Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1911-07-04
ECCLESIASTICAL EVOLUTION

they do. although all men have bee
called to witness. from time 10 time
and now see in Texas, large number
OF the clergy in the very center of IN.
stage In the matter of secular and DC
litical affairs. But, while not fully in
formed or making any claim to exac
knowledge of the details and basi,
principles of religious controversies
these same plain men of the worl,
can not fail to note phenomenon il
eeclesiastic evolution that during tht
past few decades has appeared so fire.
quently that il has almost ceased ia
be either strange or startling.
This is the wide and increasing di
Yergence between the religious spirit
of the times and the infiexibIe and
austere orthodox theology of the past.
'Seventy-five or even fifty years ago
in this country the indulgence In re-
lilgous or UNCONVENTIONAL polemics
was very largely in evidence. Then a
debate. lasting several days, on GER
tain doctrinal points and practices
would attract and hold large assem-
Dlles OF the people, each side enthusi-
astic in the hope and belief that its
champion of the cloth and creed would
utterly demoralize and defeat the op-
position.
Today. If the people could be
brought together for such discussion
at all, brass band, barbecned din
ner or flourishing of prohibition ban.
ners near by would soon leave few per-
sons in the polemical arena except
the debaters, the moderator and the
arrangement committee.
Again, trials of ministers for heresy
We're once very high. solemn and i'm
pressive occasions. Conviction and de-
priyation OF ecclesiastic rights and
prestige practically spelt disgrace and
ruin for the accused preacher. But
during the last quarter of a century
such trials and probes of the offend
ing clergy have become SO common
that their serious import has very
largely disappeared, at least to out
siders, and we believe, to the majority
of church people also. In fact,
heresy trial now in some cases ap-
pears almost joke.
A contest between the liberals and
the strict adherents of the older
schools of religious thought is treated
by the public press in much the same
style and spirit that obtains in report
ing clash in politics between the
.progressives ard the standpatters, the
radicals and conservatives. the Roose-
velts and the constitutionalists, so to
speak.
Without mentioning any particular
church. occasion or individual in this
connection. the reading public knows
that these observations are substan-
TALLY correct
What is the cause of such wide
spread and radical change of attitude
on the part of the general public to-
ward religious bodies and theological
propaganda?
Is II because so many preachers
have largely turned the pulpit into
political rostrum that the press and
the public have come to regard relig-
ious discussions and political discus
sions as much the same thing-mere
disputations over differences of
thought and opinion among the
people?
Or is it that the older creeds and
forms are giving way and disintegrat-
ing under the irresistible pressure of
the changed social and civic condi-
tons of contemporary life, as T. R. /
and other new nationalists' claim the |
century-old basic laws of the republic |
must change or pass out before the
demands of the permanent popular
win?
We don't pretend to say, not being |
an authority on either theology, doc I
trinc. discipline or religious move i
ments; but in present conditions and /
and in the changed and diff
ferent public attitude toward the
churches, there seems to be a prob
lem, and a vital one, for the directing /
of religious thought in this I
to work out.
The question seems to be: Shall the
preachers who are boldly leading the
church into various kinds of liberal j
SIN and into continual and active par
.icipation in politics, be checked and
,et back; or shall their tribue increase
Ind the religious organizations follow
hem along the road that seems logic
lily tending toward union of church
md state-or as near that as may be
n republic such as ours?
1t is not a question anyone need get
nad about, but surely one that is
either impertinent nor without
rounds and reasons for asking
'urrent Issue.
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