The New York herald., 1922-03-12
PROTESTANT CHURCH
DEAD, SAYS PASTOR.
The Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Would Scrap Everything
and Start Again.
SEEKS NEW REFORMATION
Will Soon Publish Book OH
Collapse of Organized Re-
ligion Since the War.

An attack on the churches, their
rreeds. denominationalism. and about
everything that has Nssams a part of
church worship as it i-as been. known
for years past. is soon to be issued from
the press of Dodd, Mead & Co, wTitten
by Rev. John Hayes Holmes, minister
OF the Community Church. WV
Mr.. Holiness book Is called New
Churches for DID," and the attack 1t
contains is levelled principally against
the Protestant churches. His idea is
ssas t5ay gre so far out of date that 1t
--rouid De well to scrap Them all and
substitute religious institutions erected
on the lines OF his own Community
Church. In his preface, which precedes
his foreword. he says:
The present volume Is concerned
neither with lamentations nor exhorta-
lions. Its purpose Is not to bring COM
fort to churches as they exist to-day.
On the contrary 1t is written in the
deliberate conviction that these churches
as organizations are an intolerable inter-
ference with the pro gram Of modern life,
and are therefore to be transformed or
replaced az speedily as possible; that
Protestantism in all it's forms, both
orthodox and liberal, Is as dead reli-
gion to-day, and therefore as subversive
O. social influence, as was medieval
Catholicism in the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries; that we are living In
an age when new religious forces are
everywhere emerging into conscious
life, and therefore should prepare Tor
the coming Of new reformation"
The Dying Invalid.
In his first chapter on 1.-THE Collapse
OF the Churches Mr.. Holmes refers to
the expected religious revival after the
war, but finds it didn't materialize. He
adds:
ION the contrary, the churches were
never before so weak, the tide OF spr-
itual life never before running at SO low
an ebb To our sorrow we are forced to
acknowledge that the declining vitality
Of organized religion has ended In this
war period, not In recovery. but in col
lapse"
Il is very bad, says Mr.. Holmes. in the
rural districts, where Sunday worship
is feebly and discouragingly sustained
by members Of the older generation"
but not 80 apparent in the cities, espe-
cially in the cities where there is wealth
which builds and maintains churches In
the same way II builds and maintains
art galleries, natural history museums
and opera houses" Here he finds
musical resources which make the
churches on Sunday afternoons and eve-
nings, great concert halls" and where
there are eloquent and far famed
preachers, who, Hike political orators and
Chautauqua lectures. exercise over null
titudes Of people magic Of the spoken
word. which Is apart from the religious
motive on behalf Of which they speak,"
But the disintegration is in progress in
the cities, nevertheless. says Mr.. Holmes,
and these things Of splendor are like
The hectic flush on the cheeks OF dying
invalid. "Furthermore," a well defined
process IS now under way which, II con-
tinued to its logical end. would mean the
disappearance Of churches altogether
from the modern city"
The Rising Generation.
The writer goes on to speak Of gifts
Of money to the churches from the
wealthy and OF the denominational or
ganixations through which such gifts
pass. He dwells on the fast that
churches Of te-Aa0 arc not self-supSnrt-
ing, ana arAo ts1s -sry unhealthy
sign. So, too, is, In his mina, the fact
that SO few young men are entering the
ministry, as figures from the theological
seminHries show. He cannot believe that
ecosorsic conditions explain this, for he
says:
WHO that knows the idealism Of
many of our American youth can be-
lieve that the financial problem IL any
thing more than a complicating feature
of the situation? Are men refusing to
seek positions on the faculties of our
colleges and universities because the pay
OF a teacher Is only littler higher than
that of a Clergyman" No, says Mr..
Holmes, the fact Is "the rising genera
ton has no confidence in the efficacy and
worth of the churches as they exist to-
day" and the passing generation is
oacs had" Church members ARE
strangely akin to political ofice holders
few die and none resign" The MEM
bership rolls duplicate the lists of in
mates in the old ladies' homes and COM
pete shamefuily with the headstones in
rhe cemeteries" Further. the preacher
had once a position guaranteed, while
now "the garb Of the priest has become
more an occasion for scorn than for
reverence"
The New scfentists.
The trouble, says Mr.. Holmes, is that
the churches "are identified with ideas
and practices of life in which the mod
ern man has not the slightest interest.
BY what imaginable reversion of
attention can persons who have learned
the lessons of Newton and Darwin, and
are now sitting at the feet of Bergson
and Einstein. be persuaded to hold in
terest in affirmations Of the Trinity, the
Atonement. the Resurrection. Redemp-
tion, Salvation and the rest---much less
to express their spiritual ideals In
terms of these conceptions?"
But what do we fnd in the Sunday
schools? Study Of Israelites. Canaan
ties. Midianties, Edomites, OF no more
importaice to our age than Scythians
and Bactriansi Study OF Biblical leg
ends about as essential to the modern
mind as Greek mythology or Scandi-
navian lore! Study OF the life Of Jesus
in terms of miracle and wonder. un-
changed by anything that has hap
pened since the days OF straussr' In
another place he says:
The Bible Is not a sacred book, save
as all great literatures may be deemed
from their origin in human suffering and
aspiration to be sacred. 1t is a
collection of books having q distinctive
character: but, in essence. In no wise