The Ypsilanti daily press., 1945-09-28

The Reverend Philip Schug. min
lister OF the Unitarian Church in
Urbana, ILL.,. got into the vashti
McColium suit against religious
teaching in the schools as a wit
ness. His testimony was as.onish
ing, not for its contents bu. be
cause OF his vocation. The assump-
tion naturally Is that a Christian
minister believes IN Christianity.
Unitarians differ from most Chris.
tians in their rejection OF the Trini-
tartan concept OF God, but they do
not reject God. As a mater OF fact,
Unitarianlsm is as old as Christian.
ity. following the theology OF Arius,
while most other Christians follow
Athanasius, whose views prevailed
at the Council OF Nicaea 1925 A. d.
and since.) DR.. Earl Morse Wilbur
in "A History OF unitarianism"
states the characteristics OF this
sect as follows:
e. first complete mental free
dom in religion rather than bond
age TO creeds or confessions; Sec
ond, the unrestricted use OF reason
in religion, rather than reliance
upon external authority or past
tradition: third. generous tolerance
OF differing religious views and us
ages rather than insistence upon
uniformity in doctrine. worship or
poucy'
In the amazing trial at Cham
palgn, H., the Reverend Mr.. Schug
defined the Unitarian view OF God
as follows:
THE prevailing view Is tina. God
Is a spirit OF some kind. that God
is force or a thing or agency or
person who lies behind the uni
THAT Is the prevailing view. but
there Is another view held by a
large minority Of the church who
believe that the entire question o.
the meaning OF God Is outside the
scope OF human experience and
that opinions need not be had on
the subject" Yet, the whole or
Christianity, as well as Judaism,
deals with the subject Of God, his
place In the Cosmos, mans rela-
tionship to Him, and the efficacy OF
prayer TO Him.
Then Mr.. Schug gives his own
views Of God:
II do not give any credence TO
the Idea that there is a personal
God or anything that seeEls to be
a person behind the universe. When
use the term / use It much as l
might use the word conscience,
but / have a working definition OF
the word as it is used by many
other folk"
Mr.. Schugs definition OF Chris.
tian Is also interesting:
MANY people believe that the
word Christian has a certain social
value and they call themselves
that"
He preferred not TO be called a
Christian: there are no prayers In
his church. And speaking OF both
Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. he
said:
IL consider both OF them folk
tales but in different categories.
The tale OF Santa Claus Is not so
deeply tinged with religious feeling
or SO implanted in the culture OF
so many people"
But you consider both Of them
Just folk stories?'
YES"
There is much more o. the sarle
In the reports written by Ed Bor-
man. who covered the case most
thoroughly for the Champaign-Ur-
bana NewsGazette, and !: all leads
up to one conclusion, namely, that
the so-called free-thinkers would
deprive other children from expos
ure TO the Word OF God because
they do not wish their own children
TO be influenced by the moral and
ethical teachings OF the Bible and
the elevation OF the spirit OF man
by faith in Cod, which is to them
folk story because, / suppose, In
their rationallstic materialism, they
are insensitive to other than tangi'
BILE forces.