concerning Christian Science,
Or. Carroll Is able to give little informa-
tion. owing to the fact that the founder
of the cult forbade. in Ia1. the taking
of any c-nSus. and none has been taken
since then, when the numbers were NJ
OI0. The increase in readers Dr. Carroll
gives at 81 IN three wears just past. and
churches at SIC during the same period
Money gifts Of Christian people are
shown by the same authority to he very
large, and rapidly growing larger. Meth
odists give most in total sum. reachinS
tho enormous amount of si5 O0o.e"o a year.
Presbyterians give s27.Oaa.oOo. and Episco-
palians slS.OJ06N. Roman Catholic fig
urcS are known to be large but they are
not given. Average gifts Of Episcopalians
are most of all. having been last year
Sl9S per member: Presbyterians next.
slSS1 and MethodiStS average Sl2-3I, tn"
last named lower than some others. ow-
ing to the large number Of cnlored Meth
odists and Methodists living in rural dis
tricts The Christian Advocate, COM
rnenting upon the data, believes. it says.
that the amount of money given by
Christian people Of America is much larS-
or than the figures ii publishes indicate.
because of the vast sums not reported.
are these sums given in
Can Ministers DO IL AlOnes
In at least six cities, having small or
large organizations of ministers. infoT-
NAL efforts have been made during the
rast two or three months to formulate a
pian of union. 1t is possible such efforts
have been put forth in more than the
number of cities named. Most of the or
taking such action are COM
rosed of ministers claiming to be liberal
in their views They say they are not
liberal in their theology. but in their
for Christians of names