The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-24
POLITICAL CHURCH. PREVENTS PE ACE.
pr. Hobbs Breaches On h. ternational Relations, An
 aIyzing War Causes

Every man that becomes a real, genuines sincere Christian brings nearer. to accomplishment peace on earth and good will toward man." declared pr. J. R. Hobbs, pastor of the First Baptist church, Sunday eve ming, in a sermon on international peace.
 Politics and politicians, the re- vengeful spirit dominating the most important nations of Europe, trade relations and religion are the four reasons why there can be no world peace today according to pr. Hobbs
 "As long as politics and politicians come to the front instead of f'world principles, there can oe no world peace" said Dr. Hobbs. "A number of people believed the League of Ma tions would bring world peace, but the league was killed by politics" he continued.
 Dr. Hobbs stated that one of the biggest questions mankind is com fronted with is the revengeful spirit the nations of Europe hold against each other. All these nations have some old grudge to settle. They have been quarreling ever since the days of Caesar, and each nurses her grudge until she thinks she can sat- isfy it. As long as nations are in- fluenced by grudges, there can be no peace" he said.
 In speaking on trade relations Dr. Hobbs declared that it was the hard est matter in the world to adjust business without stepping on the toes of other nations, and cited the ex- ample in the Orient where trouble is brewing now because of the rich oil fields to which several nations are laying claim.
 Religion is another reason why we don't have peace," continued Dr. Hobbs. There are many kinds of religion. There is great unrest in the Near East now because of Mo- hammedanism. Furthermore, about 400, 10000 900 Christians in the world are obsessed with the idea that the church ought to be supported by the state"
 T tell you there can never be peace where the church and the state are united" the speaker emphasized. "The countries that have it thus are proof that it is not successful
 If we could get to the nations of Europe the message that every man is priest before God, and that no one stands between any man and God, It would do much to bring world peace. The New Testament relation gives every man the right to stand before God, and we can't have peace until this is established among all men.
 "Then how can we have peace ?'' asked Dr. Hobbs., His answer was that he could not see much hope of it's coming immediately, but peace could and would come, though how he did not know.
 Religion takes it's proper place in the scheme of things only when the church and state are separate, and the one way to get peace is to make the church unofficial, was the solu- tion offered by Dr. Hobbs. When enough real sincere Chris tians inhabit the earth, one cannot get the slightest pretext for a quar- rel. If enough people of this kind were in America to set the example to the rest of the world, we could never get another war" was offered in conclusion.
 Mrs. J. Fred Scholfeld sang by special request "The World Is Dying For a Little Bit of Love-" and a Christmas message was spoken by w. l. Pittman, superintendent of the First Baptist church. to the congre. gatton and the listeners-in over the radio