The Omaha guide., 1937-05-15
PETERSON COMMENT

This column went to church the other Sunday On a dare
ana al invitation to hear one of our younger minister's do his
stuff And on the knowledge that we shall be stepping on long
forbidden ground, the Colored Church and it's clergy are going
to be the subject of this weeks ramblings. All We who disagree
may personally give the works via P. O. Boh 1923, Philadelphia,
Pa: The legion who side with us will kindly meet in convention
on Sunday at the first telephone booth at the corner drug store
We folks as a whole, are really church conscious. We will
go to church and thapk the Powers for what we have when
really We have nothing to be thankful for. And we are told by
our ministers that the less we have here on earth the more we
shall have later on. We rejoice in that belief, go home entirely
satisfied with things as they are-thankful they are no worse
as if they could be.
This particular young minister that your column heard had
better watch his step He is liable to be thrown out of the min
listers union or have his church picketed by members of that
Union, because he actually advised his Pensioners to expect
something In this life. Of course, he didn't stress that point
only mentioned it in passing. In fact we think the reason he
brought 1t up was to console them with the promise that any
thing they expected and wanted real bad in this life and fail
ed to get, they could look forward to receiving in the next with
greater glory and happiness for having done without it here.
And this minister is classed as a liberal of the new school
what must the Conservatives of the old preaching instincts have
10 ADVISE their congregations. It is this columns opinion that our
|churches as conducted by their ministers has been next to the
greatest drawback the race has had since slavery. Of course, the
greatest is lack of education in theSouth. There is no other COM
mon banner under which so many of our people congreiate as
IN the church, and instead of being a force for advancement, it
is just the opposite.
There is AN article in Readers Digest for Nav by a Catho-
|hc prestr in particular, for not helping their people during
TINS depression. For sending money out of the country in mis-
slonary work and expecting the government to take care af the
needy here. Now it is a known fact that the Catholic Church
taxes care OF their own better than any other church in Amer
lea, and if they can be called to task by one Of their own Off
GERS, how much lacking the other churches must be in this re-
spect He rightly claimed that ministers were the one class
that felt the depression less, and as a result cannot visualize
just what their communicates are going through. He even hnl-
ed they didn't care so long as their offerings were coming IN
each and every week. And of all the benefits, teas and supper'
given by the churches and their workers, the only ones THAT
this column has had the fortune to run up against have been
for the benefit of said churches. OF course, near Christmas une
baskets are made up for the very needy, but unlike the miracle
Hf the fishes, these baskets give out in little or no time. What
do these needy do the rest of the year,
son to church goers, their readers are showed under. And 1t Is
the unwritten law that churches are Eacrosanct, unattacKaDle
The Negro press can do a world of good, but in comparf-
and unassailable by one and all. Their individual ministers may
stray out of bounds once in a while, but the church itself is 3
much a part of our race that you may ais well try to show Us
the bad influence of gin as to tilt a lance against our church.