San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-29
RELIGION" FOR PROFIT


4 This Is supposed to be an age Of small
religious faith. The spirituality which
marked earlier times is not greatly in
evidence now. "Materialistic" is the
word which most comprehensively de-
fines present-day civilizations character
Ministers complain of a growing indif-
ference on the part Of the generality of
men toward church affairs. Some even
assert boldly that "the church" is a
failure. Men, they say, will not believe
they have no faith.
H.w comes it, then, that such cults
as that headed by King" Benjamin
Purnell have been able to exist? Isn't
it evident that some Of Purnells dis
ciples had great faith-the "faith of a
child?"
Here, perhaps, Is an exception that
tends to prove the rule-the rule that
the present age is largely materialistic
in its attitude toward life. Followers
of Purnell, or at least those who were
not, gin on" his alleged unlawful schemes
must have had great faith. But what
of the promised rewards! Purnell
taught, according to witnesses who have
testified In the grand jury investigation
of his affairs, that true believers would
live eternally in the body and inherit
! the earth in the material sense. In other
| words, their faith was pillared upon a
7 materialistic foundation. When time
death, misfortune or the law began tc
sweep away that foundation, the disci
| pies began to lose faith. So, at least
some of them testified at the hearing.
/ Always, since man began to have vi
sions of immortality, schemes have beer
laid to capitalize for profit the faith thai
T was IN him. Ancient documents tell o.
! the customs originated by heather
priests-shrewd men, some of them have
been, with an abnormal degree of cupid
ity, developed, perhaps, on the principle
Of self-preservation. Apostles of idol:
/ they were; they promulgated supcrsti
lions that made them comparatively rich
and the richer they grew, by reason O.
contributions poured into their private
granaries to win the favor of the make
believe deities, the wiser these priest.
were thought to be.
+ Some modem cults have been conduct
ed in somewhat the same way. Cololie:
have been established, with small begin
nings. The first disciples were men anc
women who would grasp at preposterou,
promises, and peculiar species OF spirit
| uality would appear. Increased by births
the colony would assume more stabl,
religious character. Those born to
religious faith are likely to adhere to i
throughout life unless there is some tire
mendous shake-up which tears asunde
the very foundations of their belief.
6 The latter is what has happened t.
many religious cult; it is what will
inevitably happen, ultimately, to any Sc
called religion conceived and conducted
for the exploitation of its adherents--
any so-called religion that owes its ex
istence and strength to a desire for mate
realistic or temporal rewards to thos
who have faith in its teachings.
This is land of religious freedom. Blu
IT is not land in which immunity fror
prosecution is guaranteed to men VIII
confound faith with simple credulity c
the kind that makes men easy victim
for INSCRIPTIONS exploiters of their icI
low-beings. 1t is not land wherein til
function of religion is to afford licens
for immortality.