Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1921-03-21
tBy p. p. FL

| fodlciu
DO Salem pastors live as human
beings?
Yes, sir, say the local ministers
Would it be advisable, from an
economic standpoint, at least, tc
Danish from this city some of the
ecclesiastical organizations?
And do Salem pastors talk toe
much, and too loud, and is their dis
course on the wrong subjects? Are
they given to wading in sea OF
irrelevant, adjectival verbosity? Dc
they fail, on the whole, to under
stand human nature? Are they, BY
attacking card-playing, dancing
and smoking, defeating their own
ends by keeping from their ssnctu-
aries those individuals who are
wont to err--namely, the Messrs
Tom, Dick and Harry?
Problem Difficult,
Salem preachers admit there are
too many churches. They concede
| that many of the churches congre-
cations must necessarily bust them
selves, so to speak, to make ends
come within shouting distance OF
each other. But they insist that, az
class they are rather human. And
they declare that the problems dis
cussed by Walt Mason under the
heading, "Why Don't | Go to
Church ?" which appears in the
current number of Hearst's must be
worked on for some time before the
official @. e. D. may be placed
/ thereon.
In his ironically censoring crlti-
que, Mr.. Mason says: every west
ern town of 10000 has from Is to
20 churches. These separate
churches exist because Of doctrinal
differences which seem important
to theologians, but which look like
! piffle to Tom, Dick and Harry
These superficial gents have the
idea that the Is or 20 churches
could consolidate, pool their re-
sources and then erect one big fine
tabernacle. with a humdinger of a
preacher and music that would bt
more attractive than joy ride in a
henycar. Why not pay 0,GO0 a
year to a real pulpit ore tor instead
| of distributing it to IA or 20 dis
| couraged divines who have to wear
patched pants in the pupilt?
True, Says DIR. Evans.
1.-The proposition seems reason
able to Tom, Dick and Harry, bul
the elders of the church sweat
blood when such a thing is men
toned. The First Vegetarian
church united with the Reformed
Calvinistic church! Treason! Send
for the police and fire department
at once"
Rev. ]. j. Evans, pastor Of Sa-
lem's Frist Christian church, said
this afternoon:
"Phere's a lot of truth in that.
There are too many churches. OFT
en- the ministers are sha,uefully
poor. There should be some way of
getting together. If we could get
rid of the intense denominational |
spirit which prevails, we could
solve the problem.
l had hoped that the Interchurch
| World movement would do great
things along this line, but the
movement was defeated by that
very thing-denominational dissen-
sion.
New Start Held Need.
IF we can just get away from
the theological dogmas of men, and
get back to the original source of
Christianity itself, il will be simple.
What the church needs is new
start"
In speaking of a certain pastor
BE- whose church he attended, Mason
says: His sermon was n sort OF
,lnuIcation of Aaron, so far as
COULD under stand before | dropped
off to sleep. 1t semed that Aaron
u4 t.v ausence of Moses weakly
yielded to the demands Of the Is
raelites and erected the gold calf
The parson admitted this was a bad
break, but seemed to think it rath-
er an error of judgment and not an
indication of inferior character. He
was outlining the circumstances
that led up TO Aaron's mistake
when | lost consciousness,
LAS we drifted out of church
people were saying II was fine,
uplifting sermon but TO me
it seemed the climax of futility. 1t
is hard for me to get excited over
the doings Of people who died five
or six thousand years ago, when I
know dozens of good men who are
out of work and whose children are
wading through snowdrifts in open
work shoes"
I Defense Is Offered.
Salem ministers are Inclined to
doubt whether Mr.. Ma son is justi-
fled in making this criticism of the
| church in general.
! It's 'Iue that man. pastors talk
on subjects which a., a trifie ir-
relevent,' explained Rev. Blaine Il.
KirknatI ick, of the First Methodist
church, but often il is the best
manner in which to bring out a
point. The main obicetion to these
criticisms are that the writer picks
out sou,e particular church or Some
/ particular minister, ami then goes
no fur her in an eff1i; to give AN
authentic presentation of facts"
Mr.. Llason charAes that the aver
age pastor has a m 4s.sal, caressiru
voice, and that he seems a creatm
remote n m an contact wirh mod
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