The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-02
BISHOP BROWN N UNFIT FOR PLACE, RECTOR DECLARES Dr. Barnwell Criticizes Press Dispatches As
 Misleading THINKS BISHOP IN
 DISHONEST POSE Says Former Birmingham Presiding Bishop In-
 sures Justice

Declaring that Bishop William NJ. Brown has assumed dishonest at- titude in his controversy with the church and that press dispatches in reference to the heresy trial of Bishop Brown, were misleading and. thereby tending to create a wrong impression of the case, Dr. Middleton S. Barnwell rector of the Church of the Advent, gave the version from the churchs standpoint at the II o'clock service Sunday morning.
 Dr. Barnwell stated that as rule the great news gathering agencies were fair and accurate, but in this instance as in others relating to religious con- troversaries they the apt to confuse the real issues by playing up" unimport- ant matters.
 Dr. Barnwell said in part:
 Why do newspapers shape news po- licies so as to bring discredit on sacred things? Here is an ex-bishop on trial which occurs many times is, First heresy trial since the middle ages the natural inference is that the Episcopal church is reactionary. do not know the statement to be true, it possibly is, but the inference is a lie. But by the continued repetition of the statement the people get the inference none the less.
 Reflects Credit
 If this statment is looked at from another angle, it reflects great credit on the church and Episcopate' as a whole. Bishop Brown is the first bish- op since the middle ages who has so far forgotten himself as to strike at the mother who gave him his spiritual birth. Other bishops have ceased to believe in the faith of the church, and were wise enough and loyal enough and I might add--gentlemanly enough | to give up their office, in which they no longer believed.
 But Bishop Brown did what never knew another bishop in any time to do. Ridiculing the church, he yet clung to the position and prestige which his high office carried with it. As bishop of the church, his teachings and writ ings had far wider circulation than they otherwise would have done. The thing which made his scurrilous book sell outside of vicious communistic circles was his picture on the fly-leaf clad in the robes of his high office, and under it this inscription Bishop of the bol- sheviks and infidels.''
 "The way this matter was handled by the press makes it appear that he was tried for denying the infallibility of the Bible. He claimed that, and based his whole defense on it. In this he was either dishonest or a fool. Per sonally, I incline to think he was dis honest, and is. He was tried for teaching doctrine contrary to the truth as this church hath received the same, and he knows perfectly well that faith in the Bible as infallible has never been part of this church's doctrine. He was tried not only for denying, but for ridiculing the most sacred things in the Christian religion, and he sought and seeks to mislead minimizing multitudes into believing that he is persecuted for being broad and liberal.
 Poor Man" Plea
 And then another picture the press seems fond of drawing is that of poor man "in the winter of life" thrown out on the world to die. This poor man in the winter of life has made no effort to earn a living through his ministry for years. He has not had to since he married a rich woman. Since then he has been spending her money and his time attacking church which has suf- fered him long in silence. He wrote his attack on Christians while wear ing the robes of his office, and on cap italism while living a life of idleness, faring richly on the proceeds of in- vested funds which he did not earn. Posing as a socialist and communist, he is one of the richest men in the house of 'capitalistic bishops all of whom. are very poor men.
 No, the church has been very pa tient with the ex-bishop. In pity-it would have let him go to the grave and be buried in the robes of his office for the sake of what he had once been. But he would not have it so. Seeking and finding notoriety through the columns of the Hearst publications which, of course, lend themselves free ly to anything which is contrary to common decency--fOr years he defied
 (COntinued on Page TwO.)