The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-07-22
THE FACTS
m OUR NEWS

s BY HORACE 4. WHITE {
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WHY RELIGIOUS KETS
THRIVE?-Much Of what Is going
in the name Of religion today. Is
positively unworthy Of the name
Of religion. People who think. have
4 legitimate right 10 ask. why SO
many rackets In the guise Of re-
ligion today" Detroit Is Overrun
with all kinds Of purportedly re-
ligious organizations. They 20 all
the way from the healing Of the
sick. to keeping one with his wife
or husband. The various religious
sects In Detroit, guarantee every
thing from a permanent job to =
never-ending life. The people in
this industrial capital. put many
thousands of dollars into these re-
ligiOus racketS. The religious rack
eteers make very large personal
take out Of their hypOcritical &C.
tivities. We may rail against the
people who promulgated these
phony ideas about religion all we
want, but the remedy hardly lies
with the promulgators. but rather
with the people. For example:
There is one religious racketeer
about town, who promises success
and permanent job. II his fol-
lowers will just believe in him. The
people give him great deal OF
money during the course Of q year
for this phOny promise. Those of us
fhn hA ~
rackets, and look upon them with
horror and disgust, accuse the man
who makes such a statement, as be-
ing false prophet" and taking
advantage Of the i'll informed.
To be true, the man who makes
such statement that he can guar
antee a job and personal success,
is a liar of the first water" This
is primarily unimportant. for the
careful observer. The thing that
is important however. is the actual
basis existent in the lives OF people
that make it possible for the fakir
to get away with, and TO collect
a lot Of money on his statements.
This false brother can get away
with promising q permanent job.
and personal happiness, because
these happen to be the things for
which people strive. and our organ
lied society has not yet provided
people with jobs and with the Op-
pOrtunity for the pursuit Of happi-
ness. Detroiters have been harassed
by unemployment. People have
been forced onto relief rolls. No
one has ever taught them economic
and political processes at work. that
have forced them into unemploy-
ment for long periods Of time. The
average man who finds himself I'M
employed for a long time. looks
upon it as some inevitable "mysti-
cal' process. over which only the
gods have control.
Therefore II Is easily seen that,
when q man comes along who
makes a long and loud claim. that
he has a mystical" power that can
supcrsede the mystical" process OF
unemployment. the common people
who are now working and enjoying
prosperity, will look TO him to help
them keep their jobs. These relig-
iOus charlatans take advantage Of A.
fear that has haunted the Detroit
industrial worker for 20 or 30 years
the fear of unemployment.
These fakirs in the name OF God. |
know how frightful and anxious
people are. less tomorrow they will
be thrown out Of work onto pub
lie dole. So. without adequate prep
aration and planning with the peo-
pie for some security in terms OF |
the actual economic processes, they |
tie I'D the fear Of unemployment
with a natural response TO unex-
planned fear. mystical religion.
Thus we have something of an ex-
PLANTATION of why these fakirs can
so pull the wool over the eyes OF
the unsupported.
This same process works In the
matter Of personal adjustment, as
far as a religious fakir is concerned.
II you 20 through a Detroit COM
you will discover hundreds
a. signs in windows reading Spirit
ual Advisor" Spiritual Counselor"
and Personal Advisor" II you have
enough nerve to visit one Of these.
ysu will discover that the problems
dealt with are family relationships.
trouble with the police, inadequate
sex adjustment, and triangular REL
tionships. An intelligent person
only needs to listen to this list Of
subjects to understand why these
fakirs can make so much money out
of the common people.
Organized society has not recog-
nized in its everyday processes, on
large enough scale, the existence
and the importance OF personal
problems II Is tragic that organized
society has consigned the personal
problems Of men and women to
fortune -tellcrs, religious fakirs. and
soothe- sayers.
Religious racketeers are aware OF
the many Illustrations, unadjusted
personal strivings. that people have,
and the longing 10 dissolve many OF
their personal anxieties. So, they
set UP shop in the name of God,
10 meet the needs of the common
people. All that the people get out
of such arrangements on the part
of the religious fakirs. is to get rid
of their money, and deeper involve
ment into their problems.
1t ought not to be mystery TO
the intelligent people why religious
fakirs can survive in our town.
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