Evening star., 1938-04-28
BISHOPS IN SOUTH
BACK M. T. UNITY
Objections to Plan Voiced
by Collins Denny and
w. A. Gambler.
Gordon Schofeld.
By the Associated Press

| BIZ the Associated Press.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, April %
Union with Northern Methodists, de-
cried by opponents as likely of church
destruction, was commended" today
to the Methodist Episcopal Church
South, in a history-making address
from the college of bishops.
Read by Bishop Hoyt M Dobbs of
Shreveport, La, the Episcopal address
embodied recommendations of the
bishops to the General Conference. and
''commended' the uniflcation plan to
be formally presented tomorrow az
worthy of thorough consideration and
such action as is befltting the most
important matter before the church
since its organization followed the
split in 1914 over slavery.
Two retired bishops, Collins Denny
of Richmond, Va, and Warren A.
Gambler of Atlanta, Ga, did not
agree with the plan OF union. and
did not sign the Episcopal address.
In supplementary statement they
termed the unification plan danger
Gus arrangement" and challenged the
legal right of this conference to act
on it.
Racial Question Brought Up.
The racial question also was one of
the objections raised by opponents
Senator Carter Glass of Virginia said
simply the proposal would bring
the Negro into our Southern churches"
Unification advocates included
Bishop John M. Moore, presiding to-
day, who said The racial question
is not involved"
Votes of the individual conferences
were read, showing 1850 ayes, and
1.247 noes and the address pointed
out the affirmative vote was about 86
per cent of the total vote cast, adding:
The commission on Interdenom-
national Relations and Church Union
will formally make report of its ac-
tivties and officially submit to you
the plan of union for your ac-
I'VE commend the report of this
commission to the general conference
for thorough consideration and such
ton as is benefiting them most i'm
portant matter which has come be-
fore the general conference since the
organization of our church in 1845."
Turning indirectly to points raised
against unification by the Laymen's
Organization for Preservation Of the
Southern Methodist Church, the
bishops, Denny and Gambler, said:
"A minimum effort has been made
to inform our membership of its mean
ing and effect.
Public Evils" Discussed.
I'm but few of our conferences was
there any discussion of the plan, and
where there was discussion it was
most cursory The pulpit has
been silent The result has been
the sitting and the suppression of
information"
Alcoholic beverages were discussed
at length in chapter of the Episco-
pal address on Public Evils"
1T is now little more than four
years since the repeal of national pro-
hibition Of the beverage liquor traffic"
the address said. THE results are
apparent on every hand.
The administration that stabbed
the temperance of a century is doing
nothing to curb the beast that 1t let
loose upon the land.
The Nation will not forget the
solemn pledge of the President of the
United States in proposing repeal that
by no possibility at any time or under
any conditions, at any place or under
any circumstances shall that institu-
ton, the saloon, or its equivalent, be
allowed to return to American life. I"
Turning to other evils" the address
said:
Divorce in America has become
a national scandal, other States now
view with Nevada in their contempt
of the marital laws of God. The Sab
bath is all but obsolete. Millions have
forgotten that righteousness exalteth
nation and the righteous God will
wither the boasted civilization Of any
| people that renounce His judgments. :"