Evening star., 1918-08-11
CLERGY AND LEADERSHIP.
Reasons Given for Failure to Com.
mand Recognition.
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
In a recent issue of The Star is an
article by the Rev. DIR. C. Ernest
Smith on the American attitude to-
ward the clergy. The gist of this ar
ticle is that in the leadership of pres
ent day progressive movements the
clergy is ignored.
ThatN is unquestionably true in
large measure. Why? Because the
clergy has not qualified for leader
ship in modern America.
The clergy is living in an age that
Is dead. The besetting sin of the
clergy is persistence in the use of
stagecoach methods in the day of
automobiles. and persistence in rela-
tions that new conditions have made
useless and immoral
The methods of the clergy and its
ministry are practically the same as
at the time of the German reforma-
tion. Then most of the people could
not read and few could understand
ingly read the Scriptures. They felt
! an absolute dependence upon the
church.
The clergy was the most intelligent
class in society. The people were de-
pendent upon the clergy for instruc-
ton, for prayer. for the sacraments
and even for the reading of the
Scriptures
The clergy today persist in the use
of methods that were adapted to that
period Immediately following the
reformation. In the church the NM
istry of the clergy is to pray, to
teach Scripture and administer the
sacraments. In the home the minis
| ter persists in reading Scripture and
praying. and he does little else. But
fn1 dow a
can interpret the Scriptures for him.
self. everybody can pray when occa-
sion demands.
|. In scholarship and teaching the
clergy has fallen from the place of
supremacy that once belonged to
by every high school student in
America But this is not the worst
offense.
The clergy is being put on the de-
fensive more and more in other re-
spects. This profession has failed in
the leadership of movements. What
clergymen in America today are the
leaders in movements of national
scope for the conservation of human
life?
The chief business of all the
churches should be the conservation
dares to take the leadership of any
great philanthropic movement he is
discredited by his profession and
often has to retire from the ministry
to do his work.
The clergy have failed to properly
use the trust funds placed in their
hands. Billions of dollars are tied
| up in church property in this coun-
try. and used about one-twentieth of
the time. No other business or pro-
fession could use its capital and
property. so little without going
bankrupt in month.
Some of the finest property in
Washington is idle except for a few
hours a week. OF all buildings in the
city, the churches should be used
most. But these buildings cannot be
| used as they now stand except for
Worship and supday school and like
Singing. praying and preaching are
| important, but they are not the most
| important work of the church. These
/ are preliminary and preparatory to
the real work of the church. If a
soldier insists that jhis duty ended
| with eating. sleeping and drilling, he
| would hardly become an officer.
| l heard minister say Sunday that
| the Y. NJ. c. A. and the Y w. c. A.
and the Red Cross were simply the
church at work. That is not correct
| These agencies are Christianity at
| work. but not the church. The public
b
| for failing to lead the church into
these forms of conserving life.
! There are many thousand of clergy
| men who are not of the type 1 have
| commented upon. and their number
| is increasing. They are the men who
/ have come to hate false clothes, false
| tones and false attitudes; they are
| the men who refuse longer to stultify
! themselves by conformity to customs
| that simply please an ecclesiastical
autocracy: they are. the men of all
faiths who are going over the top of
denominational trenches to destroy
| the enemies of humanity such as il
literacy. injustice, immortality, crime
| and disease.
They are the men who are thinking
| in universal world terms and the
| needs of humanity everywhere Many
of them are in the Y. NJ. c. A and
Red Cross and armies and some of
| them. like one of their greatest lead
ers, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. are work
! ing in shipyards where their pres
ence, close to the heart of labor,
counts most. ]. E. McCULLOCH.