Evening star., 1950-11-12
The Week in Religion
By RELIGIOUS News Service


With the elections over. church
forces are expected to keep an
alert eye on the 1851 State legis-
1atures where measures involving
religious, moral or social issues
are slated for consideration.
All signs are that religious forces
will continue to play an increas-
ingly important part In political
affairs without actually going into
politics themselves.
One Of the greatest impacts Of
church groups on the elections
this week was the frequent ex-
hortations to church members to
"get out and vote" and thus do
their part in promoting good
Government.
Illustrating this type Of appeal
was the prediction statement of
the Lords Day Alliance of Penn
sylvania squirting church men,
bers to vote by blaming corrup-
tion In Government on "stay-at-
home, non-voting Christians"
THE percentage Of citizens
and of our own church people
who vote seems to be progress
sively decreasing" the Alliance
declared. "In Pennsylvania in
recent years slightly more than so
per cent of the eligible electorate
have voted in presidential elec-
tions, while in primaries the per-
centage fell to 35-40 per cent"
20To Do the Nominating.
"It may be safe to say" the
Alliance added, that 20 per cent
ido the nominating and that most
of these are the professional po-
iiticians, their relatives and their
,job-holding dependents, plus the
gamblers, racketeers and Grim
finals who infest the politics of big
cities"
! In Columbus, Ohio, the public
affairs department Of the Ohio
Council of Churches sent a cir
lcular letter to pastors giving full
information about political can
didates so they could advise par
lishioners on the merits of Office
seekers.
"The public affairs depart
ment," the letter said. believes
1t to be the duty Of Christian
citizens to vote. It further believes
that every citizen should know the
full qualifications of every candi-
date and then with clear con-
science vote according to his or
her best judgment"
F. In Peoria, Ill, the community
relations committee of the Council
iof Churches. which heretofore has
followed q rule Of not endorsing
political candidates, set a prece-
dent by naming a specific candi-
date as ''best qualified" for the
Office Of sheriff.
The committee stressed that its
endorsement did not commit the
Council Of Churches, but is offered
as a community service" 1t said
that the churches and citizens of
the Peoria area will be kept in
formed of moral issues in all elec-
tions. and alerted to the fitness of
all candidates for political Office
Methodists Assail Candidates.
In Chicago more than a hundred
Methodist ministers pledged them
selves to defeat a candidate seek
ing the sheriff's Office.
Although the candidate was not
named directly. there was no doubt
whom the ministers meant when
they condemned "the brazen ef-
frontery of any political machine
that presents as a candidate for
sheriff a man who by his type of
crime investigation for the past
18 years has allowed syndicated
crime to be controlled by the sue
cessors of AL Capone, who are
prosecuted only when the Federal
Government steps in."
Previously, militant pastors all
over the city had responded to
call of the Church Federation of
Greater Chicago to battle crime
by turning their sights on organ
ized gambling in the election of
county officials.
In Washington. four religious
groups Joined In preparing a vot-
ing record Of members of the 81st
Congress as a help to citizens
casting their ballot.
Cooperating In the voters