The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-10
BOWIE REPLIES TO
D|SSENTERS ON
EUGEN|C ISSUE
Continued From First Page)

(COntlnucQ from II IrSl faIG.)
guard marriage simply from one single,
loathsome sort Of disease. and we arc
| seeking to do that not supremely be-
cause of tho physical misery Of the
transmitted disease itsolf. but still moro
because In striking ut this disease we
are striking at the immortality which
gives 1t birth. 1t Is n moral Issue we
are fighting.
Aimed Mt Double Standard.
Lifted out Of the fogs of ignorance
and satisfied prejudice. lifted up out
of the valleys Of contented acceptance
with things as they are, and looking at
facts as they stand revealed in the in
exorable light Of truth. it seems to US
| that this Is what clear-eyed men must
see.
The double standard which. in our
own time as in all the past. has led
thousands of men and boys carelessly
into the immortality which would brand
a woman forever. is in defiance Of
Gods eternal laws Of righteousness and
purity, and some day that world-old
wrong shall be overth-own.
| The chief lair. save that OF brute
passion itself. In which this immo-
| rality couches Is ignorance. 1t Is ig-
! norance which makes unnumbered boys
| imagine that a dissolute life means
manliness. 1t Is Ignorance which makes
them go fippantly into paths which
later they will bitterly regret. They
sequences-physica as we'll as spiritual
of the immoralities they may indulge
| in.
"A man and woman come to the
| church to be married with it's bless
! ing. The man may be tainted at that
moment with some shameful disease
| the tragic results OF which he still
does not forcsee. In her sweet and
trusting innocence. the girl Is far more
| ignorant still The church blesses
that union, fraught. as It may be. with
seeds of disaster. Because OF 1t. the
| girl becomes In no long time a woman
! physically ruined and with her finest
| ideals shattered forever.
Majority for Reform.
I'm the light OF these facts, we who
consttute majority OF the Episcopal
ministers OF Richmond, together with
others Of our brethren IN the diocese,
| propose for the future to perform the
church's marriage service only when
| there is brought TO us reasonable medi-
cal assurance that the man to DO
married Is free from communicable
disease OF immoral origin.
What do we hope TO accomplish by
this attitude? Supremacy we hope and
believe shat we may nelp light the
darkness of that Ignorance In which
now immortality SO often finds It's
shelter. For time beyond measure The
church has preached purity In the alb
stract and hundreds OF men and boys
! have gone their needless ways because
the church's words rang hollow and
feeble. being unsupported by her acts.
While she preached purity, she married
| the pure and the impure by the same
| sacred service. with no determined at
tempt to discriminate between them
! The time has come for the church to
| take militant attitude so unm.stak-
h In hot to-,
| men and growing boys perceive that
| the church considers immortality and
| it's consequences SO grave and shameful
! a thing that she will not, II she knows
| il. marry those who are thus tainted.
| boys and men can themselves be no
| longer ignorant. They will be helped
| to understand the shame and peril OF
| that which they may have regarded
| fippantly
| Aim Is Educntive.
| Through everything. then, our aim
! Is educative. We believe the church
| can help the manhood Of to-day real
lie more and more how 1t may be be-
traying its highest possibilities, and.
with cowardly lack of chivalry. en-
| dangering the womanhood IT may come
| to love. We believe that we may help
fathers and mothers appreciate more
| wildly their duty TO safeguard their
| daughters against marriage with men
| who lack the chivalry TO keep their
own lives clean. and we believe that
| in the churchs requirement we put in
| to the hands OF fathers a sword for
their daughters protection. which they
can use as powerfully as they choose.
For the girls CT our congregations VINO
have no natural protectors, we believe
we can stand henceforth In larger
measure as their defenders against the
perils OF which their Innocence is un-
aware.
1T has been asked whether we serl
ously expect by this requirement to
prevent any marriages. The answer
is that we are not seeking to prevent
marriages. We are seeking to prevent
the conditions which now make too
many marriages end in tragedy. THIS,
under Cod we do hope and joyously
expect to do. We believe that in some
degree now. and in greater degree as
time goes on. the imperious truth OF
the reasons We have given for our at
titude Will work through the awaken
ed earnestness of parents and through
the answering chivalry of young men
TO shame ana brand that immortality
among men which now makes such an
attitude as ours needful thing.
Answers Objections.
"And now would turn to that pro-
nouncement in The Times-Dispatch Of
tnCSc Oh our DTelneTn WHO QlSaSTee
with us. and let 1t be seen how, in
the light of this positive ideal, their
statements fare.
1--we do not believe any body OF
clergymen have a moral right to bind
themselves by any compact or rule of
action in regard to the sacred rite OF
matrimony, which has no sanction IN
the law Of either tho church or state,
they say.
The council Of the diocese, in May
by a decisive majority of both the
clerical and lay vote. declared its be-
lief that the stand which we have
since taken is desirable for ministers
In this diocese to take. With that
vote recorded, there is no need for
church law The way is open for men
to go forward with the church's God
speed along the paths In which their
conscience bios them go.
"And. as for moral right If there