The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-02-16
POLITICS AND THE CHURCH

A specious argument being made
just now by the wet press of the en-
tire country in an effort to bolster up
a losing cause is an assault upon
three of the leading churches of the
nation-the Presbyterian, Baptist and
Methodist.
The assault upon these denomina-
lions is being led by the New York
Telegram. Its effect may have the
opposite hoped for by the writer in
the metropolitan journal above cited
in that it will make every loyal men,
Der of these three denomination ex-
ert themselves to the utmost to over
come the apparent laXity of their or
CARNATIONS if such laxity exists.
The kilograms article is published
in The Republican simply to show to
what end the wet press will go in Or
der to carry a point, in this case, we
believe, a bad selection:
While foes of prohibition may find
some satisfaction in the falling off in
efficiency in the three biggest Protes-
tant churches, others who feel the
need of religious influence on advanc-
ing civilization will consider it a seri-
Gus matter that the Presbyterian,
Methodist and Baptist churches ap-
pear to be losing their grip.
The Mems Church League asked
prominent clergymen in these three
denominations this question: what
is the matter with the churches 2"
The replies were significant. The re-
port, after a canvass of the replies,
says:
"Of 9,299 Presbyterian churches,
5000 had no converts last year; of
8,765 Baptist churches, 3,474 lacked
converts in 1927, and of 1851 Meth
odist churches 4,651 went without at
tracing a single convert.
''If the same ratio holds for all the
Protestant churches in America, then
there are 10000 out of a total of
100000 churches that failed to bring
a single convert into the Christian
faith last year,
Various explanations have been Of
fered by as many leading churchmen,
but none of them touches upon what
many laymen will believe is the real
reason for this situation. 1t so hap
pens that the largest and most active
hackers of the political lobby known
as the Anti-Saloon League are the
Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian
churches. They are largely response
BILE for making that organization the
political arm of the Protestant evan
gelical churches, and hence must bear
the chief responsibility for dragging
the churches into the mire of bitter
partisan politics.
of the story. If there is any way of
getting at the facts, it would proba-
bly, be discovered that vast number
of members of these churches have
lost some of their zeal, even though
they have retained their church men,
bership. Turning over pulpits to po-
litical lobbyists who discuss politics
instead of religion may have helped
that kind of politics but it has not
helped religion, and it hasn't helped
the churches that have gone into pol
itics.
When our clerical friends learn that
partisan politics has no place in the
pulpit and that real Christians want
their religion unauthorized, they will
have found out one thing that is the
matter with some of the churches.
Certainly there is nothing wrong
about Christianity. The spirit of it's
Founder is just as vivid and forceful
as it ever was, and there has been no
diminution in the appeal to humanity
of the gospel of love. But politics and
controversial politics, at that, has
brought into it too much bigotry, in
tolerance and the Christian Cos
pei of hate.