The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-06-28
WHY Don't Men Go to Church,

Tho London production OF Mr.: Fang
| wells play, THE Next Rel1giob'.
which has been refused a license py
the censor Of plays. coincided Win ule
ldawning realization of the run Ho'
ror OF the Titanic disaster ana Puol'e
ttention was distracted from giving
due consideration to one OF TIE most
remarkable dramas which has ever
been put on the stage.
| This play deals drastically with the
question which is ever and anon raised
by newspapers. why do not men
20 TO church, or why are the
churches empty on Sunday rms
question meets one everywhere at tiie
present time In the country as well as
| in town. some OF the clergy are sem
sible enough to raise it no longer
II people will not go to church they
carry whar IL best In the church ~
peoples homes and into their lves.
| TIL, deans and canons Of cathsd rais
seldc m have to ASK 1t, Tor the:c ~
rtal about most cathed.a's -thelr
arcf itecture, embodied history, organ
ami choir. which never fail 10 a. 70
tract good congregation u week :
| day and Sunday services alike, whetn-
| err tLose who come apprecE1ts cf E"t
the fact that the words OF many CT
thu hymns and some of the anthems
are rubbish--useless. meaningless dog
gerel, and that a good deal OF the
| Liturgy. like thar absurd political
! tract the Thirty nine articles is mueh
too plainly dated sixteenth century A.
| {, or 900 -C-,-.nd- has -Attt--to
~ with the complex problslss Of our
modern life.
But the, tteifiseftt At. II worked
nan or woman viii. not-X voluntarily
give up two hours of their previous
| rest-day to a religious service SD long
as their twentieth century minds are
to be schooIed by the narrow theology
! Of sixth or sixteenth century divines.
and while The average clergyman OF
the average church never draws his
text and his subject from any other
source but tae Old Testament or the
| New Testament. These after all,
though their language in some places
| is Of irnperishable beauty, and OF ViFid
! truth, as Zangwelrs play brings out
so reverenrly and convin dngly--are
only two amongst the many Bibles
now in the possession OF the reading
world, while none Of these Bibles sphu
etit of men t1efrds and ser down I'M
perfectly i'm letter on parchment or
payr4s, on palm leaves or clay tablets,
the biade-bones OF camels or the bark
OF beech or birch are in any wise COM
parable in interest, majesty of import
anee to the new Bible, the story Of the
earth itself. and of all mans life on
the earth from the days--nigh upon
million years ago-~~hen he definite
" emerged from the half humsn
Sinian into the perfect man.
Zangwell--his writings have raised
him above the rur of the "Misters -
has felt TO his hearts core the divorce
"a
Framed on the sixteenth and seren-
teenth centuries). and common serse;
between what is taught and enun-
ciated in the churches) often sorely
against the mental grain Of the teacher
| and prea cher). and what is taught in
the schools; and equally has realized
the need for a religion that Is TO
say for putting into some stereoryped
| form and ceremonial the emotional in
terest OF humanity in the great mys-
| terry which surrounds this tiny planet.
that mystery which Is most acurely
| presented by the dreadful fact Of
death. The play-writer holds the bal
ance curiously eVen-perhaps more in
the written and acted play than in
the authors own conception Of the
tenor and of the effect of wha. lie
has written. AT least. so II seemed TO
me after according the play a. most
I
/ feat rendered possible. nor TO say
easy by it's unfagging interest and its
vivid and unnatural dialogue.
| ! left the theatre with the convic-
| ton not only that Israel Zangwe1T il
q Christian of the most pronounced
| type Chat Is apparent when one reads
his italian fantasies" mora espec-
| tally the remarkable essay on THE
Carpenters Wife, which is the best
| life OF Christ ever written, but in
| a somewhat wagner way, a believer In
and a supporter OF the Church Of
England. He may repudiate this posi-
ton himself, but 1t is that taken M
| by one of the strongest and best
played characters in the piece, HHl
II cF'adden who asks. at any rate, for
some established expression oe rea-
gonah1e Christianity which might be
applied in the most vigorous and bene-
| ficlai manner. not to the rsorgani2a =
| ton Of hunanity--we want. and he
| seems to ask for. no revolutions. nc
| turning of society upside down so
that some class is always at the Dor
tom--but an increased permeatio1 OF
our social and political life by the
principle OF Christianity az set forth
in the direct teaching of Jesus ChrN
the greatest reiormer the world has
yet known.
Christianity az thus defined. not
Heaven forbid--the Christianity of the
fathers, OF the mira Gle ongels. the
metaphysicians. the Purttans or the
st-worshipers-in a flying in the
face OF the nature. an opposition &c
the otherwise ruthless results follow
ing the mathematical policy Of the
| survival Of the strongest. greedit st
selfshest. or most fneanly adaptable
The impartial working OF natural laws
may have created man and the night.
inEale.- but they characterised THE
development OF forms with monstrous
horns and armatures with spipes and
poison glands. or TO the red lction OF
some sense organs and the enlarge
ment and exaggeration of one or two
others: to the Complementary d~gener-
ate male or the dwarfed ani wingless
female: TO giants that become toe
cumbersome for existence and minute
forms too, puny to serve Gods pur-
pose. In short. unopposed nar,re
would seem 10 be the devil. and Chris
tianity the attempt of God to ahats
that devil and to shape tho living
forms on this planet into accord with
some wonderful schema Of pragress- n
the vivifcation Of matter.
Herein Zangweirs philosophy touche
the skirts of another unauthorized