Evening star., 1947-05-11
|Ex-6oy. Kerr Urges
|Bapiistsio Use BibIeio
Fight Delinquency
By cospor Names
sior s,eH cotr.spendent

L
Gov. Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma
urged the Southern Baptist Con-
Ivention here tonight to embark on
q crusade Of teaching the Bible, par
ticularly to children, as an aid 10
curbing juvenile delinquency.
| A Mothers Day service will be
held by the convention tomorrow
closing the five-day meeting The
Rev. w. Marshall Craig, pastor OF
Castor Avenue Baptist Church
Dallas, Tex, will be the principal
speaker.
Mr.. Kerr, director Of the South
ern Baptist Foundation and q for
mer president of the Oklahoma
Baptist Convention, said the home,
| the church and the school must be
the bulwarks against the rise OF
juvenile delinquency.
"We must realize the necessity for
teaching the Bible to our youth.
said he. "And we must realize that
these children are of this genera
ton and not of the days past and
gone.
"The greatest fields for our en-
deavors of tomorrow are in our
own homes and Sunday school
classes and to the extent that We
succeed in these fields we will sue
ceed beyond them"
Bible Tests Cited.
Declaring present day youth knows
little about the Bible, Mr.. Kerr cited
recent test at an Oklahoma coll
lege where only one student in five
knew that the sentence Render
unto Caesar the things which are
Caesars" came from the New Testa-
ment. Only one in four knew the
wife of Lot was the woman turned
into salt because she looked back at
burning Sodom; one in three knew
Solomon was famous for his wise
decisions and two in five knew Moses
received the Ten Commandments
on Mount Sinai, he said.
The convention approved a report
Of its Committee on Race Relations
urging that a more sympathetic at
titude be adopted toward Negroes.
Earlier today, it adopted resolu-
ton calling on the motion picture
industry to eliminate movie scenes
depicting gambling, drinking, or
ganized vice, divorce and general
immortality"
The resolution pointed out the
large majority of those attending
motion pictures are children and
impressionable youth with the re-
suit that many films presented have
probably become contributing
factor to delinquency, divorce and
broken homes" by glamorizing loose
morals.
Return of Chaplains Cited.
More than 81 per cent Of the
Southern Baptists Convention minis
ters who served as chaplains in the
armed forces during the war have
returned to civilian pastorates, L. l.
Carpenter, chairman OF the Com
mission to cooperate with return
ing chaplains, reported.
The addition of 592 churches last
year to the Church,s pension plan
now brings the number OF partici-
pating churches to 12,453, Walter
R. Alexander, relief and annuity
board executive secretary, reported
Only TAG Of the 1900 pastors eligible
to retire have done SO, Mr.. Alexan-
der added. So - =
An important meeting to plan FOL
the BAPTIST World Alliance meeting
in July at Stockholm, will be held
at 10 am. Wednesday in Washing
ton, George E. Fraser, acting presi-
dent of the executive committee OF
the Southern Baptist Convention
announced. Mr.. Fraser, member OF
the Chevy, Chase (Md) Baptist
Church, also announced that DR.
Louie D.. Newton, president of the
national body. will be present.