Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1918-03-06
"DENOM|NAT|ONAu|SM
IS DECAOENT' ..SAYS
JOHN ANSON FORD

The fires of war are purging our
spiritual as well as our economic and
political life of dross, says John A.
Ford. Creatures of convention, we
cling to old forms of religious effort,
while realizing more and more clear
ly that permeating the soul of the
churched and the unchurched are I'M
satisfied spiritual longings. None can
forsee all the changes that the war
will bring in organized religious life,
but every man with religious in
stincts can see, if he will, that the ma
tons religious agencies and leader
ship have fallen short of their great
est opportunity, have failed to keep
step with the times.
Without question the world does
not possess a nobler body of Christian
souls than are numbered in the
churches of America. But there are
unmistakable signs within and with
out the formal boundaries of this
splendid company that the organized
methods of ministering in the name
of Christianity are so inadequate that
it amounts almost to a great spiritual
tragedy for the nation. In the CO.
ordination of industry, the elimina--
ton of duplicate in commerce, the
CCiII dllLdllOik VI tilOIt III kONtIH-
ment, there is, most assuredly, a les
son for the churches of America.
Denominationalism is decadent.
Evangelicalism divided against itself
cannot stand. The coming year must
witness speedy evolution in matters
of church organization, or the ma
tons spiritual life will suffer inn
measurably. No doubt as between
Professionalism and Catholicism there
are elemental differences which JUS
tify the existence of both and bespeak
mutual Christian tolerance. But for
the multiplicity of divisions in the
former there remains scant justifica-
ton. AS a prominent divine in the
current Atlantic Monthly. has pointed
out in an indignant protest against
the shortsightedness of churches,
there are nearly 200 different Protest
ant denominations in America!
Who can measure the waste in
spiritual ministration due to such
duplication of effort? What logic can
succeed in SO emphasizing subordin-
ate matters of doctrine and organiza-
ton as to justify the harm that re-
suits to the great central cause?
]. And America is entering upon a
period in its national development
when to neglect its greatest spiritual
good would be tragedy indeed. Eng
land in the throes of war and in a
bereavement that is almost universal,
has, to an astonishing degree, turned
from its churches to Spiritualism in
a manner that is fantastic, not to say
pathetic. Are we to witness similar
spectacle in the coming months?
Blind ourselves to it as we may, we
are passing through an evolution that
is political and social as well as
spiritual. The masses are clamoring
for-and obtaining-powers which,
in our so-called democracy of the
past, were exercised by the middle
class, under the shadow and tutelage
of an increasing powerful upper class.
This new and just redistribution of
power must be accompanied by lift
ing of all the levels of our moral life
or America will be imperiled. And
yet, in what pitifully small degree
are the morals of every American
community, industrial, agricultural,
or wealthy, ministered to by the
churches today?
Surely there is need for great vi
sion in the Churches vision that
will see beyond UNCONVENTIONAL fences
and sectarian bars, a vision which will
see Americas imminent spiritual need
because of the trials of war and the
changes that must come after the war.