Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-06
EVIL Of DIVORCE
SCORED BY NOTED
NEW YORK PASTOR

There's only one difference be.
tween the Turkish system of mar
riage and the American-one is
team, the other is tandem; the Turk
takes his wives all together, while
the American takes his one after
the other; and of the two I believa
the Turks system is the better, as
it preserves some semblance CT
home life"
So declared DR.. John Roach STRAIT
on, native Georgian, but now pas
tor Of the Calvary Baptist church
Of New York City, who will speak
Friday night at the Baptist Taber-
na6e on "The New Infidelity."
Every day in the papers you see
pictures of children whose parents
are figuring in a divorce scandal
and one child is awarded the
father, and the other to the
mother. That is what divorce does,
it tears up the home.
THE divorce system is nothing
but a legalized system of freel love.
And L am frank to say that unless
the divorce evil is curbed we will
have outright free love, for man Will
tire of the legal process of changing
wives and will save himself the
trouble of court action by doing
away with the marriage institution,
Then will come the collapse of
America Yes! I believe that if
we continue at the same pace,
America will fall even as Rome,
Egypt and Babylon.
Religion Needed
DR.. Straton blames the divorce
evil on the lack of religion, and does
not believe that legislation can con-
troll it. He believes, however, that
prohibition is the right thing, and
that there should be more stringent
laws to curb the traffic.
He deplores the lack Of religion
in the nation, and blames the
schools, colleges and the pulpit.
In that connection he said: "Our
great institutions Of learning were
founded on religion, but they have
drawn away until today We find
skepticism, atheism and general I'M
belief among the teachers, and they
are teaching it. In one great univer-
sity I am told the students arc
taught that there are three great
racial evils: alcoholism, syphilis and
Christianity. While in the pulpit we
find little of the old-time religion.
Few ministers preach sermons any
more, and many of the preachers
are just animated question marks
who do nothing but stir up issues
with ethical essays delivered from
the pulpit.
And then we have unbelief in
the pulpit" And with that intro
duction DR.. Straton launched into All
arraignment Of DR.. Percy Stickney
Grant and DR.. Harry Emerson Eos
dick, two New York ministers, who
recently made public statements
denying certain Christian principles.
He cataloged them with Voltaire,
Hume, Payne and Ingersoll, but de-
clared they lacked the honesty of
Ingersoll, who was preacher be-
fore he became an unbeliever.
"Ingersoll did leaye the church,
he said, but these new unbelievers
still accept pay from the church
while undermining it."
Fought From Pulpit
II have fought them from my
own pulpit, attempted to undo their
work, and I am frank to say, I
have no respect for the man who
wears the raiment Of heaven to do
the work Of the devil
Dr. Straton has been in New
York five years, and says he is re
garded as a sensationalist because
he breaches 1.-The old-time religion"
He says he believes New York is
better than other great cities, but
that people there are growing away
from the church and religion. With
in the past ten years 107 Protestant
churches in that city have faded
into oblivion. he asserted.
DIR. Straton is concluding a short
visit to Georgia, having just visited
his old home in Greensboro and his
son, who is attending Mercer uni
versity, at Macon.
He will leave early Saturday
morning for New York where he
will inaugurate a system of radio
hroadcastine of his sermons.