New Britain herald., 1927-12-06
TOO MUCH SELLING IN MODERN CHURCH Speaker Criticz@ "Business"
 Attitude Toward Religion 300 ATTEND CONG. DINNER
pr. 1Aubach Urges Keeping Faith tn Philippines-WeH Guild Confer. ence Friday-Boy's Finger Ont OH-Red Gross Report-Briefs.

1 The tendency Of the modern busi ness man to look at religion merel,
 as another business akin to his owr
 was denounced by Rev. pr. Willis H
 Butler Of Hartford in his speech be.
 fore 300 men from the Congrega
 tional churches of this district las evening at the high school. His flnt
 speech was one of several to which the churchmen listened with atten.
 ton. The other main addresses 0,
 the evening were delivered by Rev
 Dr. Frank c. Dauba ch. a missionar,
 recently returned from the Philip pines, and Rev. William S. Beard oi
 New York city.
 l Governor John H. Trumbull va. l master Of ceremonies and introduced the visiting speakers. Rev. Charles S
 Wyckoff. pastor of the Plainville
 Congregational church. made the in.
 vocation. Bernard l.. Mullins led the
 men in a number Of songs during
 the dinner.
 Religion Too Much a Business | Religion is becoming too much a
 matter of organization. of "go-get.
 ting" and of boosting. Dr. Butler
 warned in his talk on Religion and
 the Practical Man. Yet even in
 these days when everything is
 thought of in terms of big business.
 he went on. the church still mana ges to retain it's spiritual values. An
 abstract of his speech follows:
 [ "No careful observer of modern life can fail to notice the tendency
 to organize. Along with everything else religion has been organized and one result is the type of church that closely resembles a department store. In the opinion of many so-called practical men" If a church is to succeed if must be run on the prin- ciples of big business. The first re- quisite of it's pastor is the possession of qualities which in the commercial
 world distinguish the individual who is called promoter His business is 10 "sell the gospel" It's deacons must be "hustlers." It's members, o-setters.' The principal object in going to the house of God on Sun day is not 10 engage in divine wor- ship, but to grasp some unsuspecting stranger by the hand and Hand him. Ii the kingdom of God is to be advanced we are told that it must be boosted and advertised. IL must have its press agents, it's band con- ccrts. it's spectacular conventions, it's Chautauqua salutcs. Unless there is abundant evidence that these things are being done the church is not considered faithful to the conmis- sion of it's Divine Founder.
 In his religion, as in everything else, the practical man puts the em- phasis on the human side. This process of humnnizing religion is all well enough up to a certain point but 1t may be carried so far that God will become eliminated. This is the danger to which our generation is exposed. The business of the church is to make God real 10 peo- pie. It is a field in which there is not much competition nowadays.
 "Whcnever the church Is mention ed. superficial minds immediately think of number of highly respect able people comfortably assembled in a well l-appointed building on the first day of the week. They sing the old, familiar hymns and listen 10 the I wcll-known Gospel story. The bene- fiction is pronounced. the congrega- l ion files out in dignitied fashion. the 1 .exton locks the doors and it is all l over for another week. And so 1t | roes 52 Sundays in the year, and that l s all there is to it. But is that all | here is 10 it" In some cases per- haps it is, but in other cases, and 1