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4 eS
COL ogieal SEW
BAY 6 3 Loo no aL 926
Interdenominational student
conference (1925 Dec. 29 :
Youth looks at the church
‘YOUTH LOOKS
AT THE CHURCH
ADDRESSES, QUESTIONS, DISCUSSIONS
AND FINDINGS
NATIONAL INTERDENOMINATIONAL STUDENT
CONFERENCE
REO ILLINOIS
Introduction by
STANLEY HIGH
THE ABINGDON PRESS
New Yor« CINCINNATI
Copyright, 1926, by
THE ABINGDON PRESS, INC.
Ali rights reserved, including that of translation inte
foreign languages, including the Scandinavian
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition Printed February, 1926
Reprinted March, 1926
CONTENTS
PAGE
PIWERODUCTION! foo iiatvadetinsdescmiesuwesSmeugue °
OUR UNITY OF PURPOSE IN THE CHURCH....... 13
TUESDAY EVENING SESSION
Speakers:
Miss Dorothy Gray
John H. Elliott
Dr. Halford E. Luccock
A LOOK AT THE CHURCH—AN APPRECIATION.. 38
WEDNESDAY MORNING SESSION
Speakers:
Georgianna Mackay
John Knox
E. BE. Witcraft
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr
A LOOK AT THE CHURCH: A STUDY OF THE
OPPORTUNITY AND THE INDIFFERENCE OF
THE CHURCH ..... mais Aik wie/piee bias cceccccesccccee OG
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
Speakers:
Stanley Dowley
Miss Mattie Julian
Dr. Hubert Herring
WEDNESDAY EVENING SESSION
Speakers:
Howard Becker
Dr. R. E. Diffendorfer
CHRISTIANIZING OUR CIVILIZATION ..0+sse0002+ 87
THURSDAY MORNING SESSION
Speakers:
Harold Ehrensperger
Roy Burt
Marian Warner
Robert Weston
4. | CONTENTS
THE FOREIGN MISSION PROGRAM OF THE
CHURCH adil a ite etal Ele is aYal Wlelei eve wiefa acetic wie(h sip 6 oretae sana
THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
Speakers:
R. A. Doan
J. Levering Evans
Y. T. Wu
Rachel Childrey
THURSDAY EVENING SESSION
Speakers:
Thomas Que Harrison
Howard McCluskey
Dr. Ashby Jones
THE COOPERATIVE WORK OF THE CHURCHES. .138
Fripay MORNING SESSION
Mr. J. C. Torrance—Greetings from the United Church
of Canada
REPORT OF STUDENT COMMISSION ON THE COOPERATIVE
WORK. OF THE CHURCHES |... 0.00 seo ceswecee cuwleueee
Speakers:
George EH. McCracken
W. D. Matthias
James Woodruff
Gordon EH. Bigelow
Sessions: on Findings |i) Vises sine ae siecle unas os eel ashen
Report of the Student Commission on the Foreign Mis-
sion Program of the Church ......cccccccncecve 19S
Findings on Foreign Missions and the Church.......202
Report of the Committee on Friendly Considerations. .209
Report of the Committee on a Continuation Committee. .210
Appendix ..... Sela ake’ E sla d'e to nteeye Sawant aietats o di a's pink a
INTRODUCTION
THE growing concern among college students during
the last few years for the application of Christianity
to social and international problems had led to a
rather widespread renewal of interest in the church
as the agency through which the Christian solution
of those problems might be found. Since the In-
dianapolis Student Volunteer Convention at the
end of 1923, this interest has been focused through
several significant State and national denomina-
tional conferences. The National Interdenomina-
tional Student Conference which met in the First
Methodist Episcopal Church, Evanston, Illinois,
from December 29, 1925, through January 1, 1926,
marks the natural development of this student in-
terest in the program of the church.
The Evanston Conference was first proposed by
two groups of students and denominational repre-
sentatives which met early in 1925 in New York and
Chicago. Inquiries sent to a much larger group of
students in various sections of the United States
indicated a very definite desire for such a confer-
ence. Accordingly, in the spring of 1925, the two
informal groups which had been considering the
matter met in New York and organized an Execu-
tive Committee to formulate definite plans.
5
6 INTRODUCTION
This Committee was greatly handicapped by lack
of the funds and the promotional machinery which
facilitate the organization of ordinary student con-
ferences. -Furthermore, there remained but nine
months in which to prepare for the meeting. Some
conference technicians declared that the task was
hopeless. It is indicative, however, of the wide-
spread demand for such a conference that, imme-
diately plans were announced, denominational lead-
ers and, even more important, a great many students
throughout the country volunteered to give of their
time and resources to promote the undertaking.
' From the time the conference was first proposed
through its concluding session the students, them-
selves, carried through the major responsibility for
its development. All of the conference committees
were composed of students and the students repre-
sented a considerable majority of the Executive Com-
mittee. In the actual procedure at Evanston, more-
over, final indorsement or rejection of any proposal
was left to the action of the conference itself. Every
item of major importance, including the details of
the program itself, was decided by the vote of the
conference. It is doubtful if any student conference
of such size has been subject to such complete demo-
cratic control. The “iron hand” so apparent at
some student conferences was noticeably lacking at
Evanston.
The nine hundred students who gathered at —
Evanston came from nearly two hundred colleges —
and universities of the United States and represented
INTRODUCTION i
twenty Protestant denominations. They repre-
sented, perhaps not a cross-section of campus life
but, rather, a cross-section of campus leadership.
The delegations from schools with which I am
familiar contained a remarkably large number of
those students who are most prominent in college
activities. For the vast majority of the delegates
attendance at Evanston involved a considerable
personal sacrifice. Indeed, for a rather large number
—including the Antioch student who walked and
the South Dakota delegates who came via stock train
—the sacrifice was much more than considerable.
It was a distinctly church conference which finally
convened. Plans for the meeting could not have
progressed a single day had it not been for the active
cooperation of denominational leaders in many de-
nominations. The funds contributed, officially, by
denominational boards constituted the major source
of income. The support of denominational secre-
taries and student pastors of various denominations
provided the only promotional machinery available.
When the conference assembled, the attendance as
nonparticipating observers of some three hundred
and fifty representatives of Christian—and particu-
larly church—organizations revealed further that
this was a church gathering. During the entire
session, on the floor, the discussions were church-
centered, and since the conclusion of the meeting
the widespread attention which it has received in
denominational periodicals indicates that Evans-
ton was, in every sense, a church conference.
8 | INTRODUCTION
The fact that no previous conference of this sort
had been held placed it under an initial handicap
and brought about a rather striking revelation. One
observer declares that “Evanston was a gathering
of unchurched churchmen.” The first few sessions
were characterized by a good deal of floundering.
Christian students—convened to discuss the chureh
—revealed an unfamiliarity with the subject of
their discussion. There was a vast amount of
familiarity with the problems with which the church
may be expected to deal, such as race and war and
industrial relations. But there was very little fa-
miliarity with the way in which the church actually
is meeting those problems and how its machinery
may more effectively be used. It appeared that the
students were much more conversant with criticisms
of the church than with its constructive achieve-
ments. As students, apparently, they had been
given considerable opportunity to discuss these
problems, in the abstract, and very little opportunity
to discuss the most likely organization through
which they could work for their solution.
The program, however, took this factor into ac-
count. Prior to the conference various student com-
missions made intensive studies of various aspects
of the work of the church. There was a commission
on foreign missions; another commission on the
cooperative activities of the church; a third com-
mission brought in case reports indicating what the
church is actually doing in the industrial and racial
fields. The reports of these commissions and the
INTRODUCTION 9
discussions which brought to light a vast amount
of additional evidence altered the whole tenor of
the conference. Abstract criticisms gave way to a
spirit of genuine inquiry. At the conclusion I think
it is no exaggeration to say that the vast majority
—even of the most critical—went away convinced
that the church, despite its readily recognized short-
comings, is actually being used in terms of to-day’s
practical problems of social and international rela-
tionships and that students have a major obliga-
tion to see that its effectiveness is increased.
Evanston demonstrated another fact which has
sorely needed demonstration on the college campuses
of the land, namely, that it is possible to discuss
the church without being narrowly denominational.
There has been a widespread feeling that to talk
in terms of the Christian Church was to narrow
one’s horizon. This contention was significantly re-
- futed at Evanston. The discussion, from first to
last, centered around the church. Not once, how-
ever, did denominationalism enter into it. Neither
did theological controversy flame out, despite the
fact that fundamentalists and modernists had
worthy representation on the floor. And throughout
the sessions the problems considered were the same
problems that other student conferences have consid-
ered, with the significant difference that at Evans-
ton this consideration got down to cases and en-
deavored to relate to practical, working machinery
capable of helping toward a solution.
The most striking conviction that dominated the
10 INTRODUCTION
conference was the determination for the organic
unity of Protestantism. On the first day it was —
emphasized that the person and program of Jesus
provided common ground on which every delegate
could stand. A realization of the fundamental na-
ture of the leadership of Jesus practically obliter-
ated denominational and theological differences. In
that realization it was not difficult to see how the
disunity of Protestantism stood as an obstacle to
the efforts of organized Christianity to establish the
kingdom of God on earth. And the students—non-
chalantly, after the fashion of youth, but none the
less earnestly—declared their willingness to assume
the task of bringing Christian unity.
It was apparent, in these sessions, that there
is developing a new terminology and method for the
religious approach to college students. The new
student religious appeal, it seems to me, is no longer
that of the rostrum but of the laboratory. There is
less and less confidence in the validity of mass, emo-
tional appeals and more and more concern for sim-
ple statements and demonstrations of significant
facts. Students, I believe, are little interested in life
service orators, but they will go a long distance to
hear a man who “knows his oil”—who can set forth
evidence and state, in terms of projects, the signifi-
cance for Christians of the present world situation.
There is a general determination to allow the facts
to constitute their own challenge. |
This tendency, I believe, is altogether hopeful.
But whether hopeful or not, the fact of its develop-
INTRODUCTION 11
ment remains and an appreciation of the Christian
loyalty of present-day college students must take
cognizance of it.
This laboratory outlook was very apparent at
Evanston. From the outset it was demanded that
whatever action came from the conference should
be stated in terms of definite projects. The Con-
tinuation Committee, therefore, has on its hands not
a series of resolutions but a list of definite under-
takings; of jobs to be done in relation to the prob-
lems discussed. Future student gatherings will, I
believe, place even greater emphasis upon case
studies and give less consideration to the mere ex-
change of opinions.
The Conference appointed a Continuation Com-
mittee to carry forward some of the projects pro-
posed. This Committee has already undertaken its
work. It is too soon to say what developments will
come from this “follow up,” but it can be said that
the Continuation Committee is charged with the
task of maintaining, if possible, the interdenomi-
national loyalties which Evanston created; and of
conserving the conviction, which developed there,
that students may work through the church for
the solution of those problems in which, as Chris-
tians, they are most interested.
In conclusion, the conference and those connected
with it are deeply indebted to the board of the
First Methodist Episcopal Church of Evanston,
Illinois, to Dr. Ernest F. Tittle, the pastor, and to
the local arrangements committee for their cordial
12 | INTRODUCTION
hospitality in entertaining the conference, and to the
citizens of Evanston for inviting the delegates into
their homes. An apology needs also to be made to
the speakers at the conference for the way in which
their addresses have necessarily been cut down for
the purposes of this book. It is felt, however, that
the substance of the addresses and discussion is
preserved intact.
Strantpy HicuH.
Our Unity of Purpose in the Church
TUESDAY EVENING SESSION
OPENING prayer by Marvin Harper, Yale University
Divinity School:
Our holy heavenly Father, we come to thee to-
night in a spirit of humility; we come praying that
no one of us will think more highly of himself than
he ought to think. Father, we come praying that
we may know thy will, that we may seek to listen
to the small voice that may speak to us during these
days. We pray, O Father, that we shall come to a
common understanding, that no matter how many
different views may be held and expressed, a spirit
of love, a spirit of understanding shall reign here.
Father, we pray that we may have the desire to
seek the truth, that we may desire to give proper
evaluation to all the matters that shall come before
us, that we shall try to weigh in the balance all of
the subjects that we study, that we shall not let
our emotions overpower us, that we shall not be
too coldly critical, but that with thy guidance and
leadership we may come out into a world of light.
Father, we pray that we may be willing to follow
the truth wherever we may go. We pray that we
may have lives of consecration to the high ideals of
youth. We thank thee that we are young people
13
14 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
here together, that youth can have its dreams and
see its visions. We would pray, O Father, that we
would not be disobedient to any heavenly visions
that may come to us. We pray for strength to fol-
low where thou wouldst lead us. We pray for
strength to take any steps that require the deepest
of consecration. We pray that we may not be afraid
to face criticism of friend or foe, but that we may
be willing to go forth carrying the banner of Jesus
Christ, seeking to save the world or to find a means
of bringing salvation to our friends and to our col-
lege students. ;
Father, we pray for guidance. As we start this
great convention we pray that the spirit of the lowly
Man of Nazareth may be among us. We pray to
seek to know the way and the truth and the life,
and that where it leads us we shall follow, for in
his spirit we have come together and in his spirit
we will go through these days together. Amen.
SPEAKERS:
Dorothy Gray, student, Phillips University, Enid,
Okla.
John H. Elliott, student, University of Michigan.
Dr. Halford E. Luccock, New York City.
ADDRESS
Miss Dorothy Gray :
The need of achieving Christian unity is by no
means a newly discovered thing. As far back as
New Testament days we find the apostle Paul plead-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 15
ing with the people of the church at Corinth that
there be no divisions among them. Many others
before us have worked hard to bring about unity,
and they have done much to lighten our task, but
through all these nineteen hundred years we have
not had that unity which Christ prayed for; there
have been and still are divisions among his followers.
I think we-go a long way toward solving the
problem of a particular institution or enterprise
by discovering or redefining the purpose to which
such institution or enterprise is dedicated. What
is the church here for? What was in the mind of
its Divine Founder when he gave it its mission. in
the world? I think I start on common ground when
I say that with Jesus the kingdom of God meant
everything. Take away the expressions “kingdom
of God” and “kingdom of heaven” from his teach-
ings and what were to his hearing disciples spirit
and light become a senseless jumble of words. Many
times in the New Testament the word “church” is
made comprehensive enough to mean the Kingdom.
Christ said, “I will build my church for kingdom]
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it.” Paul satd that Jesus loved the church, or king-
dom, and gave himself up for it.
Hence, in view of the fact that the heart of Jesus’
message was the Kingdom, in view of the fact that
he made pretentious preparations for it, taught his
disciples to pray for it, and then expressly said that
he came to establish the Kingdom, I think it would
not be possible to make a clearer statement of the
16 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
purpose of the church than to say it is the purpose
of the church to establish the kingdom of God in the
world.
If it is a business of the church to establish the
Kingdom in the world, what do we mean by “the
Kingdom”? What did Jesus mean by it? Well,
take his Golden Rule and brotherly love from his
teachings and you leave them barren and cold.
Paul interpreted the Kingdom in terms of peace
and righteousness. Hence, if it is the business of
the church to bring in the Kingdom, the church
will establish the kingdom of brotherhood and
righteousness.
If it is the business of the church to establish the
kingdom of righteousness, what a Herculean task
confronts her! Righteousness of individuals, right-
eousness of relationships, social righteousness—ours
is the most difficult task of the ages. But a divided
church can never win the world to righteousness.
Disunity of moral forces can never compete with the
unity of immoral forces. The forces of unright-
eousness will never be torn asunder until the church
learns to pull together.
One of the essentials to the success of any enter-
prise in the world to-day is efficiency. It is no more
possible for the Church of Christ to carry on its
work successfully in an inefficient way than it is
for any other organization to do so. The slipshod,
inefficient methods we are now using are a danger
to the very existence of the church. We have to-day
literally hundreds of denominations of the Protes-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 17
tant faith. Each of these attempts to cover the same
field, each keeps up missionary boards, publishing
houses, denominational institutions, organized ma-
chinery parallel to the others. This unnecessary,
needless waste is responsible for inestimable loss to
our church. Where there is one fine church build-
ing many others are built close to it.
In rural communities the same thing is true. Two
or three churches in one community are unable to
exist for our divisions, while in other communities
there are no churches at all. In our local churches
there is also much duplication and waste by such
organizations as our missionary societies, ladies’
aid societies, and Christian Endeavor, each trying
to cover the same field.
With our wastefulness, our needless duplications
and our rank inefficiency, is it any wonder that
things are in the state that they are? No wonder
the religious leaders of the day are working and
promoting unity! No wonder students meet in con-
vention to discuss unity! Efficiency in church busi-
ness demands unity. The existence of the church
depends on unity.
At the very mention of unity some folks shake
their heads and say it can’t be done. Yet much has
been done along the lines of unity for many years.
True, we are not one in our creeds and ordinances.
We refuse to cooperate in many instances because
of our different beliefs. We differ widely in our
theology. Yet in a few great crises we have been
known to work together in the same harness witb
18 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Christians of other religious sects. During the
World War we worked hand in hand to relieve suf-
fering. At the time of the Japanese earthquake we
did the same. We cooperated in the efforts which |
resulted in the Eighteenth Amendment. The Inter- |
church World Movement is another example of
united effort. The eight-hour day in the steel mills
is a direct testimony as to what can be done through
united effort under the banner of Christ.
In the foreign field to-day there are some actual
unions in educational enterprises. Christian En-
deavor has also been a means of bringing a greater
spirit of unity.
Christian unity is not an impossibility. I think
I truly represent the views of many when I say that
unity must be first of all unity of spirit, churches
working in harmony, publishing houses spreading
the Word of God, missionary boards that can spend
their money entirely for education and evangeliza-
tion without waste, both at home and abroad. There
is no limit to the power for good that a united
Christianity could exert.
Unity of spirit comes first. There can be no real
unity, no actual cooperation, without it, and when
we have taken this one step, the next obvious step
for us to take will present itself; we have the assur-
ance that the Master will show us the next step and
give us the strength to take it.
Tradition has it concerning the site for Jerusalem
that two brothers lived side by side, one married and
with a family, the other single and living alone.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 19
At harvest time each of the two brothers sat in
his home thinking of the other. The married
_ brother, thinking of his unmarried brother, sym-
| pathizing with him because of his loneliness, de-
cided that next morning he would take some sheaves
from his wheat field to his brother. The unmarried
| brother, sympathizing with his brother because of
_ his burden in supporting a family on a small income,
decided that next day he would take some of the
_ sheaves from his wheat field over to his brother.
Next morning each brother, as he had planned,
started across the line fence and met the other. At
the place where two brothers met, each with his
sheaves to help the other, Jerusalem was built.
When we as brothers in Christ are willing to
- make manifest our love for each other-in the sacri-
- fice of our divisive opinions and all those things
which at present divide us, then the new Jerusalem
of peace, righteousness and brotherhood will be
built.
| ADDRESS
Mr. John Elliott
The purpose of the conference this evening and
the next three days, I take it, is to find out in what
way the youth of America can fit into the religious
program of Christ, fit into the program of religion
as we want that religion to be made known, trying
as best we can during these four days to fit our
high ideals, our youthful inexperience, into the
grooves that are already worn, already made.
20 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
To-night we are’ met as an interdenominational
student gathering to delve into that religion; but
before we are fairly under the surface we come
across that strange phenomenon in our religion of
to-day called denominationalism, and most of us, I
suspect, are here to-night as representatives of our
own particular denominations. I beg of you, how-
ever, in the meeting of to-night and that are in those
meetings that are to come to think of yourselves as
the youth of the present and not tagged with the
denominational emblem that signifies the system
out in the world to-day.
May we first glance a minute at the present sys-
tem of church unity or disunity, or, at any rate, the
denominational system in the United States. In the
first place, we have some two hundred separate de-
nominations, each one of them having its own min-
isters to train, its own missionary bodies and mis-
Sionaries to support, its own congregations to edu-
cate along the particular orthodox line of its par-
ticular faith. We have a competition in our cities
and in our towns between the various denominations
that is every kind of competition but the proper
kind. If there were rivalry, for instance, for a depth
of spiritual insight, or if the churches were com-
peting for the sacrifice and the religious experience
of their members, perhaps that competition would
be fine, but we don’t have that kind of competition ;
we find the kind of competition that surrounds the
building of a new church, a material kind of com-
petition that emphasizes things that certainly Christ
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 21
never emphasized, and that are hindering our prog-
ress because they detract from the main purpose
| of the church.
We find this Methodist church installing a larger
organ because the Presbyterian church across the
way has just built a new manse. When we hear
that the Baptist church around the corner has taken
in one hundred and one and one-half new members,
we discover that we have got to have more pep
and zest to make ourselves the biggest men’s Bible
class in town.
Competition among the churches has resulted in
strife and bitterness, and yet through our freedom,
as we love to call it, our freedom of belief which
has resulted in the organization of some two hun-
dred denominations, there has failed to come any
unified single religious program that affects and in-
fiuences every class in the community.
Let us look briefly at the organizations and agen-
cies that are to-day trying to cooperate and unite
the various denominations into one central religious
purpose, the agencies that are trying to gather into
one basket, so to speak, the scattered efforts of the
denominational groups.
First of all, we have the Federal Council of
Churches of Christ in America, an organization that
represents the thirteen largest denominations of the
country and which, on occasion, speaks for the
United Christian Church of America on problems of
social and political importance. A similar group
that is trying to cooperate in denominational efforts,
22 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
similar to the Federal Council of Churches, is the
City Council of Churches, organized in most of the
large cities of our country. Then, too, in some
States—though in very few—and some counties we
have groups similar to the City Councils or the
Federal Council of Churches, which try especially
to watch the planting of new churches and the
weeding out of others in communities where it is
economically inadvisable to conduct services.
The function of the church and the purpose of the
church have been suggested in the preceding speech.
I have been brought up in a denomination. Most
of us have been brought up in a particular denom-
ination and have learned its history, have known
of the various boards, and probably every year have
had placed before us for our youthful inspection
the activities of the various boards. However, I
have come to the conclusion that for some reason
or other denominationalism is not necessary and
that it is not the God-given way of carrying on
Christ’s will on earth; and if it is not necessary
and if it is hindering the progress of religion in
America, what is the solution for the denomina-
tional strife?
The purpose of the church, as I see it, in the new
day is not that of the hospital. We used to think
that the church was a sort of hospital where the
spiritually sick or the morally lame or the reli-
giously rundown could come and get a cure. I
think we have about passed that into the archives
of church history. The church should have as its
4
a
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 23
function, I believe, the socializing of the community
or the group, the socializing in a finer and a better
way, and should point out to that group with which
it comes into contact the Christian message for
a Christlike living in society. In other words, my
ideal of the church and the church’s purpose is the
working out as best it can of a plan by which human
beings can better live together. Humanity’s better-
ment should be the prime ideal and purpose of the
churches in America. Human beings, social forces,
should have their residing and abiding stimulus in
the church. Let us investigate and see just how
that purpose, that mission, of the churches and of
the denominations has been fulfilled up to the pres-
ent time.
I believe that the church, first of all and primarily,
should be the community center or the great com-
munity concentrated effort for the creation of the
standards or the formation of the patterns, the
group morals. Those patterns of conduct and of
morality should issue from that simple unified reli-
gious body of the church. Yet I claim that the de-
nominational church has failed to be effective in the
social life of the communities in America. I think
the denominational churches—religion as organized
at present—have failed to prove themselves the
united, concentrated force in the community; they
have failed to show through group action, group
knowledge, how best to carry on social existence.
Up to the present time I think the church has been
ineffective as a leader in the establishment of new
24 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
patterns in the group. I think it also has been inef-
fective in establishing itself in the community as
the prime and the greatest incentive for religious
or spiritual life. In other words, I think the church
has been ineffective in establishing itself as the
great one body, the one-purposed organization to
which all can look for guidance in their moral prob-
lems and their religious living, and which should
concentrate especially on the group idea of existence.
What has been the policy of the church or of
denominationalism as at present organized in its
dealings with the other questions of the present day?
J maintain that the church has been ineffective and
has lacked courage in dealing with the industrial
welfare and the industrial problems of our land.
I think the church has been too content to preach its
gospel of goodwill, to throw out in very cold and
dignified manner the moral laws of the Bible, and
for some reason has been afraid to be soiled by a
somewhat sordid world in applying those laws that
it has dared to preach.
Industrial commissions are fine, and yet we all
know that many think of the church as a capitalis-
tie organization, and I suppose because many of its
members are of that capitalistic group we hesitate
to delve into the industrial problems; friction would
be sure to follow if we did.
The church has not gone into the settlement, nor
has it attempted to evolve any method of industrial
betterment, because the members have thought that
the church’s business was to throw out the general
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 25
law and leave it to the individual for personal ap-
plication. Yet I am wondering when there is a weak
brother to be helped, when there is a great wrong
to be remedied, and the church does not act, if it
can really call itself Christian.
I maintain, further, that the church as at pres-
ent organized has sidestepped or has whitewashed
the issue of race. I believe that the race issue, the
race question in America, is something that the
Church of Christ should grasp and deal with in a
very forward manner. The church has organized
interracial commissions; we have had exchange of
pulpits between white and black, and yet at the
present time the church has failed to maintain itself
as an organized force for the creating of a public
opinion that has had behind it Christ’s ideal of
brotherliness, of brotherly kindness, of tolerance to
our neighbors.
Furthermore, I charge that the church has been
un-Christlike in its attitude on war and interna-
tional relations. I believe that the church has time
after time been hypocritical in its attitude on war
and militarism. I believe that the Church of Christ
has been unwilling to carry through the fine ideals
on which it was organized. Time after time have we
heard preachments about peace and brotherly love,
and yet under our denominational system at the
present time we have failed to put forward a def-
inite, concrete program of the united church for
peace education in our country; but, on the other
hand, time after time have we been organized dur-
26 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ing the wars to carry on the education for war, for
murder, for hatred, because the government has
maintained that such a war was a righteous one.
I maintain that the church in the past, through
its denominational system, has been used as a tool
of the government for the creating of a warlike
spirit, for the creating of an attitude toward our
fellow men that is directly opposite to the teachings
of Jesus. Yet how can we expect the church to be
unwarlike or to have any other attiude toward inter-
national relations than that it now has? If we
are divided and fighting against each other in two
hundred denominations, how could it be otherwise?
How can we expect the church to have any other
than a nationalistic ideal, a nationalistic atmos-
phere, when through our denominational groupings
we are cultivating in our church the same sort of a
selfish, independent existence that we condemn in
our government? I have been pretty free in my criti-
cisms of the church. I admit that the solution of
the problem is not very apparent. Yet I think that
the youth of to-day have something very definite to
contribute toward the Church of Christ.
We have that which youth always has; that is, a
great, sincere, burning passion to right a wrong,
to see that justice is done, to see that our ideals are
made effective; and because we have that desire
and that enthusiasm and that ability, although with-
out experience, to carry on that program of ideals,
I think we should seriously consider a solution to-
our denominational problems. |
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 27
I think that denominational lines, denominations
themselves, once were created because freedom was
burning in the hearts of their creators. Yet I think
denominational lines do not draw distinction enough
or are not on a firm enough foundation for a really
effective church to exist. I think a new alignment is
necessary, and an alignment founded on purpose
and belief rather than on the somewhat petty and
immaterial questions that most of our denomina-
tions set up as their requisites to-day.
I have no idea in which form this organization
shall take place, but I do have a conviction that the
denominational lines, because of their false basis,
should be torn down to the extent that this new
grouping should come along the alignment of pur-
pose for the social betterment, for the carrying out
of a social good, so that all classes of humanity in
the community shall be touched and all processes of
life shall come within the range of Christian influ-
ence. ?
ADDRESS
Dr, Halford E, Luccock
In that profound volume of theology, Alice in
Wonderland, there is one place where the dormouse
and Alice are sitting together listening to the in-
quest that is being held over who took the cele-
brated tarts that were made by the Queen of Hearts.
Alice has just taken one of those little biscuits which
make her grow larger or smaller alternately. This
time it made her grow larger, and soon the dor-
28 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
mouse felt that he was being pushed over to the end
of the bench. So he snarled out to Alice, “Quit
shoving me!”
“l’m not shoving you,” Alice said, “I’m growing.”
“Well,” said the dormouse, “you can’t grow in
here.” ;
Unfortunately, that has very often been the atti-
tude of the church to the expanding minds within
it, and, to the infinite loss of the kingdom of God,
they have had to do their growing outside.
I really belong to this glorious crowd of witnesses
assembled in the gallery, so that perhaps I have
some right to speak for them, and on their behalf
I would say that their message to this gathering is
that you can grow in here, or, perhaps, to put it
a little more grammatically, you may grow in here
if you can grow anywhere.
I think it is a profoundly significant gathering
for the college, for one thing because it is a sign of
ferment amid the very large expanse of complacent
indifference that sets on great sections of the Ameri-
can college campus like the pall of a quiet Sun-
day afternoon. Before we get through this meeting
we should hear, doubtless, a great deal about the
conservatism and conventionality of age. I think
that all of us do recognize that there is a consider-
able bit of hard-shelled conservatism and conven-
tionality on the American college campus, and indif-
ference to the great problems of human relation-
ships. It is my deepest hope and my greatest faith
in this conference that here will be found some of
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 29
that intelligent conscious and intense rebellion
against ways which have led the world to its present
state, and a real passion, and that the real passion
to discover a better way for mankind will here find
free and lasting expression.
One of the feelings that is very widespread among
undergraduates about the church is that it is con-
cerned too much with the issues of a bygone age.
You meet the feeling that its messages and its con-
troversies too much suggest old, unhappy, far-off
things and battles long ago. Some might be dis-
posed to admit that the church is the house by the
side of the road, but the road is the road to yester-
day, that too often it has been occupied with the
prejudices and the passions of a bygone day. It is
not the things that look backward that most con-
vincingly get the fervid and eager interest of youth.
The second feeling (and here again I am merely
trying to interpret things which have come to my
ears as they have come to the ears of anyone who
has them) is the feeling that about many of the
great things which elicit the deepest interest of our
hearts and the hearts of the world, the church has
not had very much to say. Some one has put it
rather graphically that it has so manipulated, per-
haps unconsciously, but so used the words of Jesus
that the Jesus who came to upset the world has
become one sweetly solemn thought which is up-
setting to nobody.
_ The danger has been that instead of doing what
_it might have done, the church, moving like a column
30) YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
of flame, of fire and of smoke before the moving
column of humanity, guiding it into some promised
land, has seemed to stop and spin around like a
little merry-go-round on a highly organized round
of activity. The danger of substituting that round
of activity for a prophetic adventure into a new
land is increased the farther on we go in a great pro-
gram of church building. I don’t believe we ever
faced any greater responsibilities in that direction
than we face just now when the program for church
building in the United States of America this year
that is just closing amounts to something like $500,-
000,000. Of. course, that $500,000,000 represents in
a very large way additions to the spiritual assets
of the country. I would not have you forget that
for a moment. We ought not to forget for a mo-
ment, either, that it represents very truly and defi-
nitely spiritual liabilities of a large size, for when
there is that much of an investment in so many mil-
lions of mortgages, the danger will be that the chief
concern of the church will be to preserve the placid
calm, that nothing will interfere with the orderly
run of the business of the country, no matter how
many injustices may be buried under that placid
calm. The danger is that perfect peace will be the
only anthem we will sing in regard to the industrial
situation. Many of us have seen both the church
and the college standing in the face of industrial
situations that literally shrieked to the skies, stand-
ing there as dumb as a bronze Buddha because they
had too much interest in the situation. }
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH ol
What shall it profit a church if it gain the whole
world of Gothic arches and stained-glass windows
and lose its own force? The result will be the ironi-
cal one that in gaining a perfectly magnificent place
in which to say something we will have very little
to say.
One other thing that I would like to drop into
your minds in view of some of these feelings that
perhaps some numbers share is the responsibility
that youth has for bringing to the church gifts
which youth alone can give to the church. It is not
merely the privilege of youth to speak, but it is the
responsibility of youth to give the things that can
never be given unless youth does give them,
The one gift that I would mention, a gift that
is desperately needed both by the world and by the
church, is the gift of a fearless, honest criticism. I
do not mean an irreverent criticism nor a flippant
tirade against things as they are, but the gift of a
perfectly open-minded and honest criticism, for
youth can bring the priceless gifts to the church of
a pair of fresh eyes which are not yet affected by
astigmatism, and an open mind; and an open mind
is a great thing to let loose in the world.
It is because youth is able to bring a fair look
_ at the world, an open mind that is unshackled by
_ the hesitations and the fears of tradition, that it
can bring these gifts of honest criticism. Without
_ that redeeming criticism of fresh minds the world
is hopeless. Yet do not be under any pleasant
_ illusion that the world is feverishly waiting for your
32 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
criticism, because the attitude both of the world
and of the church very often has been the historic
attitude of the church which said to young William
Carey when he offered to go to India as a mission-
ary, “Young man, sit down!” Yet young men have
had an irritating way of standing up.
Of course the church has not got any use for a
blind Samson that wants to topple over a whole
structure. It is not a task for the dynamiter. It
is rather a task like the remodeling of an ancient
building which must be approached with reverence,
with courage, with a new plan. Very often the col-
lege of elder statesmen is very much afraid of
courage plus a new plan.
Just for one illustration, take the greatest ques-
tion that is before the world to-day, the question of
war. The attitude taken, sometimes very uncon-
sciously, sometimes rather consciously, sometimes
only implicitly, is something like this: “Of course,
war is a terrible thing, it is a perfectly awful thing,
but don’t do anything about it.”
You may grandly begin and say, “Whereas, war
is the greatest social sin of our times, Whereas, war
is the negation of the spirit of Jesus,’ but you stop
there, you don’t go on until you get to the “There-
fore, be it resolved.” I think that the greatest social
fact of our time is that an increasing company of
youth are going on to the “therefore, be it resolved.”
There is an old adage to the effect that he who
pays the piper calls the tune. In the 10,000,000.
lives laid down in the war, youth has paid a price
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 33
that is staggering and outrunning the power of the
imagination of man to conceive. Youth has paid
the piper and youth will call the tune. It will not
be any screeching hymn of hate, but a blended
chorus of voices in all languages Sinegae “Blest be
the tie that binds.”
Finally, there are some things that I would very
swiftly mention that must be taken into account in
any honest and open examination of the church.
Some capacities and aptitudes and abilities of the
church do seem to me, for I am frank to confess it,
permanent credentials for the chureh to take leader-
ship in the redemption of society. The first is that
the church has always maintained a _ persistent
capacity for self-criticism, and that capacity for
self-criticism has been the seed of new life, it has
made possible a recurring springtime within the
church, so that from within, all down the years
through history, there have come to the church the
most penetrating and keen criticisms from the
inside, and that is the sort of power which enables
the chureh to right itself and find its right direc-
tion in an open sea. It was one of the legacies that
the church got from Jesus, for Jesus made his touch-
stone the service of the church to humanity, its min-
istry to the abundant life of man, and that was the
touchstone of the perfectly devastating criticism of
Jesus of the church of his own time.
The keenest critic that the Christian Church had
in the first century was not some Roman scoffer ;
it was Saint Paul. And if you will turn to the
ot YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
pages of the New Testament to the Epistles of Paul,
you will be amazed to find out how much of it is
given to criticism of tendencies in the church that
came from a rich mind that went all the way from
the most tender pleas to the most blistering scorn.
It has been the glory of the church that all down
through its history, from the time of Francis of
Assisi to our own time, down to the days of Walter
Rauschenbusch and Harry Ward, that it has
launched within it the most redeeming and uplift-
ing criticism.
The second is like unto it, that is the fact that
the church has always been through all its history
the prolific mother of ugly ducklings. Again and
again in Christian history it has given birth to the
most atrociously ungainly and scandalous creatures
who defied its every convention and tradition and
yet were undeniably its own children. And yet
that has been the most glorious page in the history
of the church. It simply means that in the brood
o€ priests there has come again and again the
prophet whose advent has been breaking up that
pious calm, like the advent of Amos, the herdsman
of Tekoa, who comes in his time and says, “For three
transgressions of Israel, yea and for four, I will not
remit the pnnishment thereof, for they sold the
righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes.”
Ugly ducklings have blossomed into swans and
after two or three centuries of wondering what to
do with them the church has canonized them, recog:
nizing them as prophets and saints.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 35
The other fact which must be kept in mind is the
fact that in its high hours the Church of Christ has
always been a youth movement. That was true in the
very beginning when a company of young men under
thirty stood in those Galilean hillsides and listened
to another young Man under thirty, and as they
came under his spell they went out to do nothing
less than to turn the world upside down.
That was not the only youth movement in his-
tory. There has always been one. We talk about
the Pilgrim Fathers. We also think of the Pilgrim
Fathers as needing to open an old folks’ home the
moment they got to Plymouth, but there was only
one man on the Mayflower over forty-five years of
age, and that was Miles Standish. William Brad-
ford, so long the governor of the colony, was thirty-
one years old, and Edward Winslow, foreign min-
ister of the colony, was twenty-seven. |
Fifty years later you can find another youth
movement, the beginning of the Methodist Church
in America in 1784. At that Christmas Conference
at Baltimore when it was organized, there were two
bishops present, one of them thirty-seven years old
and the other thirty-six, and the average age of the
one hundred or so members of the Conference was
thirty-five. The fathers! God bless them!
If there is any place under the blue dome of
heaven where by every honored tradition youth has
aright to speak up and be a part, it is in the Church
of Jesus Christ.
The last is the greatest of all. That is the per-
36 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
sistent and the perennial capacity of the church for
the rediscovery of Jesus, for the rediscovery of
Jesus. Perhaps you may say it is a tragedy that
Jesus needs to be rediscovered. Yet that is an in-
evitable process of growth. You couldn’t have
growth or progress without it. I don’t have any
knowledge of any surer indication of the measure-
less greatness of Jesus than that he could be redis-
covered in nineteen different centuries and each
time loom larger before the mind and the imagina-
tion of the world.
Again and again the church has lifted away the
debris of Western civilization which has accumu-
lated and smothered the figure of Jesus, and lift-
ing it away has revealed to its generation the figure
of its living Master.
Christ is the great credential of the church, and
it is the capacity of the church to rediscover Christ
and to re-present him in living terms to the age in
which it exists that forms the church’s greatest
credential for leadership.
So it seems to me that this question that we are
going to discuss, and discuss in the most open and
free way that we can, “Can we use the church?” is
something very like the question, “Can we use
Niagara Falls?” Niagara Falls was a great spec-
tacle through the years until men began to dream
that it might not only be a wonderful spectacle but
it might be a wonderful power, and so they har-
nessed it to use it. The question of whether we can
use the church is just this question to find out defi-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 37
nitely enough what it is we want to do and then
run our connecting belts to this great, everpouring
source of power that it may carry light, heat and
power out into all the world.
A Look at the Church 48
Appreciation
WrpNespAy Mornine Session, Decempnr 30, 1925
SPEAKERS:
Georgianna MacKay, student, Colorado Teachers
College.
John Know, student, Emory University, Georgia.
E, EH. Witcraft, student, University of Chicago.
Dr, Reinhold Niebuhr, Detroit.
ADDRESS
“WORSHIP—A NEED MET BY THE CHURCH”
Miss MacKay
Man has always been and is a worshiper. Man
always needs to reach out beyond himself to some
finer perfection, to something beyond which he him-
self can attain, and this is in his search for God.
There are three phases of worship, I think. The
first one is that worship is a life, not a ceremony,
it is a permanent state of consciousness where we
see beauty in all things, where love casts out fear
and beholds God in the face of Christ, Christ glorify- |
ing and beautifying all life. Here in this phase of
worship prayer verges toward companionship and
38
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 39
worship becomes a permanent state of consciousness.
The second phase of worship is this: while we
have this permanent state of consciousness in life
then there are times when the individual conscious-
ness is moved to seek formal and concrete expres-
sion in its emotions toward God. Then in that time
when we are alone with God, we come to realize
what God is and that God is a rewarder of them that
diligently search for him.
The third phase of religion is the one probably
in which we are most interested. It is that phase of
worship concerned with the church. One of the
main functions of Christian society is grouping to-
gether to worship. You remember Paul told us we
must not neglect the assembling of ourselves to-
gether. It isn’t enough that man shall worship and
that all men shall pray and that all life shall be
beautiful; it isn’t enough that we must enter into a
closet or into a lonely place and commune with
him. We must have more than a devout conscious-
ness, we must have more than these wonderful indi-
vidualistic outpourings; we must be a worshiping
assembly, the coming together of believers for the
solemn transactions with God which shall be for
memorial before the Most High, for testimony be-
fore the world and for the nourishment of our bodies
in Christ.
Worship in the churches is not perfect, and we
young people to-day are demanding something of
the church which many times we do not get. Sin-
clair Lewis says that most of our Protestant
40 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
churches to-day are simply mass meetings in big
barns, and the only place where one can worship
truly is in the Roman Catholic churches. Have
the Catholics something that the Protestant
churches do not have? If so, what is it? Why
can they give us this atmosphere of worship which
our souls crave and which we need while other
churches do not do this thing? Sometimes I think
it is because our churches, or many of the Prot-
estant churches, are indifferent to it. They have
become careless. It has become a form and they
have not prepared the different elements which come
into church life; they have not prepared to give us
the atmosphere and the feeling which we crave and
which our hearts so desire. |
Another thing that is left out so much is the beau-
tiful mystery of worship. We have tried to make it
a science when it is truly an art. Jesus had that
wonderful art of understanding, of cooperation, of
harmony, of love, of brotherhood which we do not
find to-day. We know it is the thing that we erave,
our whole being cries out for it. What is it that
Jesus had that we do not?
We know Jesus went to church. It was his
custom every day to go to the synagogue. I some-
times think maybe the preachers weren’t so good,
there were things he didn’t like, I am sure, while he
was in the synagogue, the meetinghouse of God, but
he found the thing which he wanted. He loved
beauty, he loved the quietness in which he could find
God and in which God could speak to him, and
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 41
through that speaking we know the great power
that he received to do things that have never been
done before. It is within our grasp, it is within our
reach if we will lay hold of it, I am sure.
In closing, let’s think about it this way, that the
church is trying to meet this need of worship, is
trying to fill this longing in our hearts, and let us
go to the trysting place of God, the church, as a
vessel cleansed, so that when his great love is poured
out upon us, we will know; we will know what he
has for us to do, we will know his will in our lives,
and then when we know we will receive the power
to do as he wishes.
QuESTIONS FoR Miss MacKay
Is not the kingdom of God something that is
primarily within you, and don’t you lose a good deal
of the value of the kingdom of God by trying too
much to make it objective?
Answer: The kingdom of God is within, but you
can’t keep it within. When you have that power,
it is bound to radiate out to do things.
Question: Do you think that the churches wherein
worship has been considered of prime importance
have developed the subjective aspect of religion and
forgotten the objective aspect of it?
Answer: No; if it is worship in the true sense, it
always pushes you out into action. In some
churches where worship has become just a form they
have probably made it subjective instead of objec-
tive, but this is not true worship.
42 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ADDRESS
“THE INTELLECTUAL RESPONSIBILITY OF
THE CHURCH”
Mr. John Knox
Let me try to suggest in just a few words what
the intellectual task of the church is, and then to
indicate in a few minutes some of the things the
church is doing in order to meet the need, to assume
the responsibility. The first task and the most
obvious task of the church in an intellectual way
is to interpret Christianity, of course, in intellec-
tual terms that will make it possible of acceptance;
more than that, effectual in the life of any particu-
lar age.
I think the church’s intellectual responsibility
does not end with this obvious need of adjusting
Christianity to the intellectual forms of the day.
The church’s obligation is to recognize the rights
and privileges of the intellectual life, to recognize
that the laws of man’s rational experience cannot
be violated. Though the process may be long and
gradual, and in some cases even dangerous, surely
it is true that the strivings of an emancipated
intelligence will eventually bring us to the truth
as surely as will the aspirations of free spirit
bring us at last to God, and in no way whatever
otherwise can either God or truth be realized.
All right, what then is the church doing to meet
this need ?
In the first place, the church is maintaining
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 43
schools and colleges, universities, and so on,
throughout our land where intelligent persons may
feel quite at home. That hasn’t always been true,
you know. Most of us, I suppose, are from denomi-
national colleges and universities. I am sure you
will bear out that testimony.
It is maintained by scientific experts that there
is a little dogmatism in our church schools. In
other words, church colleges and universities have
established themselves in the educational life of
our land as thoroughly reliable and _ scientific.
To-day the religious education policy of the
church is becoming more and more intelligent.
Sunday-school literature is taking into account as
never before all modern information, points of view
and attitudes that are being presented to our youth,
and becoming more and more intellectually pos-
sible. Training schools for teachers are sharing
the same intellectual methods as do our other edu-
cational institutions. Everywhere over our land
in all denominations the tendency is very apparent
to make intellectually effective Christianity.
Leadership of our church is coming largely out of
our schools and is more and more intelligent.
Preachers are coming more and more thoroughly to
recognize their intellectual responsibility and to
present the gospel of Jesus in such a way as to
make it effectual in the life of intelligent, well-in-
formed people in our modern age.
In other words, weaknesses in the church rest not
in the church as such, but inhere in our humanity
44 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
as such, as was brought out last night. In fact,
the most colossal and obvious example of dogma-
tism that our century has seen was not an act of
the church at all and a church body; it was the
act of a State Legislature.
There isn’t a city in our great land in which I
do not hear the voice of more than one great
prophet, and their number is rapidly increasing.
I bring you an encouraging message. I do so not
because I am assigned this subject; I do so be-
cause I feel it. I do so because I feel that it is
our task not to scrap the church. What are we
going to put in place of it? Where are we going to
find elsewhere the moral idealism that will be neces-
sary to making any great step toward the kingdom
of God? Where are you going to find it except
in the church? They say the church is not socially
minded, the church is not aware of the great in-
tellectual, industrial, and social and international
problems; surely, not fully. Go outside of the
church and see if you can find any more awareness
of those things than inside. You don’t. Any other
organization that undertook the same purpose
would have the same people in it, would be char-
acterized by the same deficiencies and failures. [I
am not here to insist the church is perfect; I am
here to insist it is our task to enter into the life
of the church, try to make it over, try to bring
back to it the spirit and mind of Jesus and make
it really effective in serving this modern age in
every respect.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 45
QumsTIONS ASKED Mr. Knox
Question: What right has a preacher to preach
from a pulpit given him by a congregation views
that are contrary to the views of the congregation?
Answer: I feel that the preacher has no busi-
ness to state in the pulpit any abstract truth, no
matter how true it may be, unless it is going to
have vital connection with the lives of those to
whom he is speaking, unless it is going to mean
something in their lives.
Question: When is the Sunday school to be lifted
intellectually out of the high-school period?
. Answer: I think signs of progress are obvious in
the Sunday-school literature policy of nearly all of
the great denominations of our country.
Question: How do you account for the fact that
so many students after they have studied science
and sociology find it necessary to maintain their
intellectual self-respect that they must break with
the church? How are we going to meet that prob-
lem?
Answer: I feel that nothing has been exaggerated.
I feel in nearly every community there is at least
one brotherhood of Christians with whom an indi-
vidual of that kind would feel at home. That has
been true in the cities where I have lived, at least
in one or two communions such a person who is
scientifically well informed might feel quite at
home.
Question: Would the intellectual life of the min-
istry and the sermons that it produces be raised
46 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
if the sermons themselves were subject to questions
from the floor of the congregation, and would that
also be a means by which not only the preacher but
also the congregation could take a more active part
in this thing called worship?
Answer: I think there is certainly ates in the
church program for such an idea.
Mr. WITcRAFT
Mr. Witcraft continued the same theme presented
by Mr. Knox. At the conclusion of, his address he
was asked the following question:
Do you think the laboratory method can be sub-
stituted for faith in religion? |
Answer: I wouldn’t say that. I would say this,
however: God can just as truly be found in the test
tube as he can be found in the Bible. Is that say-
ing too much? If there is truth in science at all,
it is Just as true as any truth you can find any-
where.
ADDRESS
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr
It is the sorry fate of every human institution to
be finally corrupted by a curious conspiracy between
its critics and its friends. Its critics have the
inclination usually to dissociate themselves from
the community because they are overcome by the
consciousness of its weaknesses, and thus they leave
the institution, the fellowship in the community
to its uncritical devotees who immediately corrupt,
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 4?
exaggerate all of its weaknesses and multiply all
of its sins. The church is in that position. That is
why I would like to plead with you this morning
not for loyalty nor for criticism, but for a critical
loyalty to the institution of the church.
Of course, if there are those who are so obsessed
with the weaknesses of the church that they believe
the kingdom of God can be built only by junking
the church, I would like to plead with them for
loyalty as well as criticism as I would like to plead
with the complacent people for criticism as well
as loyalty. I believe that there is something in
the church that has no substitute in any other so-
ciety or institution. I believe in the church because
I don’t think that the gospel that we have, which
is a gospel of love, can ever be adequately incar-
nated in individuals, it must be incarnated in a
community. I believe in this community of the
church ideal. I believe in the church because I
know that the greatest problem of modern man is
the problem of his group life. As I see it, every
group is either very much worse or very much
better than the individuals who compose it. When-
ever you form a group upon the basis of the com-
mon hatred, the group is collectively worse than
the men in it individually. Whenever you form a
group on the basis of the highest aspirations, ideals,
and hopes of any number of people, that is the
Church of God. It is in that group that you culti-
vate the antidote of the poison of group hatreds;
it is in that group that you produce that quality
48 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
of self-transcendence that there must be in society.
The church, judged in the light of the ideal, is a
poor thing indeed. And I would like to consider
with you this morning, because I believe it belongs
to a critical appreciation of the church, the secret
of this strange apostasy of the church from the
ideal of Jesus. Here is religion, essentially simple,
a religion of love which tells that. the universe is
ultimately good, that above and within, beyond the
chaos of its life, there is meaning and there is mean-
ing essentially benevolent, that it comes from the
heart of a father, that this appreciation of the uni-
verse finally gives meaning to every human life, a
transcended appreciation of all human beings. The
gospel is as simple as all that. Out of that simple
gospel we have made the sort of thing we call
Protestantism.
What is the secret of this strange apostasy? In
the first place, the church suffered from an ill from
which all institutions suffer. It was organized
around an ideal, the ideal was the end of its exist-
ence, but as soon as it was organized, it made its
existence an end in itself. All institutions do that.
The church was tempted as all communities are
tempted. It should have overcome the temptation
perhaps to a greater degree than other institutions,
because its ideal was higher, but that is how it
was tempted naturally. It is impossible to main-
tain a gospel without a church. It is impossible to
have any vitality in an ideal without a community
to support it. Ideals are never powerful until they
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 49
are incarnate. There is the possibility of corrup-
tion in every incarnation, either corruption or cruci-
fixion. We generally choose corruption in prefer-
ence to crucifixion.
There is a natural limitation in the church as
an organization in that it makes its life an end in
itself. There is an absolute limitation in the very
fact that religion has at its best an ambition to
transform life. Religion has also at its best the
instinct to transcend life, for be you well assured
that happiness and peace and salvation to a cer-
tain extent must finally depend not upon the trans-
formation of life, but upon the transcendence of
life. You cannot be altogether happy until you can
say with the apostle, “I know how to be abased and
I know how to abound.” You cannot have final
peace if you cannot somehow or other transcend
the limitations of life. This instinct of transcend-
ence is a good thing in itself, but it has again and
again beguiled the church into Dna eS peace
and unjustified complacency.
How did we get to this modern Protestantism
with its easy connivance with Western civilization?
I should say we got there because the church, the
Christian religion conquered Western civilization
and paid the price of that conquest, partial defeat.
The church conquered Rome and was conquered by
Rome. The church conquered Greece and was con-
quered by her philosophers. The church conquered
the Nordic tribes and was conquered by Nordicism.
Each time she paid partial defeat for partial victory.
oo YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Then came the days of manhood of northern
Eurepean civilization which began with a reforma-
tion. We have been assuming that the Reforma-
tion was a return to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is one of the most fundamental mistakes
Protestantism has made. Out of it has come our
arrogance and cheap pride. For one thing, when
the Protestant Reformation came, it paid the price
of throwing overboard a great many fine things in
Roman Catholicism that we will have to fish out of
the depths of the sea again.
The Protestant Reformation was a revolt of the
religion of the inner life against the religion of the
institution and the church, and it was good. The
Protestant Reformation was more than that, it was |
a Teutonic revolt against Latin civilization. You
will note to this day the only people who are
Protestants are Nordics. We have had essentially
no success in evangelizing Slavs or south European
peoples. One of the things that we will have to
learn is that Protestantism is not a universal reli-
gion, but it is essentially the way Nordic people
have of expressing themselves religiously, and then
it is the middle classes at that. We are a highly
parochial religion.
Out of all these limitations we are trying now to
come back to something that looks like the original
gospel and idealism of Jesus. We would like again
te have the sacrificial pages substituted for all the
imperial ambitions which we have inherited from
Rome. We would like to have a spirit of love and
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 51
substitute it for the fanatic individualism which
had some virtues but more vices of our north
European peoples. I believe that there is some
chance of our getting back to the religion of Jesus
if we can have enough critically minded members of
the church who can detach themselves from this
Western civilization of ours and see its weaknesses
and detach themselves from the church to a certain
extent and see its weaknesses and realize that it
has connived entirely too much with Western civil-
ization.
There are two reasons why I think we will be able
to do something in this generation. First of all,
because our Civilization is not as obviously success-
ful as it once was, more obviously successful here
in America than in Europe. Anybody who gets
the whole picture is driven in a mood of repentance
by the failure and bankruptcy of Western life.
In the second place, our contacts with the
Oriental world are giving us a new spirit of inde-
pendence. I believe in the missionary independence
not so much for the sake of Christianizing the
heathen as for Christianizing the Christians. I see
tremendous possibilities of going into the Orient
and coming upon religious values that we despise
and to which we have been indifferent. We have
gone out there as proud Lady Bountifuls and dis-
cover now we must be humble traders in spiritual
goods, receiving for everything we give something
wonderful in return, and each one of these things
brings us closer to the early Palestinian gospel.
52 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
I would like to see the original naive religion of
the prophets culminating in the religion of Jesus
and overcoming the premature civility of our pres-
ent age and our present undergraduate population
which has produced premature civilities by sophisti-
cation. For the sophistication of the Greek finally
ran to seed and the sophistication of our own age I
would like to see substituted the Palestinian gospel,
if you will, or, rather, the religion of Jesus which
has known how to detach itself and to act as a
conscience for society.
The process by which the kingdom of God is built
is always to conquer a civilization, find itself en-
meshed in it too much, detach itself again, conquer
once more, find itself enmeshed again and detach
itself once more. Upon these successive detach-
ments depends all spiritual progress and for this
detachment we always must depend on the new
generation.
Qurstions AskKED Doctor NIgBUHR ~
Question: If the speaker considers Protestantism
highly parochial, I should like to know how he ac-
counts for the missionary activities of Protestant-
ism.
Answer: In so far as the missionary entrance
has been successful, it is due to the fact that Prot-
estantism, which, like all other churches, has never
been completely true to the Lord, has never been
able altogether to deny him.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 53
DISCUSSION
Miss O’Shields, Texas: “The question we are con-
sidering is whether mysticism can be made con-
sistent with our desire for intellectual respect-
ability.”
Mr. Edwards, Denver: “I say if faith is the pur-
suit of an ideal in spite of the consequences and
mysticism the support and production of stamina
which will enable us to maintain that type of faith,
then mysticism is not true mysticism without in-
tellectual respectability.”
Mr. Bell, Garrett: “I think I agree with the last
speaker in saying you must come to some knowledge
of what mysticism really is first. There are mystics
and mystics. Think of Paul’s great mysticism.
Think of John Wesley’s great mysticism. There
are mystics who have made their impression on the
life of the country and the life of their own times.”
Mr. Dempster, Harvard: “I suggest that we go on
to consider the dissociation of the church from
Western civilization.”
Mr. DeLong, Chicago University: “I don’t know
that we are particularly concerned about the dis-
sociation of Christianity. I think too often we
connect that with the church as Christianity. It
seems to me to be important that we keep Jesus
in our minds. I suppose you all are doing that.
Didn’t Jesus furnish a pretty good example of how
far you could go in conformity to the church as
it existed? That is, aren’t we to follow Jesus?
That is our main idea. If this conflicts with some-
By: YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
thing else, that is not worrying us particularly. As
long as it is in line with something else that is
perfectly all right. In other words, Jesus would go
in the synagogue and worship with them. There
is nothing particularly wrong in that. Out in life
he is not going to say this is so and that is so
and he will conform to your ideas. No, it has been
said, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ but I say go further;
in other words, let’s go further with Jesus, and if
this thing interferes with that, then we haven’t any-
thing to do with that, it seems to me.” |
Mr. Weston, Denver: “It occurred to me that one
reason why we cannot as yet do away with differ-
ences in denominations or denominational organ-
izations is not, as has been suggested, worship of
the leaders of the past, but the property holdings
of these different denominations and the desire of
the leaders of the present denominations for self-
glory or self-power. I mean power and fame that
would be denied them in a union of these churches.”
Mr. Masa, Taylor: “I am from the Philippine
Islands. I think one of the greatest mistakes of
the missionaries is they are trying to use Western
civilization instead of Jesus Christ. In my home
country, the Philippine Islands, they are observing
Western civilization and we are observing the prin-
ciples of Jesus Christ. I want to appeal to the
American people. If you want to bring Jesus
Christ to the people, you must bring him without
Western civilization. Western civilization has been
responsible for the student outbreak in China. If
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH DD
you want to teach Jesus Christ, you must bring
Jesus Christ and his blood and his resurrection
rather than Western civilization.”
Mr. Ingalls, Oberlin: “Mr. Chairman, I think the
church has decidedly got to break from Western
civilization; by that I mean I think we have got to
go out ahead of it. I think the church can no longer
take a cue from economists, business men, politi-
cians; the church has to take a place where it will
be giving views to them, where a man will come to
an open forum, a service of any kind, no matter
how mystical, and get something there which he
can carry with him into his business. The Chris-
tianity we have fits our industrial structure; it
sanctions everything we do. Christianity sanctions
all the evils of Western civilization. We have got
to free the clergy from all restraint of power.”
Summary of Discussion by Dr. Albert Parker
Fitch: “There are two ideas to-day in this confer-
ence. One is the notion. that there is a genuine
and objective and eternal God and that men may
be saved from the world in him. The other is the
notion that progress within the human race is real
and that mankind within itself may work out its
own salvation by magnanimity. On those two ideas
you are pulling backward and forward all morning.
Work on those ideas some more.”
A Look at the Church: A Study of the
Opportunity and the Indifference
of the Church ©
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
SPEAKERS: !
Stanley Dowley, student, Ohio University, Athens,
Ohio.
Miss Mattie Julian, student, DePauw University,
Indiana.
Dr. Hubert Herring, Ss of the Commis-
sion on Social Service of the Congregational
Church, Boston.
ADDRESS
THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRY
Stanley Dowley
I am not representing any particular group, but,
on the whole, the things that I want to say to you
about the church are the things that radicals and —
the labor movement are saying about the church.
As I have listened to the discussions on the floor
of this Conference, I have been convinced that we
do have a great common ideal, the ideal of a
brotherly society, the ideal of a Christian world. I
56
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH BT
should certainly like to live in a truly Christian
world, but where we disagree is on the means of
attaining a cooperative form of society. You think
that perhaps the church is the means. I think
that the church has failed and is failing to bring
about the cooperative form of society. If such a
society is possible, the labor movement is the means
of bringing it about.
J think I am not unduly prejudiced against the
church for the reason that for so long I have been
a member of the church. Not over two years ago
I was a Christian pacifist and it has been a very
painful thing to me to be forced to give up the reli-
gion and the faith that has meant so much in my
past life. Within the last two years I have faced
some of the realities of life and those realities have
forced me to the radical position. Radicals base
their condemnation of the church primarily upon
the way they interpret history, upon the way they
see society.
Historically, civilizations have not been civiliza-
tions of rationally and nationally unified groups,
but have been civilizations divided into two main
classes. There have been an upper class and a lower
class and as radicals see it, organized religion and
the church to-day represent the interests of the
capitalist class. It reflects the idealism of the
capitalist class, and that throughout history has
been an instrument in the hands of the dominant
class in society to suppress the working class. My
first charge, then, against the church is that his-
58 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
torically the church has been a weapon in the hands
of the dominant class of society to keep the workers
down. History bears this out. The civilizations
of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome were civiliza-
tions based on the institution of slavery, and there
was no conflict between the institution of slavery
and the religions of those countries.
During the latter days of Rome, however, there
was a real attempt to solve the class problem. Jesus
struck at the very root of it, and had he succeeded
would have abolished classes and the conflict that
they always bring about. It is very piste
that Jesus failed.
Martin Luther’s agitation during the Reforma-
tion caused the peasants to revolt, but when the
revolution left the fields of abstract theology and
entered the field of concrete social relationships,
Martin Luther turned against the workers, the
peasants in that case, and encouraged the princes
of Germany to destroy them, which they did by
the hundreds.
In the second place, I charge that the modern
church is not interested in and does not know the
facts concerning the wages and conditions of the
workers. The average Christian is earnestly
alarmed and wonders what the world is coming to
when he hears that bricklayers are getting ten and
even fourteen dollars a day, but he doesn’t take
into consideration, he doesn’t know that the brick-
layers work only sixty-three per cent of the possible
work days in the year. I have heard the same
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 59
thing about the coal miners. My father and prac-
tically all my people were coal miners in south-
eastern Ohio. In the last thirty years they have
missed ninety-three possible work days each year,
not because they were too lazy to work, not because
they didn’t want to work, but because there was
no work for them. That situation was true in all
the bituminous fields.
In the transportation, mining, and building indus-
tries the average wage is from twenty-five to thirty-
five dollars per week. In all the other industries
combined, excluding these three, the average wage
is twenty dollars per week. Certainly this doesn’t
allow for much riotous living.
Compare these wages with the cost of living, and
what do we get? The working families of America
get more than seven hundred dollars less than the
minimum standard of health and decency; they
get slightly more than the minimum of subsistence.
What does this mean? This means that the work-
ing families of this country cannot enjoy the neces-
sities and the luxuries of life that you enjoy. It
means that they cannot wear the kind of clothes
that you wear. It means that they cannot live in
the kind of houses you live in. It means that they
cannot eat the kind of food you eat. It means that
they cannot have the education that you are getting.
It means that they cannot enjoy the theater as
you enjoy it. It means that they cannot even have
the services of the dentist and doctor that you have
as a matter of course, without giving a second
60 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
thought. You might come back at this by saying
that the workers do enjoy these things, that they
are extravagant; that some of them do is true, but
remember when they do, it is always at the expense
of the necessities of life. It is always at the expense
of the health and education of their children, and
it is because the lower class as well as the middle
class does have the desire for the good things of
life. - :
_ These are a few of the facts, and I charge that
the church does not know them. If the church does
not know them, it is only to be condemned the more,
for it has done nothing about them.
In the third place, I charge that the chureh of
to-day has no practical program; it has no solution
for the class struggle; it has a delightful way of
passing the buck on the issue. The average min-
ister, if he recognizes it at all, dismisses it in about
this fashion: “There should be a better understand-
ing between capital and labor. The worker should
give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.”
These are high-sounding phrases, but they are ab-
stract, they are up in the air. How shall we get
a better understanding between capital and labor?
What is an honest day’s work? How much is an
honest day’s pay? What answer has the church to
Herrin, Illinois? What answer has the church to
Logan County, West Virginia? Did the church
protest when our supreme court nullified the child-
labor law? Did the church protest the use of the
injunction to deny the workers the exercise of those
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 61
fundamental rights, free speech and the right to
assemble?
In the fourth place, I charge that the church of
to-day, while it is not the direct physical weapon
that it has been through the Middle Ages, it is more
indirect, subtle, and perhaps for that reason more
dangerous as a moral weapon to keep the workers
satisfied, and as such is demoralizing in its effect.
In a little unorganized town near my home church
services are held in a company owned building. A
little over a year ago that same company built a
new brick schoolhouse. Can you, can anyone
imagine the workers under those conditions organ-
izing and demanding the right to live as men
should live?
The whole theory of the ethics of the church, its
whole code of morals, its whole conception of values
are sO wrapped up in the present system, are so
much a part of the present system that it creates an
atmosphere in which it is impossible to bring about
a change without making a break with it. The
church is quick to condemn and slow to understand.
It is quick to condemn the use of force on the part
of the workers and it is slow to understand that
that force is but a natural reaction to the force
and violence that is being used upon the workers
all the time. The church is quick to condemn the
strike and sabotage, two of the best weapons that
labor has at its command, and it is slow to under-
stand why it is that labor has to use these weapons.
The church is always an upholder of law and order,
62 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
which is to say, in the final analysis, it is an up-
holder of property rights as opposed to human
rights, for our laws are laws based on property
and for its protection.
QuESTIONS TO Mr. DOWLEY
Question: Could the church have a program effec-
tive in a great industrial center for meeting the
problems of that center?
Answer: My greatest hope for the church is that
it create some kind, of machinery to find out the
facts. I don’t think that the church has a program
to settle the class struggle.
Question: I will ask Mr. Dowley if he will state
what he thinks is the greatest need of labor.
Answer: I think that the greatest need is that
everybody should be a laborer of one kind or an-
other, whether manual laborers or intellectual
laborers, nevertheless they should be laborers. |
Question: Do you think the church should favor
the socializing reorganization of society? Do you
believe this conference should go on record favor-
ing a socialist reorganization of society?
Answer: Well, I don’t expect either. Of course,
I wouldn’t object to either. I believe firmly that
Jesus Christ would be opposed to capitalism for
the reason that capitalism is based on two funda-
mental reasons; one is the acquisitive impulse,
instinct or whatever you might call it. I don’t
believe that Jesus had that. In the second place,
I think capitalism exists by the use of force, and
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 63
I don’t believe that Jesus Christ would use force as
it is being used.
Question: Do you object to the church as a
church, or only as it is organized at present?
Answer: I don’t object to the teachings of Jesus,
if we had them in practice; but we do not have
them, and, furthermore, we cannot have them, I
think, by the means of the church and even by the
means of Jesus. I think Jesus failed in his day. I
think he would fail to-day.
Question: I would like to ask if you think the
church is the biggest factor in bringing about the
present condition of the workmen.
Answer: No, I do not. I think it is a natural
result of classes. I can’t conceive of a Christian
society when that society is made up of classes.
My only conception of a Christian, cooperative,
brotherly society is one without classes. I don’t
blame the church for this. The church is more or
less a product of it, not a cause of it.
Question: Does the labor group as a group have
a church which supplies perhaps the same need, fills
the same need, but goes by another name?
Answer: I think there is. I have gotten a better
spirit of brotherhood among working groups, among
the radical groups than I ever got in the many years
that I was in this church. I think there is much
better communion among these people, for the rea-
son perhaps, although not wholly, that they do have
this one great common interest which you know,
taking the entire church group, it does not have.
64 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ADDRESS: THE CHURCH AND THE RACE
QUESTION |
Miss Mattie Julian
You have asked me to join to-day that great army
of men and women who raise their voices high to
cite the failures of the church, the one institution
that has brought struggling humanity where it is
to-day, the one bright star that beckons onward
and heralds the dawn of understanding, order and
peace where to-day is confusion, disorder and con-
flict. Let those who criticize remember that the
Church of God has never failed. Man’s temple has
been desecrated with selfishness; man’s church
established among men has fallen a victim to nar-
rowness, clannishness, and a blurred perception of
values, but the Church of God still stands, its por-
tals ever high, its foundations secure. My plea
would be that we recognize more clearly that the
interdependence of mankind is our first concern in
seeking God. The author of Pilgrim’s Progress saw
it clearly when, on noticing an unhappy prisoner on
his way to the gallows, he cried out, “There, but
for the grace of God, goes John Bunyan!”
What blood the church has upon its hands! Men
are lynched at the door of the church while we
calmly take of the holy sacrament and repeat the
Apostles’ Creed. We leave to politicians a work
that belongs to the church. And so the Dyer Anti-
Lynching Bill, calculated to insure peace of mind
and safety to thousands of God-fearing men, women,
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 65
and children, has been heralded from few pulpits
in this country. It is left to politicians to defeat;
and millions of our citizens have no protection from
lawlessness and murder.
Why is it that many a church can boast of men
at its head who are Ku Klux Klansmen, anti-
Semitics, or anti-Catholics, and the like, yet stanch
supporters and ministers of God? It is because
the church has lost its real objective. Instead of
enhancing its perception of values, it has been made
to fit the prejudices and comforts of man. The
“Church of God” of which I spoke in the beginning
still stands out there in the distance far from us,
emblazoned above its portals the question and an-
swer that will solve all the ills of the world:
“Master, what is the Great Commandment?”
“Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.”
Friends, it would be traitorous not to give you the
message of the intelligent youth of my race. It Is,
as I see it, just this exhortation: “Let us be honest;
‘let us either embrace the Great Commandment, or
cease professing to be followers of the Christ.”
Young men and women, the intolerances creep-
ing into our national life must bring to us a tell-
ing consciousness at one and the same time of our
potentialities and our future responsibilities. The
church of to-morrow will be what you and I make
it. This problem of group relations is a spiritual
problem, and the church is a spiritual influence.
The flagrant refusal of the church to-day to assume
66 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
more definite responsibility for racial intolerance
and group antipathies challenges the courage and
bravery of youth. Among the demands of youth
to-day is freedom from traditional shackles and
hypocrisies. We demand fair play; we demand
that our football players shall play the game fairly.
Will we supply our church of to-morrow with sufii-
cient strength and courage that it may be broader
than the narrow confines of hatreds and discords,
transcend the boundaries of races and nations and
fearlessly advance toward that ideal of pati
demanded by the true Church of God?
ADDRESS: THE CHURCH AND THE MAN IN
THE STREET
Mr. Hubert Herring
It seems to me that the criticisms of the church
by the man in the street can be grouped under three
main heads. First, the church is an agency for
propaganda rather than a free fellowship for spir-
itual exploration. Second, the church has lost it-
self in institutionalism. Third, the church has lost
the spirit of daring and of adventure. These are
the indictments which are being talked and
preached from screen and stage, in magazine arti-
cles and in popular novels, and we might as well
face the fact that the man on the street, whoever
he is, is raising questions like these. First, the
church is an agency of propaganda rather than a
fellowship for free spiritual exploration. This man
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 67
in the street sees the Presbyterian Church and the
Congregational Church and your church lined up
on Main Street, each of them with its own par-
ticular thing to sell, at least so he thinks. He
comes to me and he says: “I am a free moral agent.
I don’t want to be mesmerized. I want to do my
own thinking, and I resent it when the church tries
to get me into an atmosphere where by soft music
and lovely prayers and by ritual and by sacrament
and by offertory and all the rest of these things they
try to create around me an atmosphere which
cramps me and holds me in and which is calculated
to make me believe as they believe.”
On the one hand, against the effrontery of the
fundamentalist who strips God of his modesty and,
on the other hand, the innocuous uncertainties and
negatives of the rambunctious, cantankerous liberal
who knows nothing and hopes to know nothing, the
man in the street cries out against all propaganda,
and cries out, if for anything, for that lost radiance
of the Christian religion which has liberty and
which has sweep and depth and the desire to learn
and the desire to explore the great areas of human
understanding and of divine power.
Second, “The church,” so says the man in the
street, “has lost itself in institutionalism.” The
lines of the indictment are clear to you. For that
there have been words aplenty and just words of
condemnation here. ‘Then the building of local
structures, the building up of your local budget, the
building of more costly and more beautiful build-
68 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ings come in. So your local church faces three
things: first, the appeal of the world-wide work;
second, the appeal of desire to push the church out
more effectively in America, and, third, the need
of strengthening the church at home. Out of that
there come budgets; out of that there comes the
need for men to raise budgets; there comes the
building up of drives and promotions. Most of it
is good, but the danger is that the man to whom
the task will be given to promote this will be picked
out because he is perfectly safe, because he has never
said a word about the steel corporation, because
he never said a word about the Anaconda Copper
Company, because he never said a word about open
shop or closed shop or anything else that makes any
earthly difference.
So I say let the church beware of the price by
which it builds up institutions and organizations.
Bigness is not greatness. You represent many
churches here, and big churches, and churches that
are able to be bigger all the time. What is the
greatest church in America? If I were going to
pick the greatest church on the basis of influence
during the past dozen years, I would pick the small-
est of the crowd, a church whose badge is a better
passport in Europe to-day than any passport signed
by any secretary of state—the Quakers.
I bid you guard the church against the lure of
bigness, against the temptation to think that by
adding hundreds of thousands of members and
millions of investments it can become great.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 69
The third indictment is that the church has lost
the free play, the daring, the spirit of adventure.
Who are the perilous element in the church?
Not the fundamentalists, not the cantankerous
liberals; they are only little groups, but the perilous
people in the church are the kind of people in it
whom you are in danger of resembling, the tired
people, the weary people, the people who are con-
tent. The dangerous element in the church is the
people who lack buoyancy, who have no expectancy
in their souls, for these are the devourers, if not
of widows’ houses, of the souls of the prophets, and
who are always saying: “Why worry? We are con-
tent, we are rich, we have automobiles and houses
in Evanston and Oak Park. Why worry? Preach
the gospel and don’t go wandering around stirring
up trouble” Those are the devourers of the
prophets.
What have you to do with it? The voice came
crying, “What shall I cry? All flesh is grass and
there is nothing worth while.” Again the voice
came, “Cry out against the sterile barrenness of
the institutionalism; cry out against the cowardice
and lethargy and weakness of the church. Ory!
Cry!”
“But,” says somebody in the back pew, “vou may
make mistakes.”
Yes, but far better to make mistakes even in the
direction of economic insanity, far better to make
such mistakes even though you go too far than it is
to make nothing.
70 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
DISCUSSION
Mr. Weston, University of Denver: I want to
bring a few facts from another angle which I don’t
think was touched very much—the ministerial
angle. It was my privilege last winter to sit in
with a ministerial group in Denver, Colorado. I
think it is tragic that a minister has to be afraid
that his congregation will not stand for the
truth. I think they will stand for a lot more than
the minister believes they will. I am particularly
concerned about another feature of it, ministers
who can sit in a group gathering and call each
other brother when they have hatred and jealousy
and greed in their hearts. How can we expect any-
thing of an organization whose leaders haven’t
brotherly love? :
Mr. Wyker, Kentucky: I am a preacher. I want
to back up what Mr. Weston has just said. Last
night we had pointed out to us the sin of duplica-
tion, the sin of waste, like a half-dozen different
churches in a town of one thousand people. I am
working in such a town just now. I find there,
with the exception of the young people, it is impos-
sible to tackle the race problem. It is practically
impossible to tackle the problem of classes.
Mr. Rogers, Union: I was very much interested
in what Mr. Dowley said about the fact that he had
found more real spiritual experience in the radical
groups than he had in his previous experience in
churches. I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t
precisely what is the matter with the church. Why
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 71
shouldn’t a church take it as its own duty to
free these men, the Centralia Wobblies who are un-
justly held in prison, or why shouldn’t the church
do something definite about the fact that in hun-
dreds of towns in this country compulsory military
training is being put in the high schools and com-
pulsory military training is being put in the col-
leges? I want help, but feel we would find a great
deal of new life perhaps in the church if we took it
upon ourselves to see to it that the church was a
fellowship for action and not merely a place of
worship.
Mr. Dempster, Harvard: I don’t think that the
church as an institution can do anything in a large
way to change the labor or industrial situation, or
to solve the lay problem other than that of dissemi-
nation of facts and education. The church, as I
understand it, as an institution, does not work with
bodies of people, it does not pass laws, does not
enforce laws, does not make changes in large social
groups; it is working with them, but not working
as individuals. The church is an institution that
brings individuals to God with their ideas in wor-
ship, and then tries to transform those individuals
and their personality, tries to make them realize
there is a work to be done in the world for man-
kind, tries to show them what work to do and to
educate them as to what is to be done.
Mr. Wilder, North Carolina: In talking with the
president of a university for Negroes he said, in
the first place, he was supported by the denomina-
72 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
tional mission board, but he could not carry on the
policy which he thought was Christian and remain
under that denomination, so he had to separate and
try for free-lance support. I find there that now
there is no color line whatsoever. The teachers and
students live and eat together. I found every one
as an individual and not labeled as to color of skin.
I have been astonished. It has changed my view-
point.
Mr. Rogers, Georgia: Mr. Chairman, I live in
Atlanta and happen to know of an example where
the church is doing good work in spreading the
brotherhood among the races. There is a minis-
terial association in Atlanta which began during
the race riot of 1906, I believe. Most of you know
there was a terrible race riot in Atlanta and blood
was shed on both sides. Ministers of the town got
together with the colored ministers and formed
what is now known as the Inter-Racial Council, and
that council since that time has prevented two dis-
turbances from growing into other riots. This
work is being done actually in Atlanta in that way.
I don’t see why it can’t be done in other places.
Foreign Student: We foreign students have come
to this great country, the greatest Christian nation,
not only to get our education in your institutions
of learning, but we have come to see. Remember
that when we go back to our home lands we will
not speak of the great institutions you have; we will
not speak of the great material progress that you
possess, but we will speak to our people of what you
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 73
are thinking in this country. If we speak favorably
about your Christian ways of living, then we will
promote peace and good will and we will see more
of Christ, because we have experienced through the
lives of Christian men what Christianity means. So
we foreign students hope that you will show Jesus
more, not only in words, but you must show us in
your lives.
Mr. John Gardner, Chicago: I am the student
assistant in one of the four hundred thousand dol-
lar churches I heard spoken of this afternoon. I
have some seven hundred boys and girls in the
Sunday school every Sunday morning, and in ex-
amining the life of a boy and girl, I am trying to
help that boy and girl to form attitudes. I believe
in religious education we learn to apply our reli-
gion in race, industry, and the whole of life. It is
our task to gain teachers of real caliber who can
help boys and girls do this, and I think we may say
if we can have larger parishes in America, if we can
- have in America greater institutions in which there
are level-headed leaders, leaders who have had full
experience, then we are going to have a forward
moving religion in America.
Student, Fisk University: I want to give a bit
of information and ask a question.. The information
I want to give is this: in Nashville we are meet-
ing what is called the race problem, as evidenced
by the fact that we have a student forum which
meets twice every month to discuss racial and reli-
gious questions, all on the basis of information and
74. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
discussion. All colleges and universities of the city
are invited. During the week of Thanksgiving I
attended a conference at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I think the secret of this is the fact that we no
longer look upon it as a race problem or question,
but we look upon the things we do and say or the
things we are doing and saying as being in the
spirit of Christ. There should be only this one
question: Is this action or is this work Christ-like?
Student: We have been considering this question
from one side. All the speeches we have heard on
this question have been in favor of working through
the church and reforming the church. I would like
to suggest if there is any student here who thinks
the church ought to be scrapped and that we cannot
work through the church, we would like to have him
say so.
Student: I think that the first thing as students
we should do is to realize our responsibility to the
laboring class of the world. The second thing I
think we ought to do is to get acquainted with the
laboring people. The third thing we ought to do is
not fear poverty of material things, but poverty of
the spirit.
Miss Childrey, Corneil University: My sugges-
tion is that we seriously stop talking about Jesus
quite so much and really study him, try to see the
principles behind the stories of his life, the situa-
tion in which he was and the principle he enunciated
in that situation and try to apply it to the situation
we are facing.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 75
Mr. Kim, Korea: I don’t know whether you can
understand me, but I will try to explain. First of
all, I believe in a universal Christian Church. We
have a Methodist Church or a Presbyterian Church,
but I believe in Christ the universal church. I be-
lieve that finally we will have one big Christian
Church all over the world.
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
Dr. Albert Parker Fitch: As a group, if I under-
stand you, you have definitely rejected Mr. Dowley’s
counsel of despair, and, as I understand the group
this afternoon, what has been the mental temper
of it, it has been what I should call—I use the term
descriptively and not evaluatively—a conservative
temperament. You have been saying that while the
church is not doing as well as she might do, she is,
from your point of view, on the whole, doing so
well you would not regard for a moment leaving
her behind or getting out. You have spoken again
of the divided church, and I judge the temper of this
audience is very clear upon the scandal and the
waste of denominational rivalries, perhaps more
clear on that than on the profound temperamental
differences and the need of plasticity in human
organization, which to some extent justify denomi-
national groups.
Another thing brought out very clearly this after-
noon is that you will not face any issue which says
either, on the one hand, we may have a great hu-
manitarian faith which shall be able through the
6 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
best of modern sociology and modern science to
work from within upon curing humanity’s ills, you
won't have that, on the one hand, as a sharp issue,
or, on the other hand, a merely mystical church.
WEDNESDAY EVENING SESSION
SPEAKERS:
Mr. Howard Becker, Student, Northwestern Uni-
versity.
Dr. R. E. Diffendorfer, Board of Foreign Missions
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
ADDRESS
Mr. Becker
THERE is no reason why the church as we know it
need remain what it- has so often been in the past,
a middle-aged institution run by the middle aged
for the middle aged. There is every chance in the
world for a young man or woman possessed of a
modicum of ability and a little horse sense to gear
into the organizational machinery in a lastingly
effective fashion. Look at the gallery. Here are —
any number of officials of church boards and organ-
izations who are forward looking and sympathetic.
If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be up there. I know
they would be only too glad to be approached by
some of you who want te work within the church in
positions which they can help you obtain.
Let me briefly outline the possibilities of gearing |
into the machinery, either as a simple lay worker
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 7
or as One of the professionals. First of all, in the
local church—your church—if you are to effect
any change worth mentioning, you may have to begin
by converting the minister. That is more easily said
than done, but it is worth trying anyway. You
may have to use strong-arm methods in the process ;
but if seeing a few stars will make any of these peo-
ple into children of light, let’s use the strong-arm
method. Then there is the chance of teaching in
what we so often laughed at, but which is a great,
though neglected field for the youth movement to
work in, and that is the Sunday school. In its old-
fashioned form it is rapidly giving way to more
effective methods and agencies, but it can be
changed still more rapidly by teachers who are will-
ing to put up with an antiquated machine for the
purpose of building a better one. There are any
number of niches that can be utilized by people
who really want to act and not talk, as I am doing
this evening.
ADDRESS: “THE CHURCH’S WORLD-WIDE
OPPORTUNITY”
Doctor Diffendorfer
Doctor Diffendorfer outlined the geographical extent of
the church’s interest in foreign countries as listed in the
Missionary Atlas. He also gave full statistics concerning
the number of staff members, plants, and the amount of
money spent per year.
ee He continued: “That, in brief, young men and
women, is the thing we are discussing to-night, and
%8 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
the first point I want to make about it is that it
stands as the greatest monument of a youth move-
ment that the church and the world has ever known.
It was founded by students! Whatever successes
may have come during this last one hundred years,
or whatever liabilities this enterprise carries to-day,
you can just charge it up to the young men and
women of the student bodies of previous genera-
tions.
“What was the challenge of this great movement
to the students of these days in times past? As
I read their lives, the lives of Adoniram Judson,
William Carey, David Livingstone, and Griffith
John and the rest of them down through the
years, this is what I find was the thing that chal-
lenged them in that world situation: first of all,
there was a lost world and there wasn’t any doubt
about it. They also had an equal conviction that
they had a Christ who could save this world. They
also had a very deep desire to share with the world
the blessings of our own civilization. These con-
victions called forth from them the exercise of per-
fectly tremendous courage and patience. Here were
the pioneers of the church’s geographical frontier
and they have penetrated into every last hinterland
that the world knows geographically.
“TY would not have you understand that this pio-
neering is done, not for one minute. I can say to
you as a body of devoted students when you have
made up your minds to tackle the problem of bring-
ing the gospel of Jesus to the six or eight millions
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 79
of Indians in South America hitherto untouched,
the chance will be yours to measure up to the
courage and the devotion and the self-sacrifice of
these to-night whom we honor. I want to say to
you when you have determined to break the bonds
of illiteracy and to banish disease and to set the
house in order among the eighty millions of Negroes
in the heart of Africa, some of them living yet in
impenetrable forests, the spirit of David Livingstone
will arise among you again. You will go out to
trek for thirty thousand miles on foot through all
the years of your life in order that in some dark
place in Africa the light of God’s love may come;
that still needs to be done. There is room for every
one of you to go and preach the gospel to people »
who have never heard it.
“Before we dismiss the simple topic of sending
men and women to tell the gospel story, the sending
of men and women to teach illiterate minds, the
sending of men and women to heal the bodies of men
broken from disease, before we dismiss that idly
in the face of this perfectly stupendous enterprise I
have described to you to-night, I want to say to you
as a missionary secretary that I challenge this
bunch of youth here to-night to answer this call in
the spirit of the men and the women who have
preceded you.
“But an entirely new set of problems is appear-
ing as a result of what I have been describing.
Therefore, we are not ashamed of them; they are
the natural product of the planting here and there
80 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
throughout the world of the seeds of the light, of
the story of brotherhood, the story of sacrifice and
redemptive love. These problems are due, as I see
it, to the increased transportation of the modern
world, to increased communication in the modern
world, to the development of modern education
throughout the world, to the spread of the scientific
spirit throughout the world, to the growth of the
democratic ideals, based upon an appreciation of
the sacredness of human personality.
“One of the new problems is that of national-
ism. It is manifesting itself, first of all, in men’s
concern about their country and its destiny and its
future. In other words, there is a political side to
it, and it is very strong in some countries. It is
rising up also in another way which is far more
important and more fundamental than in the polit-
ical aspect of it. It is rising up in certain social
and economic movements. It is saying in some
countries of the world that no longer shall men and
nations, by whatever hook or crook they may use,
become through law and war and through the vari-
ous kinds of pressure that can be brought upon men,
exploited for private gain and personalities be de-
graded in the dust in order that certain nations
might have gold in their coffers. The fact of the
matter is men are not going to stand for that any
more. You might as well give that up. Some of
you are going to have very great temptations before
very long when the agents of foreign business con-
cerns will begin to visit your colleges and begin to
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 81
enlist you to become the foreign agents. of just such
exploitation concerns at nice, fat salaries, to go to
the ends of the earth to exploit private resources, to
exploit public resources, to exploit natural resources
and people in order that foreign trade might be
built up. You are going to have to face that before
very long.
“Along with nationalism come race antagonisms.
There were no such things, no race antagonisms
particularly among a lot of ‘the early pioneers.
There were strange adjustments to make, but no
race antagonisms. As I see it the race problem
stands to-day as a frontier that is far more difficult
to penetrate than the trekking through the track-
less plains and forests of an unknown continent.
It is an unknown path to us yet, and there are lurk-
ing along it on all sides the most difficult adjust-
ments that have to be made and the most difficult
misunderstandings that have to be cleared away.
“May I mention another frontier that has come
and will appear often here?—that is war. May I
mention another that ought to appear here time
and again?—it is the philosophy of materialism
or economic determination. That is a frontier that
you have got to penetrate, and it will come pinching
pretty close when we come to match up as to exactly
what are the motives within us that will drive us
forward into our own life-work and into our own
destinies. Will it be the lure of material things,
according to the ideas of this present day, or will
we manifest enough power and enough spirit to rise
$2 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
above it and conquer it and make them become
means to a great end, the development of human
personality throughout the world?
“Tt was not sentiment that was back of the thou-
sands who have laid down their lives to build a
superstructure of God’s kingdom throughout the
world. It was not a twist in the blind move they
made; no. There was back of it all reason, not
simply one reason, for intelligence, far-sightedness,
acumen, preparation, long, long preparation were
back of it. Then, somehow or another, when it was
caught up on the wings of religion, and God through
Christ had come into these men’s hearts, faith be-
came courageous and the hero was born.”
QUESTIONS ASKED DocToR DIFFENDORFER
Question: “I would like to ask a question both
of Doctor Diffendorfer and of the conference. I
wonder whether or not this speech doesn’t contain
a very terrible indictment of missions in two of the
basic points in the speaker’s address. In the first
place, he bases the judgment of missions upon their
size and the amount of money that is invested and
the numbers of people working instead of by the
Spiritual results. In the second place, the primary
excuse for missions is given. as an outworn gospel
based on the idea that all the world is lost except
us. I would like to hear some discussion on that
point.”
Answer: “Let’s take the second one first; it is
easier. What I said was what you reiterate. The
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 83
men who endured this courage and gave this per-
sonal sacrifice in former days did it because they
believed the world was lost and because they be-
lieved they had a Christ that could save them. I
now challenge you to a rediscovery and a restate-
ment of that same problem for your day and your
age. The very fact that you are here and that you
are finding all of these problems intimates, at least,
to me that you feel there is something terribly
wrong with the world. I don’t know whether it is
lost or not, but there is something terrible the
matter with it. In this day there is something the
matter with it, and I challenge you also to find
whether or not you can find a Christ that will save
it. :
“The second one was that it was a terrible indict-
ment of missions that I should base my estimate
of them on size. I did not begin to estimate nor
intend to estimate the spiritual results of mission-
ary enterprise. I merely said I wanted to give you
its scope and its size in order that we might see
what we were talking about.”
Question: “What is a new motive that could be
supplied for missions in this day, provided we
assume the old motive has gone by the boards?”
Answer: “Just one motive and that is to make
known Jesus to the world. That is all.”
Question: “Is it not true that all this great mis-
sionary work is being carried on by different
denominations for the main purpose or partial pur-
pose at least, of furthering their own denomina-
84 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
tions in those countries, resulting in our having a
group of different denominations within the for-
eign nations? If so, what is being done to change
it and make it simply Christianizing a mission field
instead of denominationalizing it?”
Answer: “With few exceptions—and there are
some very outstanding exceptions—the spread of
denominationalism does not enter in at all at the
present time in the foreign missionary enterprise.
No candidate that comes before our board is asked
whether he will go to the field and spread Meth-
odism. I can mention a dozen boards where that
question is not asked. There are some exceptions.
I think we are making very great progress in that
matter.
“Our goal now is unity and cooperation and a
delimitation of our fields, so we have neither over-
lapping nor conflict of any sort. It is definitely in
front of us, but it is a reasonable question to ask.”
Discussion
Mr. Wyker, Kentucky: I think we Americans are
vain and proud and haughty when we pretend to
take Christ to the foreign field and do not have
him ourselves.
If you don’t think so, talk to our foreign students
in our colleges. Do we not need to renew or build
the Christ within our own lives before we promote
missions?
Mr. Turner, Illinois: I think the fact that we
haven’t got light adequately in America is one of
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 85
the very best reasons why we need in our poor, in- |
adequate, weak way to try to carry it to other
nations. All of the great religions of the world in-
cluding Christianity have come to us from the
Orient, and we certainly need its interpretation of
Christianity to-day. I for one do feel that by our-
selves here in America we can never get that inter-
pretation of Christianity, and we need all the help
we can get from our Oriental friends. Foreign
students have made valuable contributions in the
last few years, and I think Orientals have much to
contribute to us yet. I think it is very poor to ask
them to interpret Christ themselves and not try to
voice our vision of Christ to them.
Mr. Harper, Yale: I would like to go to history
to show that the most glorious periods of church
history have been those periods where missionary
enterprise has been most active. I would be in
favor of a missionary enterprise in our own day as
one of the means of putting new life into our church
to-day.
Mr. Leeper, Allegheny: With the church living in
the midst of a social order that is based upon a
plan of distributing rewards according to the
capacity for getting money rather than the need of
the individual, we go forth and bring to other peo-
ple an idea of religion which holds up as its ideal
a social order founded on the ideal of love and serv-
ice.
I challenge the students of this conference to look
over their budgets or the budgets of the families
86 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
from which they come and see whether they are liv-
ing off of some one else or whether they are restrict-
ing themselves to that level which would give every
other one an equal chance.
Christianizing our Civilization
THuRSDAY MoRNING, DECEMBER 31
SPEAKERS:
Harold Ehrensperger, Student, Garrett Biblical
Institute.
Roy Burt, Rock Springs, Wyo.
Marian Warner, Student, University of Ohio.
Robert Weston, Student, University of Denver.
ADDRESS: “UNCHURCHED MASSES AND
UNCHRISTIANIZED CHURCHMEN”
Mr. Ehrensperger
My subject is “Unchurched America.” The ordi-
nary conception of that phrase is a vast number of
people who do not belong to any church. We think
in terms of board secretaries, rescue missions, and
people who are concerned with saving souls. I am
going to talk this morning about another kind of
unchurched America, an unchurched America which
consists of maladjusted groups, a vast array of peo-
ple who, whether they are converted or not—which
doesn’t make any difference—are maladjusted and
therefore need certain kinds of special treatment.
I refer to the insane, the feeble-minded, the criminal,
the inebriate, the deformed, the dependent, and, on
the other hand, to the groups that are so intelligent
that they have left the church. They are just as
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88 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
much maladjusted as far as the church is concerned
as these other groups to which I have referred.
Let us look at the native stock from which the
church is to recruit its membership, Only four per
cent of Americans are of high-grade mentality.
Thirty per cent of Americans are about as old men-
tally as an eight-year-old boy. Our national mental
average is 13.2 years. 7
We have agreed that the church needs intelli-
gence; we have agreed from this pulpit that the
church needs to stress intelligence, in other words
that the top average, the four per cent of Ameri-
cans, ought to be ruling the church, but at the pres-
ent time that is not true. You may make morons
good, but you will never make them anything else
than morons by religion.
Let us look at another maladjusted group, the
crime group. Since 1850 the population of the
United States has increased one hundred and
seventy per cent, and the criminal class has in-
creased four hundred and forty-five per cent. How
glibly most of us who have been interested in eco-
nomic things have blamed this maladjustment upon
the wealth of the United States. How much we
have blamed it upon our capitalistic civilization.
According to Judge Olson, of the Municipal Court
of Chicago, eighty-seven per cent of our criminals
are not responsible. In other words, the church
has been going out to save humanity, it has sent
rescue missions, it has established all sorts of home
missionary programs to save these people who have
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 89
been lost. But have we gone out to find out why
they have been lost?
Yes, the church is making a valiant attempt to
rescue the perishing, but the great mistake, it seems
to me, has been that the church has supposed that
the church can make people good. Good people
make the church; the church does not make people
good. The germ plasm that produces churchgoing
people is getting scarce. We must approach the
matter, therefore, scientifically and intelligently.
We need a church that will minister to all the
needs of man, a church that will cooperate in giv-
ing advice—let us say and frankly say—on birth
control so we can save some of these people, actually
save them, so that it will be better that a person
shall not be born than that he shall be born men-
tally unfit.
Have we not, therefore, essentially gone at this
thing in the wrong way? Is it not, therefore, the
program of the church to begin a different approach,
to begin the approach from the point of view of
social intelligence, to begin with the idea that we
are facing a situation that must be met by scien-
tifically interested and alert people? Is it not true
that the heads of our churches, particularly the min-
isters, should be alert and aware of these situa-
tions, and that our home mission boards should be
more conscious of the social crises which are facing
us at the present time?
I said before that the germ plasm which pro-
duces churchgoing people is getting scarce. I re-
90 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
peat again that the church does not make people
good, but that, on the other hand, good people make
the church. I think I could present nothing which
you could carry away which would be of more im-
portance. We need a more intelligent study, a more
intelligent young crowd, we need young people who
are willing to investigate facts, which, however un-
fortunate they may be, must be faced by all of us
and must be remedied by going at the cause ae
not the effect of these social crises.
ADDRESS: “A LOCAL CHURCH MEETING
COMMUNITY SITUATIONS” }
Mr. Roy Burt
There was a time when the program of social- —
ism and communism made its appeal to me. I know
what it is to lie on my side in the slime and dirt of
a coal mine. I know what it is to go through a
strike. I know what it is to live in a family in
which the father was hounded from one town to
another, blackballed by every mining company be-
cause he dared as a member of the Labor Council
of that community to insist that the coal mines
change conditions which endangered the health of
the community. I have seen my father and mother
put a few boiled potatoes on the table and go out
in the back yard while we kids had something to
eat. So communism and socialism made an appeal
to me. But there came an ever-gripping conviction
that the ideal about which Jesus talked of the king-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 91
dom of God with the solidarity of all mankind could
not by any manner of means be based on any pro-
gram of class struggle and class warfare.
We are a community of about nine thousand peo-
ple, located in the center of the largest soft-coal
field west of the Mississippi River, a community in
which there are between thirty-five and forty differ-
ent racial and national groups represented. In the
coal camps adjacent to this place there are about
nine thousand more people, making in all about
eighteen thousand people.
There are two fundamental principles that are at
the center of the whole program of the church in
this community. In its religious-educational policy,
in its pulpit ministry, in all of its activities. First
is the conception of the church, that the church is
simply an agency for the bringing in of the kingdom
of God. The second is the abiding conviction that
when Jesus was here he took the most sacred thing
which the Jew had, which was his Sabbath day, and
he said concerning that thing, “The Sabbath day was
made for man, not man for the Sabbath ;” and I
have a conviction that if Jesus were here to-day, he
would take the most sacred thing which we have in
our present social system, which is private property,
and he would say the only value which property has
is as it ministers to human personality.
In our local Sunday school we have seven differ-
ent nationalities with two or three races repre-
sented. In my boys’ class I have ag many as seven-
teen different nationalities, with the Oriental and
92 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
the Negro race, and there are no distinctions made.
In our Sunday schools in some of our camps we
have all sorts of nationalities represented.
In our church building we have a meeting one
night a week of men around thirty and past middle
age, meeting in a labor institute studying sociology,
economics, labor journalism, fitting themselves for
leadership. There are to-day literally thousands of
men who are working through the week and spend-
ing from one to two nights a week with courses in
economics and sociology and history, fitting them-
selves for leadership. They are going to come into
their leadership, and they are simply challenging
young men and young women out of the college
world who, by the way, are the greatest recipients
of privilege and the benefits of our social order
of any single group. Churches must recognize at
once that they do not have a monopoly on bringing
in the kingdom of God, but they must have the
honesty, when they see any group that is doing a
piece of work that brings in the ideals of human
relationship, to help them, to go with them as far
as they can go.
First of all we must help those men to see that
their ideals of human brotherhood and solidarity of
humanity rest on the teachings of Jesus. Then we
have to turn right around and interpret to our
church that the phrase we so glibly praise, “Thy
kingdom come,” means the transformation of human
relationships to-day, and some of us are going to
have to pay a price for it. |
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 93
I believe there never has been a bigger oppor-
tunity in the world than is offered to-day in the
church for it to accept the challenge to go abso-
lutely to smash in order that the ideals of the king-
dom of God may be realized in terms of human re-
lationship. Let me say frankly that I would rather
go plumb to smash on the program of Jesus Christ
and human relationship than succeed on any other
basis at all.
THE RACE PROBLEM ON A COLLEGE
CAMPUS
Marian Warner
Miss Warner described the Inter-Racial Council at
Ohio State University, proposed and carried through by
Christian students with the cooperation of a local church.
She outlined how, in the face of considerable skepticism,
Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and foreign students were
brought together in a common fellowship to face their
common problems. She continued:
“Two or three very definite results that have come
from this situation. One Korean boy, who later
came in touch with our work and with our interna-
tional forum, came to our university with the
feeling that he did not want to go any place where
there was a Japanese student, but he overcame
that. He had been very closely mixed up in the
affairs in Korea, and he said: ‘I cannot go where
those men are. I want to kill them” TI have seen
him this year, after a few of these meetings, sit
with these Japanese boys and talk with them just
as he does with any of us. He seemed to have lost
that feeling entirely.
94 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
“One night I was having a committee meeting at
my house. There were some colored students, some
white students, and some foreign students. We
were talking about the different things that had
come out of this while it was even yet young. A
young colored man said: ‘I came up from the South
expecting to find things different here. I had been
a Christian in the South, but after the treatment I
got here I decided there were no Christian people
anywhere, and I was about to give up Christianity
until I was called into this Inter-Racial Council
and realized there were a few people on the Ohio
State campus who were willing to show the spirit
of Jesus Christ. I have gone back to my form of
belief and have strengthened my feeling that Jesus
really means something.’ We have felt perhaps that
was worth all the effort we have put into this.
“T could tell you other instances of the same kind,
but Jet me remind you that this is not yet a year
old and that we have a great deal to do. It is nota
perfect organization at all. It is merely a gesture
in the right direction. We feel that these are the
things that the church should do. We feel that this
is the way Jesus wants us to go.”
ADDRESS: “A CHURCH MEETING A LOCAL
LABOR SITUATION”
Robert Weston
It is my purpose to tell you of the work of a
church that has an answer to a large part of the
criticism of the church that we heard yesterday.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 95
Eight years ago Grace Methodist Church of Den-
ver, Colorado, was a dying church. To-day Grace
Church is rated by the Rockefeller Foundation as
the outstanding church in the entire region between
Chicago and the Pacific Coast. Grace Church is an
organization of autonomous groups.
The first group is the labor college, which gives
the working people of Denver an opportunity to
invest their earnings in study and discussion, that
gives them culture and self-development equal to
that which university students are supposed to re-
ceive. It trains working people in cooperation by
which they may better stand by the causes which
labor sponsors. It gives such courses as economics,
psychology, dramatic art, English, parliamentary
law, sciences, or any subject which ten or more stu-
dents request. It charges a fee of two dollars a
family a semester. It is responsible only to a board
of directors, elected mainly by union men, and no
attempt is made to curb the thought or activity of
either students or professors. In addition to the
classes, each night the college meets it has an hour’s
forum on subjects previously chosen by a committee
of students.
There is an open forum which is attended by an
average of about four hundred and fifty people and
which meets every Sunday during the winter
months. It is dedicated to the principle that what-
ever is true will withstand criticism and will come.
out of attack finer and purer than before. It brings
outstanding men of every field of work, no matter
96 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
how radical or how conservative they may be, to
Denver to present their work and their viewpoint.
All religious services in Grace Community
Church are devoted to the promotion of the Chris-
tian mode of living and thinking. All preaching is
so planned as to stimulate people to think reli-
giously without dictating to them what that reli-
gious thinking shall be, and to stimulate them to
make their religion one of mutual help and serving
others as well as self-purification. Social-recrea-
tional work, such as good motion pictures, active
game parties, basketball, and so forth, is provided
for all people from childhood up. Printing and all
other work possible is done by union men. People
are reminded once in a while of the need for buying
goods with the union label. Grace Church took an
active part in raising three thousand dollars after
a great tramway strike that a fair investigation
might be made of the causes and conduct of the
strike, and the results published. Grace Church is
one of the few churches which threw themselves into
the fight to keep Judge Ben Lindsey in his great
work for the children when the predatory interests
and the Ku Klux Klan recently made their supreme
effort to unseat him.
The young people’s society has a very complete
program, dramatic, educational and religious, with
a midweek forum of their own, a Christian service
program ‘rendering distinct service in the com-
munity and the city, social, recreational, as well as
basketball and parties, and Sunday educational, in-—
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 97
spirational, and expressional meetings. Given the
idea, any church can do in some measure what
Grace Church is doing. It is the cooperation of
working members and working people, most of them
young, that has made Grace Chureh. The few rich
members dropped out early in the building of the
new Grace Church. Its ideals were not theirs. The
working people of Denver got behind the work and
made it possible. The working people of any city
or town will stand with such a program as this
even though it be very imperfect in its beginning.
Not only did the rich members drop out when their
help was most needed, but many pastors of Denver
churches fought the work.
Ask any of the union men who have been in the
thick of the struggle for human rights and welfare
what they think of the churches, and you will not
get a very warm response. Ask the same kind of men
in Colorado, and you will find that Grace Church has
become to them a real inspiration and help. I be-
lieve if we are ever going to bring the masses of
people into the church, it will have to be through
the methods of this church.
DISCUSSION
Miss Dorothy Richards, DePauw: I have gone to
a church, in fact to several. churches in the cities,
where the congregation depends upon the kind of
clothes that are worn. A poor laboring person
would not dare sit in the back of the church for
fear of condemnation. Furthermore, I have been
98 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
asked if I would not cease teaching a certain Sun-
day school class because it was found that I did not
believe in the virgin birth of Christ. Again, I have
just come from a college where the church put on a
dishonest campaign for building funds. I have been
dictated to as to what I should believe and as to
what interpretation I should put upon religion,
either admittedly in some churches or surrepti-
tiously in others. I wish we could define the church.
John Knox, Emory University, Georgia: The ques-
tion has been asked, What is it that the church pos-
sesses which qualifies it in a unique way to be the
instrument through which these social ideals that
we all have may become realized in our social order?
There are two things at least that occur to me.
One is that the church has the historical Jesus; re-
gardless of what our theories about Jesus are, we
have the historical Jesus; the church has him, the
world has him. Then the church has an organ-
ization. I believe that these two things distinctly
constitute the church as the agency through which
those who are interested in bringing in the kingdom
of God can operate.
Mr. Bennett, University of Michigan: Christ said:
“Thou shalt love thy God with thy whole being.
This is the first and the greatest commandment.
And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself.” When a man has lived up to
those two commandments, it seems to me he is a
Christian, and the great office of the church is to
see to it that folks live up to them. .
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 99
Mr. Headrick, Southwestern University, Kansas:
The church is a national organization owning land
and buildings, and made up of the clergy, the laity,
and any other officials that might work in the func-
tioning units in different communities. If you call
those things churches and get off of this vague idea
of the mysticism of the church, we can discuss what
these individual units can do.
Mr. Dempster, Harvard: I think the church is an
institution which exists primarily to nourish each
individual who comes into it, to encourage him to
devote his life to the best things that he knows; an
institution that exists to increase the conviction in
each individual who comes within its doors that
life is worth living and that the best life he knows
is worth living. I think that is the peculiar fune-
tion of the church.
Mr. Jenkins, Ohio State: I think we are doing a
mighty bad thing here if we are locating on one
side of the social-service aspect of the church, and
going into the question of industry and racial prob-
Jems and into war questions and attempting to solve
them, while we place on the other side, completely
severed, spirituality and mysticism. The two must
be linked together inseparably. That is the way
Christ would work it.
Miss Carney, Columbia: I should like to say that
last year I was in religious work in Denver, and I
found that Grace Church does not have the coopera-
tion or the sympathy that it should have. Facing
that local situation of the pastorate being at vari-
100 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ance one with another, with no unity among the de-
nominations at all or among the ministers, how can
we honestly work within the church? Perhaps it
is time for a new break to come, and perhaps this
morning shows some signs of our waking up to some-
thing of that sort.
Miss Wray, Mount Holyoke: I wonder if we are
not saying right here that the church assumes that
there is a God. What are you going to do with a
real student who will not assume anything and says
he has got to find a God, if there is one, for himself?
The real student will say, “I cannot belong to such
an organization as that.” Suppose the student says
it is a compromise for him to go into the church.
Are we going to say that the church is the only
organization for him to go into? Perhaps there is
something else. Perhaps we should scrap the
church. We are assuming too much that the church
is the only thing.
Mr. Kosman, Reformed Church Seminary: The
point I wish to make is that the church is the
natural expression of human nature and that it is
ridiculous to think of scrapping the church. The
church stands as the expression of man’s hunger
for God and his hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Those things are as fundamental in man ag the
gregarious instinct.
Further discussion on the subject “Christianizing
Our Civilization” preceded the addresses of Thursday
afternoon.
Mr. Wilder, University of North Carolina: North
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 101
Carolina has some two hundred cotton mill villages
and five hundred cotton mills. The people have
mostly moved in from the country where competi-
tion has been tremendously keen, and there is prae-
tically no feeling of community unity, due largely
to. sectarian churches. The cotton mill people are
not going to church since they have moved into
these places, except to occasional revival meetings
just to let off their pent-up emotions. There is a
case for missionaries, and I would like to see this
conference go on record as opposed to any sectar-
ianism whatsoever in small communities.
Mr. Helm, Toronto: I should like to add a few
words to those of the last speaker. At the present
time I am acting as student pastor in three small
communities, and I can say quite definitely that the
church functions in those communities; there is no
sectarianism. All the people go to church.
Mr. Wesley, DePauw: I am in a small city, and
just across the street from the place where I hap-
pen to be receiving my money there is a large com-
munity of socialists, they tell me. They never asso-
ciate with our church. I may be ostracized for go-
ing over there, but I hope that I may go over next
summer and spend possibly a day or an evening a
week getting acquainted with these socialists, these
radicals, and form some sort of a study class for
them and help them out by personal contact.
Mr. McCollom, Washington State Normal: May
I offer what the school I represent is doing to solve
these problems? There is a required Freshman
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course of one year on contemporary civilization,
based on the contemporary civilization course of
Columbia. The syllabus has been revised to meet
the local conditions. ,
The school is located in a farming valley with
two of the largest coal mines in the State. There
are a great many outside lecturers brought into the
school. One man, a Negro lecturer in the town,
presented to the classes the necessity of studying
the Negro problem, and they are studying it from
first-hand information. Another lecturer has come
in and has discussed the illiteracy problem. The
county in which the school is located happens to
have the lowest literacy rate of any county in the
State. The students themselves are making a spe-
cial attempt to look into this problem, and a great
many have offered their services as teachers and a
great many are at present teaching some of the
illiterates of the community.
Mr. Ockenga, Taylor: Concrete data have been
called for. I am a working student. I left
Michigan Sunday night. A labor problem had
created turmoil there, and the religion of Jesus
Christ transformed that church and left everything
peaceful. I challenge the statement that was made
this morning about the church not making good men
but good men making the church. If good men
make the church, I want to know how it is that a
drunkard can come into a church altar and go away
and drink no more. I want to know how it is that
a2 woman can come in a Sinner and go away and sin
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 103
no more. How is it that the church does these
things if the church does not create good men by
the divine power which comes from the Son of
God ?
Mr. Garner, Western Theological Seminary: I
had an experience some years ago in Pittsburgh at
the United Mission on Bedford Avenue just above
the Union Station—a settlement of all kinds of for-
eigners, of all religions. We tried there the system
of having classes in the evening, and we taught the
foreigners English and the young people manual
trades.
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
Dr. Albert Parker Fitch
You are beginning to see in this conference that
the best thing that you can do as a body of young
men and young women who want to attack these
crucial problems is to utilize, as you do not utilize,
your opportunities for intellectual advancement in
your colleges. You don’t know how to think very
well. You have taken courses in economics, you
have taken courses in political science, and you
must have had courses in literature which record
the feeling and the experience of the race, and you
can’t discuss these things intelligently. There is
something that this conference can do toward
furthering the ethical reform to-day, and that is to
reform the scholastic situation of undergraduates.
The Foreign Mission Program of the
Church /
THURSDAY AFTERNOON
SPEAKERS:
R. A. Doan, Columbus, Ohio.
J. Levering Evans, Student, Yale Divinity School.
Y. T. Wu, Student, Union Theological Seminary.
Rachel Childrey, Student, Cornell University.
ADDRESS
SHOULD THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE BE
CONTINUED?
Mr. R. A. Doan
THIS question cannot be answered by “yes” or “no.”
A vote here to-day would reveal a diversity of opin-
ion which would doubtless favor the continuance
of some kinds of missionary endeavor and the aban-
donment of others. Suppose, without any prelimi-
naries, we first recount some of the accomplish-
ments of this vast movement which has for its
avowed purpose the lightening of the load which
all mankind is carrying.
1. What are some of the things the enterprise we
have miscalled “foreign” missions has been doing?
Originally the basic motive which carried Chris-
tian foreigners into other lands was the belief that
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the messengers possessed a truth of God which
would revolutionize the world spiritually. A vast
number have been sent out (and a few of that kind
are still going) whose conception was largely that
of an invasion into lands as evangels of a great
truth, seeking converts. They were to “preach the
gospel” everywhere. This was commendable and
they were pioneers in unselfish service and real
heroism for Christ. But they failed to conceive at
first that they went as seekers of truth which these
other peoples possessed. Out of this beginning,
however, there came slowly the realization that
those of every nation had something to contribute
spiritually and intellectually to every other nation.
Upon this realization whatever of condescension
or superiority there may have been in the original
decision to go disappeared from the heart of the
true missionary.
As the program and the necessary support were
enlarged less and less did the going of the mission-
ary depend upon a personal decision only. In addi-
tion to consecration there must be qualification for
specific tasks. Then the enlargement of the under-
taking has created a supporting body back of the
missionaries that has often been dictatorial, fre-
quently denominational, and almost always theo-
logically harmful. To the nationals of other lands
especially do I want to say that I believe the mis-
sionaries, for the most part, would have attempted
little that might be termed partisan had they been
unhindered by their supporters. Even now we find
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great boards in America instructed by their consti-
tuency to enforce curtailment of liberty and to re-
quire subscription on the part of their adherents
to creeds or practices or ceremonies demanded by
each particular body. Dogmatic legalism, which
sometimes passes for Christianity, still stalks
abroad in missionary work. Are we to “fence in”
the intellectual and religious area beyond which
love cannot go? Not soon shall I forget the
agonized cry of as fine a soul as I have known in
all the world when he, a deeply spiritual Latin-
American Christian, said to me in Uruguay last
summer, “Why don’t the denominations in America
pool their resources and just send Christians down
here to South America who will seek to place Christ
into the Christless Christianity of this continent
and who will leave their denominationalism at
home!” ee
Let us not minimize or forget the good done by
Christian missions. I have no more right to con-
demn Christianity because of some unlovely theo-
logical hair-splitting Christian than I have to judge
Hinduism by the Indian Sadhu at a mela in Benares
who seems to me the embodiment of filthiness and
repulsiveness. Rather would I know Hinduism by
some of its fine, spiritually-minded followers who
do not depend upon outward appearances to declare
their renunciation of evil. More justly would I
evaluate Christianity by the life of one who really
exemplifies Christ.
Another thing which must not be overlooked in an
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 107
inventory of Christian missions is the fact that we
do not live in the same world that existed when
the migration of Christian missionaries began. That
is self-evident to those of you whose vision is world-
wide. But there are many in the church to-day
whose Christianity has been static through the
years. That the cumbersome machinery of absentee
management has failed to adjust quickly to the pro-
found change of national and international ideas
and outlook cannot be questioned. But it does not
follow that because of this inelasticity, this failure
to change quickly from the autocratic to friendly
cooperation, Christianity in nations where the
church is new should ignore or discard everything
coming from the heritage of the old.
It is true that the application of Christ’s teach-
ing and life must be made to meet conditions that
vary widely in each country and among different
peoples. The result will not be standardized Chris-
tians who will actually think and believe alike.
God forbid. But surely, unless Jesus was a false
teacher, there will be something deep down in the
lives of his followers everywhere that will identify
them as members of a common body—without refer-
ence to ceremonials, or any particular catechism or
creed, or any theological formula.
We may safely conclude, therefore, that we are
honest only when there is an open-minded acknowl-
edgment that the missionary program as now pro-
jected and conducted does not meet the need of the
hour. Having so concluded, it remains to consider
108 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
if there are ways in which Christians in all lands
may discard traditions and inconsequentials and
present Jesus as the world’s Saviour.
2. What are a few of the essentials involved in
the continuance of missionary endeavor?
There must be an absolutely honest purpose on the
part of the organizations in America and elsewhere
and the missionaries who go that the latter shall
become simply the assistants over there of those
who represent Christ in their own countries. There
must be no ecclesiastical or theological test of those
who go out to aid in making the world Christ-
centered. To set the limitations in advance beyond
which the church shall not go in these lands where
Christ is just emerging is to proclaim our belief in
the incompetency of God. This means that de-
nominationalism and theological partisanship must
die.
Last night an earnest question was asked from
the floor about the dissemination of denominational-
ism in what we call the foreign field. The answer
from the platform was to the effect that the board
here represented never asked a missionary candi-
date whether he would go out and be a partisan or
a propagandist for that particular denomination.
But may I say to you in kindness that in spite of
that statement, the truth of which I do not for a
moment question, the representatives of that de-
nomination do go out as flaming evangelists for that
particular denominational body. I say to you from
personal observation through the years, that I be-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 109
lieve denominationalism to be the greatest sin of
Christendom, denominationalism as it exists to-day.
Iither we must join the Christians of the world
in presenting a free Christ who may work without
man-made interpretations or we must compel Christ
to begin anew with a broken group as he did when
Judas misrepresented him. This means, then, that
we have come to the hour when the expanding influ-
ence of the church throughout the world is dead-
locked unless we may go forward in a united way.
Having concluded that all is not well in present
missionary endeavor, and having suggested certain
broad lines which seem absolutely essential if we
are to proceed successfully, let me speak more
directly of the personal responsibility of those of
you assembled here in this conference.
It is possible to be too impatient in these chang-
ing days. May you pause long enough to observe
that there is a host of us who join you in much of
your dissatisfaction with things as they are and in
much of your crusading spirit. May we not all
counsel together in seeking to discard all which is
obstructive and in salvaging that which has borne
or may bear the test of time.
Allow me to outline in a sentence or two the posi-
tion to which I have gradually come. I hail as com-
rade every lover of the truth, of whatever religion,
but to me Jesus Christ is supreme. I recognize the
good in every man who seeks to make a better world
and I join with him as we fight together against evil,
keeping clearly before me the supremacy and com-
110 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
pulsion of Christ’s life and personality. I see in
him the only true Saviour, and I acknowledge no
other Lord, but I believe he works through those
who do not know him, as well as through those who
know him much better than I, and I question no
man by the way. I wish we might pledge ourselves
together, with all our diversity of opinions about
many unimportant matters, to give ourselves with
great abandon in an effort to interpret Christ to a
disheartened, discouraged, and suffering world in
this hour of suspense. If we attempt to do this, we
must prove him to be a tolerant, loving, yearning
Christ and not a controversial zealot. That is no
easy task in face of the present criticism of the
church, much of which is just.
Somehow I cannot help feeling that our Father
looks down upon us to-day, with our sin-sickness,
immaturity, incapability from all human stand-
points of meeting this situation which we have out-
lined here during these days, and that he would, if
he could, say to us: “Give a good account of your-
selves. My strength is sufficient.”
ADDRESS: “WHY I AM GOING TO THE
MISSION FIELD”
Mr. J. Levering Evans
May I speak just a minute as a member of the
conference and as a member whose only qualifica-
tion to speak in this capacity is as one who has an
intense desire that each one of us shall in this con-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 111
ference get deeper than ever before into the reality.
Therefore, just for a few moments I am going to ask
us to do just a little bit of introspection. To start
that, I am going to ask a question. Are we satisfied
that we as individuals have done everything in our
power to get as near to the source of this universe as
we can, admitting that if one could get near the
source of the universe, we would see better how to
work in this universe?
Here is where the point of my going to the for-
eign field comes in. I do know that in Christ’s inter-
pretation of God I have come nearer to this source
than through any other method. There seemed to
be something very literal in the fact that the truth
Shall make you free, as Christ has presented it. You
probably say, “What has this to do with foreign
missions?” I can tell you just this, it is very
simple. It is because there are fewer people where
IT am going who can tell other individuals who are
struggling for the search of truth about Christ than
there are here.
In regard to this contact with Western civiliza-
tion, you know my primary purpose for going. The
secondary purpose is to help in any way I can along
any other lines. The line for which I feel myself
‘most fitted is in the line of the study of the labor
problem. I feel that the industrial revolution in
some measure is coming in the world, and the ques-
tion is, is it coming as Christ would have it come,
or is it coming without Christ in it?
In the third place, I feel in regard to this inter-
112. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
national Christ that I have a very concrete example
that will help you as it helped’ me. I had courses
in college dealing very strongly with the question of
environment and heredity, and I began to wonder
whether Christ and the spiritual growth would be
real to another national. I was sitting on the banks
of a river that runs by Shanghai, during a chapel
period talking with a friend of mine, a Chinese.
fe were cutting chapel because we wanted to get
together on the problems that were facing us. He
had been studying the religion of his father and
mother, mostly Buddhism, I believe, and he was tre-
mendously in earnest and tremendously perplexed
as to the relative values. I tell you frankly I don’t
know what prompted me to bring up this point of
Christianity, but I asked him what he thought of
this: “He that loseth his life for my sake shall find
it.” He turned around and said: “I know what you
mean. That’s what I have been looking for.” Then
we Started in as two people on the same road, and
we understood each other better than many of my
American friends. We had gone through some of
the same spiritual experiences and found that
Christ brought us nearer to the eternal than any
other agency.
ADDRESS: “SOME CRITICISMS OF MISSIONS”
Mr. Y. T. Wu
What I am going to do now is just to summarize
for you very briefly some of the criticisms that have
been made on the missionary enterprise.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH § 113
I think I can summarize the criticisms under three
heads. The first point is that the missionary move-
ment in the Oriental countries has been a forced
growth. Somehow Christianity has been forced on
China and other Oriental countries. It has been
taken to China by the point of the sword. If you
compare for a moment the way that Buddhism has
entered China with the way in which Christianity
has entered, then you will find that the Chinese have
sent missionaries to India in order to get Buddhism,
but Christianity was imposed on China by force, by
treaties, by special privileges which are the result
of military domination of the Western nations.
Another reason why we think that the missionary
movement in the East is a forced growth is the way
it has been established. The missionary movement
has made more use of material resources than any
other things. It has relied more on money, on build-
ings, and has emphasized statistics more than other
things which are characterized by spiritual calm.
It is just numbers and size that you find as the
strength of the missionary movement in the East.
The second part of the criticism is that the mis-
sion movement has ignored the culture of the
Oriental countries. The missionaries coming from
the so-called civilized countries naturally have gone
to the Eastern countries with a certain degree of
superiority complex. Then, again, the uniqueness of
the Christian religion has made the missionary
think that Christianity is the way of life, the only
way under the sun in which people can be saved,
114. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
also that to know this way and to know it as the
Western people do is the right thing in disregard of
whatever things the Oriental people may have.
I am going to suggest a few changes or ways in
which this situation can be improved. First, I
would like you to consider this question: Is there
any real message in Christianity? After we have
come into contact with these countries and know
the culture and civilization, do we still believe that
the message in Christianity is unique, and in what
way unique? Can you still believe that nobody can
be saved in the orthodox sense without knowing
Christ? And how can you imagine a country like
China with five thousand years of civilization, with
all the great men, the great sages, who could have
existed in all the peace and comfort of life without
knowing Christ? I am not going te answer these
questions for you, but I would have you think over
them and work out your own answers.
The second suggestion that I would make is this:
Is our whole Christian institution on the right
track? I would point out to you that it is not a
right thing, even if such an institution has worked
well in Western countries, to duplicate it in Oriental
countries; and how much worse it is if it does not
work well in your own countries!
The third point that I would like to make is the
faoture of the mission movement. I would venture
te say that the day of the missionary movement in
its original sense is gone, that a missionary going
to other countries as boss and teacher is no longer
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 115
needed nor welcomed, that there are enough native
leaders in the countries who could take up their own
work in their own way without having the help of
the missionaries. I suggest to you that instead of
having our missionaries going out as they are going
out now, we should exchange Christian workers.
What I mean is that instead of having a one-sided
process of one nation or one set of nations sending
their missionaries to another set of nations, the
process be made mutual, so that not only America
will send the Christian workers to China, but China
will send the Christian workers to help you work in
America. |
I have made this suggestion because I think that
every nation has some contribution to make to the
universal truths which we all must recognize, and
that without these we cannot hope to have a uni-
versalized Christian gospel which will meet the
needs of all people.
For myself, in spite of the anti-Christian move-
ment that has been raging in China during the past
three years, it is still my strong conviction that
China no less than the rest of the troubled world
needs the gospel of Christ, and also that without the
contribution of the East and the West, the rich-
ness and fullness of Christianity cannot be realized,
but that the way in which Christianity should be
_ expressed and lived, the institutions and organiza-
tions that should be established, and the way of
interpreting Christ, toward these things the foreign
Christian workers can help, but the way in which
116 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
they should finally be worked out should be mies et
in the hands of the Oriental people.
FOREIGN MISSIONS REPORT
Miss Rachel Childrey of Cornell University pre-
sented the report of the Foreign Missions Commis-
sion. (See Findings, p. 193.) A part of the fol-
lowing discussion related to that report.
Mr. Smith, Union Theological Seminary: I should
like to speak as one hoping to go out as a mission-
ary.
Missions, whatever they may have been, are not
now a youth movement; they are a middle-aged
movement, and if we can find a way of increasing
the influence of youth, both on the foreign boards of
this country and on the other side of the water,
almost all of these things which are in this report
can be accomplished; and if we cannot have that,
few of them can be accomplished.
I think it is true that few mission boards are pre-
pared at the present time to give a man any assur-
ance as to the country to which he is going until
he is practically at the end of his preparation. I
think that a modification at that point would be of
immense significance. Also, there is this rule in
many boards, a very extraordinary rule in the past
which actually delays the influence of young men
on the mission field. They get to the mission field
and for a considerable length of time they have no
vote in mission organizations.
I would like to speak now of the other side of the
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 117
water. I find that the main difficulty with mis-
sionaries on the field is not their relationship with
the Christian Church, but their relationship with
the people outside. It is very difficult to persuade
any group of people, either liberal or conservative,
to take an active part socially with the Oriental
people. I have worked at it in certain places, and it
has brought certain results; but the tendency is the
other way, and I am sure that if this increasing
influence of youth on the other side and on this side
can be brought in, much of that will be solved.
Mr. Masa, Taylor University: I would suggest
that you Western students, students from America,
instead of taking your graduate work in Europe or
in some universities in America, go to some
Oriental universities and live side by side with
some of the Oriental students. If you want to bring
Jesus Christ into the hearts of the Oriental people,
you will be more able to interpret to them the teach-
ings of Jesus Christ or of Christianity in that way.
J invite you American students to the Orient, to any
university in Japan, China, the Philippine Islands,
or India, to live side by side with us so you may be
able to know our social customs and live as our
Orientals live.
Mr. Cranston, Union: Since the thirtieth of May
many missionaries have not stood with the Chinese
in their struggle for justice, but have been quite
willing to side with their governments, especially
one or two European governments, in upholding
those governments regardless of consequences, with-
118 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
out thinking what is the thing that Christ himself
would probably do under those circumstances.
Christianity ought to stand against imperialism.
Unquestionably there is too much truth in the state-
ment that certain individual missionaries have not
always done so.
All of the fine pretenses in here about getting to
know Oriental students and listening to them in this
country would sound a great deal better in this con-
vention if we had a larger number of Oriental stu-
dents here. With the exception of three or four
students from the Philippines, and Mr. Wu, the
number of Chinese, Hindus, and Japanese here is
almost negligible.
When you talk about these things on the campuses
of your colleges, consult the Oriental more
thoroughly and see that he has a larger place in such
conferences as this. We will be richly the gainers
to practice what we preach in that respect.
Mr. Carino, Garrett Biblical Institute: My
friends, if you would only let the theological prob-
lems stay in your homeland and fight among your-
selves with them and let the missionaries be free
to form an organization of Christianity that would
be for the best, then I am sure the foreign work
would be successful and that Christianity and Jesus
Christ would be exalted above denominationalism.
Mr. Kim, Garrett: I came to America about a
year ago or a year and a half ago, and I know about
the Korean missionary situation. In Korea the
Methodist Episcopal Church and the Southern Meth-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH’ 119
odist Church wanted to unite. We have a union
seminary between the North and South. Our Korean
conference between the Northern and Southern
Methodists voted to unite, and we wanted to have
one union church, but your American home mis-
sion board did not vote entirely for this union. We
also wanted to unite between Methodists and Pres-
byterians. Our Korean folks who wanted to unite
did not know why they separated, but they knew
Christ and they liked the idea of the union. They
did not know about the sectarianism, because the
Korean mission field is too young; it is only forty
years old now.
THURSDAY EVENING
SPEAKERS:
Mr. Thomas Que Harrison, New York City.
Mr. Howard McCluskey, Instructor, University
of Michigan.
Dr. Ashby Jones, Atlanta, Georgia.
ADDRESS
Thomas Que Harrison
We are all hunting. It does not matter whether we
are Christians or non-Christians, youth to-day is
hunting for a way of life. We want to know, it
seems to me, a philosophy about the religion of Jesus
that will satisfy our intelligence and a fellowship
with Christ that will give us a self-respect and
power to follow him in his program; and, we also
wish to know the mind of Christ for his church in
120 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
our generation, a program that will stand the test
of race and war and industry and the other denials
of his way of life in our civilization to-day.
I wonder if I can personally confess that since I
have come to this conference I have taken stock and |
I have discovered that I am not in any real and
sincere way devoted to Jesus Christ. When we are
in trouble we pray for help. When we are lonely or
discouraged or overburdened we ask for help, and
we get it. But how many of us (and I will say this
for myself) are living in any spirit of devotional
exercise daily, in any spirit of asking, “What would
Jesus do if he walked in my steps day by day?”
My friends, let us start with our own lives, let us
say that we will keep fellowship with the masses of
humanity by denying ourselves a standard of living
which is that of luxury. Let us say that we will
begin to live in the spirit of sacrifice, and that we
will share with our brother, and that we will make
the church open to the masses of humanity. Let us
protect ourselves against that insidious temptation
that chokes out the idealism of every youth of eigh-
teen or twenty or twenty-five so that by the time he
has got to be fifty he becomes a coward and a com-
promiser because he doesn’t want to suffer or to feel
that his wife and children should feel the pinch if he
is thrown out of a job.
I talked with a man in Baltimore who said to me,
“Young man, I have seen many come before me with
the flame of an ideal, and inside of a year give up
the struggle and betray it; and I am wondering if
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 121
one year from now you too will have succumbed to
the temptation.”
if the church is going to cut out mammonism, we
in the church, whether we are laity or ministers,
must begin with ourselves. Then we should intro-
duce a lay ministry and we should send men and
women to the mission field as Paul went out. I
want to say that just as soon as we try to clean
mammonism out of the Church of Jesus Christ, just
so soon are we going to be opposed, are we going to
be burdened, are we going to be tempted to the very
marrow, and that very process will drive us in upon
each other and upon God. If the Christian Church
dares to gird herself with the heroic task of build-
ing the Kingdom on earth, she will be driven upon
her God and she will find him, and in giving up
riches, in giving up popularity and becoming ac-
cursed and outcast and persecuted, if necessary, she
will find fellowship with labor, with the masses of
humanity that Jesus associated with and built the
Christian Church upon. She will find fellowship
with youth.
There is a Rockefeller Foundation report about
the youth of the Christian campuses of America.
That report is this: That after thorough investiga-
tion throughout this country to-day, eighty per cent
of the young people who come on the college campus
have lost all vital contact with the Christian
Church.
To-day youth is withstanding terrific temptation,
moral temptation, and in some cases succumbing to
122. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
it, and youth to-day in America is being flooded with
a paganism of self-indulgence, and the only way for
us to get hold of youth and keep youth in the church
in any vital way is to offer to youth the heroism and
the courage of the program of Jesus, the kingdom of
God on earth, absolutely transforming all human
relationships in the spirit of brotherhood, making
war and race friction and industrial conflict impos-
sible, transforming society both personally and in
the group, and bringing in the thing which he
promised to his disciples if they would dare to at-
tempt it.
You heard our Chinese friend this afternoon, but
suppose that we in our Christian Church and as _
citizens of America standing on a Christian plat-
form absolutely stand out against race disrespect,
against economic imperialism and against the war
question, and then go to China and receive Chinese
here as friends. If we have practiced friendship
and brotherhood, we can preach Christ, but if we
refuse to practice brotherhood, it is blasphemous to
preach Christ. To-day, whether in the foreign field
or at home, the only way we can preach Christ is
to practice brotherhood in the name of Christ.
ADDRESS
“Mr. Howard McCluskey
As your chairman has indicated, because of the
fact that I am connected with one of these iniquitous
institutions that you have been hearing about, a
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 123
university, I will speak as an outsider, not as a
professional religionist. My job does not take me
into religion as a profession. I am interested in
religion as an avocation.
I have been asked to evaluate the major activities
of young people’s work in our churches in connec-
tion with the educational viewpoint.
The first suggestion I want to make is in con-
nection with the program for devotional education.
It seems to me that as now constituted the devo-
tional program for young people’s work is not ade-
quate. I do not have in mind the old type of devo-
tions that we used to think of, but it seems to me
that the whole devotional scheme should be reinter-
preted and put upon a new basis. For instance,
why wouldn’t it be possible instead of depending
entirely upon the Bible for devotional literature, to
use the better literatures of the world in terms which
young people can understand? Why is it necessary
always to have audible prayer, for instance?
Wouldn’t it be better to organize devotions some-
what along the lines that the Quakers organized it,
along the lines of silent prayer? And why wouldn’t
it be a good plan to put the social reference, the
horizontal reference, aS well as the vertical refer-
ence, in our devotions and try to get a mystic com-
munion with the individual spark in the soul of
every person as well as the soul of God?
Some of you perhaps wonder what that has to do
with religious education. Let me make that expla-
nation. Practically all of the psychologists in the
124 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
last twenty-five years have been making a desperate
attempt to try to understand human nature, and
after having analyzed consciousness in many of its
various aspects, they seem to get a pretty good de-
scription of what goes on in a person’s mind; but
the one thing that psychologists cannot understand
adequately and the one thing that is constantly a
mystery to all psychologists and students of human
nature is to find out what it is that makes people
move and do things.
Let me say that it is just as much a scientific fact
that the religious motive is perhaps the most
dynamic force in the world as it is a fact that there
is a chemical reaction when you put two chemicals
together in a test tube. Furthermore, we.are begin-
ning to recognize that at this tender age of youth
is the preeminent time, if it ever is going to be
done, when young people are taught to reach and
find those greater reservoirs of strength which will
enable them to carry out the program that you have
heard outlined to you in speeches.
Most of my evaluation of educational methods as
now used will concern itself mainly with summer
institutes and young people’s meetings, and con-
siderable of what I will say will be somewhat pessi-
mistic; but in order to avoid any misunderstand-
ings I want to pay a tribute to the educational
progress in summer conferences made within the
past five years.
The condition is not as hopeless as I perhaps will
indicate in a few minutes. Whatever you do and
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 125
whatever despondency and despair you may have
about the success of this conference, as a person
looking in from an educational standpoint, all I can
say to you is, for heaven’s sake don’t give it up.
If you can’t do anything else, at least do this much.
Those of us who have been following these con-
ferences in the summertime have been impressed
with the futility of much of this conference work. I
happen to have access to one of the most interesting
investigations that I know of going on with respect
to the attitude of youth, the student opinion on war.
I have some advance data on that investigation.
One of the most striking conclusions as a result of
that investigation is this point, that in the theoreti-
cal aspects of that problem the youth are willing to
go a long way, a surprising long way, but in the
practical aspects of that problem they go not half
so far as you would expect them to go. In other
words, there is a wide gap between theory and prac-
tice, and those of us who have followed these con-
ferences from time to time have recognized that the
people in these conferences are actually talking
about spiritual dynamite if they ever began to apply
it to common affairs.
Those of us who have been anxious to see some
action taken have been impressed with the futility
of these conferences. Let me try to analyze why I
think there is a certain amount of futility. Prac-
tically every discussion and every conference ends
with the question, “What are we going to do about
it?” In terms of specific behavior, what are we go-
126 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ing to do about the problem of war and the press,
the Negro and the labor and capital problem? The
reason there is an air of futility in these discus-
sions and forums is that we can’t answer that ques.
tion. We don’t know what we are going to do
about it in terms of specific behavior.
The reasons are two: First, we have no facts,
Our knowledge is pitifully inadequate. Second, we
have not tried anything. No one has lived through
the situations involving these problems. No one
has had to suffer because of beliefs on these prob-
lems. We have no precedent, we have no experience
in Christian living. The reason we get no further
is that no one has anything to contribute in terms
of concrete daily personal experience, and we will
always go just half way. We will always be nothing
more than verbal acrobats, inane religious dilet-
tantes. We will be nothing more than half-baked
Christians until some one tries something different,
until some one risks possessions and public esteem,
until some one experiments with Christian life on
a Christian basis.
Every young people’s society, therefore, shoal
be a laboratory for Christian living, and every con-
ference (get this, because I think it involves a funda-
mental change in technique) and meeting should be
a place for the exchange of experiences and the
interpretations of significant samples of life, a
gathering of new facts and an assembly of a new
series of realities. For instance, let’s be specific; it
would be a splendid thing if an organization head-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 127
quarters would gather and promote the production
of case studies in Christianity, the like of which you
heard here this morning. It would be a magnificent
project to accumulate instances where people have
successfully overcome old grudges through the spirit
of love, how misunderstandings have been overcome
through exercise of the law of the second mile, how
some bitterness between student and instructor or
some rancor between roommates or some nasty feel-
ing between fraternities or sororities or campus fac-
tions was dissolved through the spirit of kindness.
Why wouldn’t it be desirable to describe in some
detail, as we describe in social psychology case
studies, for instance, of how some white students
went about securing invitations for colored students.
to a college prom, or how the discrimination of a
hotel proprietor against colored folks was overcome
through the spirit of brotherhood, or how some
warm-hearted youth thawed out the congealed
prejudice of some Southern friend by putting him
into sympathetic association with some fine young
man of the colored race? Wouldn’t that be a de-
sirable thing to accumulate a large number of
samples and case studies of that nature? Why
shouldn’t we have the details of instances of how a
group of young folks, fearless, went home and
stumped the home town during vacation against
isuch things as the high school R. O. T. C.? Why
shouldn’t we organize and agitate for an era of
demonstrated Christianity, and why wouldn’t it be
splendid for headquarters to formulate programs in
128 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
terms of jobs to be done instead of outlining the
year in terms of meetings, speeches and hot-air con-
tests, where everybody talks about that which he
knows least of? Why not outline each year in
terms of specific items of behavior? Why not have
a project Christianity, as we call it in education,
instead of a gas-bag Christianity?
The religious educational program is not organ-
ized nor conceived in project terms. Look over the
programs of summer conferences. In most instances
the programs are on a speech-sermon-address basis.
More recently conference programs are giving place
for active, widespread participation in discussions,
but the art of discussion leading is still to be
mastered. Furthermore, more dependence is placed
upon speech-making than discussions. Finally, most
of the conferences have no background of informa-
tion or experience. I am not speaking of experi-
ence in terms of maturity, age. I mean experience
in terms of Christian living. How much reliable
information and knowledge about war and the labor
problem, the Negro and the immigration problem is
brought out or can be brought out in a conference
of a week or ten days? How much can a group of
youths talk and discuss these problems when their
lives have had no contact with them except through
hearsay and prejudice? The limitations inherent in
the very short period of the usual conference (I am
beginning to get specific again; you have been cry-
ing for specificity) might in part be overcome by a
preconference preparation and study of the prob-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 129
lems at stake in the conference, by the circulation
of literature telling about it and asking them to
study it. In ail the data I have been able to collect
and assemble I have found not a single instance of
where the members attending the conference are
expected or stimulated to make anything like a
thorough preparation for the issues that are bound
to occur. That is a specific suggestion.
Let’s evaluate the young people’s meetings. The
two major activities educationally are the institutes,
conferences like this, summer and midwinter, and
the young people’s meetings throughout the year.
If you look over the topics of the Christian En-
deavor, B. Y. P. U., and the Epworth League, you
find in some cases as much attention to Methodism
or denominationalism, as the case may be, as to
these broad social problems. Then, again, in young
people’s meetings we meet much the same difficulty
that we do in the summertime, inasmuch as there is
too much emphasis upon speech-making and not
enough emphasis upon discussion; but much worse
_ than this is the fact that the materials that are pre
sented in a course of a half year of young people’s
meetings are fragmentary and disconnected and
oftentimes erroneous, and inasmuch as there is vir-
tually no preparation nor any background of fact,
no serious study of the problem, it is no wonder that
the discussions are bound to be superficial and de-
plorably inadequate.
Furthermore, the usual technique of young peo-
ple’s work as now conducted in summer conferences
130 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
and young people’s meetings disobeys what the psy-
chologists call the law of exercise. Once a week at
most, according to the present scheme, is given over
to this type of thing. Preparation for the meeting
is superficial. The outcome of the meeting involves
little or no obligation in conduct. Hence, from
interrupted, desultory, listless training we expect
to develop a series of virile, intelligent Christian
attitudes.
Did Coach Hawley of Dartmouth train his foot-
ball team with a perfunctory half-hour drill on late’
Saturday afternoons? Does a cross-country runner
train on a half-hour’s practice when the mood
strikes him favorably? Does a law student or a
medic or a Ph.D. candidate pass his rigid examina-
tions on a perfunctory thirty-minutes-a-week fort-
nightly schedule? Can the youth of the Christian
Church of America hope to contribute its share of
the redemption of modern society when its present
training consists of ten days’ training once every
one or two years and a listless thirty minutes every
week? '
When young people get in the habit of think-
ing in terms of concrete realities, we will have a
much better type of education than we have at the
present time, and when we take the step that one
of the leading men in Christian work at the present
time took last year in canceling all of his speeches
and devoting an entire year to study by himself in
order that he might better prepare himself for his
speech-making and his student contact, when we
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH § 131
also take the attitude of the students who go to
these industrial summer experiments in these indus-
trial centers like we did at Detroit with the
Michigan men last year, and put our lives upon an
experimental basis, then we will have a right to ask
questions, then we will be equipped to get some
place; and when we regard our lives as a laboratory
experiment, and when we regard life as a creative
adventure in aggressive good-will where we are the
subject in the experiment and the spirit of love and
the spirit of Christ is the control in the experiment,
when we begin to conceive of life in those terms and
we begin to organize the education of young people
in those terms, then we will be able to answer the
question, “What are we going to do about it?”
We need to create new patterns of living, we need
to create a new form of life in Christian life, we
need to come above the stage of mere dilettantism
and being mere dabblers in religion, above the Ten-
Commandment level to the level of the Sermon on
the Mount, and if we can regard all young people’s
work as a tremendous cooperative experiment in
Christian living, then we will reach the basis for a
new society, then we will be performing our func-
tions as Christian young people.
Some one may call this a dream, but when we
want to do a thing bad enough and when we have
coupled with it constructive imagination and a de-
-vouring passion, and when we begin to combine that
with intelligence, dreams are realized under those
conditions.
1382 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
THURSDAY EVENING
- DiIscussION
Mr. Jenkins, University of Chicago: One of the
speakers the other day, speaking on the question of ©
war, I think, hit the nail on the head when he said |
that the attitude of the church largely has been that —
war is a terrible thing, but for heaven’s sake don’t ©
do anything about it.
I should like to ask a question or two here. I
want to ask, for one thing, when we are going to
face the question of R. O. T. C. training squarely. —
I have seen something of R. O. T. C. training my- —
self. I had it in high school, in summer training
camp, in college. It is only recently that 1 have
waked up to what it is. If there is anything on this
earth that I am sure of, it is that R. O. T. C. train-
ing is one of the things that leads more than almost :
any other factor we have into war. I don’t think —
that you can get a group of young men at the age of —
‘high-school students and give them bayonet train- a
ing day after day and work them up into the frame
of mind where they are encouraged to visualize a
man before them when they go through the drill
without getting them into the frame of mind where
‘war is a natural result. They don’t want war; they
‘appreciate how terrible war is, but their whole men-
tal process is geared to a point where war is natural
when the situation comes.
It has frequently been defended on the ground of
physical training. Thateis all bosh. There is only
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH § 183
one purpose, which is military training. I should
like to know whether we believe what we have been
saying, and whether or not we are coming to a point
or will come to a point where we are not only say-
ing that war is wrong, but we are willing to do
something about it.
Student, Northwestern: I arise to address this.
convention as a Christian, and as a Christian I am
mindful of the fact that there is an omnipotent
God, and that God in his kind mercy has chosen
to place us in a world not as he might have done, but
in a world where strife and sin are. That God
exemplifies Jesus Christ where we find love.
I agree heartily with all that can be said against
war. I as a Christian can conceive of no case in
which it is not a terrible sin to go into war, but the
point comes up in time whether or not it may not
be a greater sin not to go to war. If the time ever
comes when we must go into war to protect our
institutions or see them smitten, then I say we
‘should go into that war with men who are capable
: of leading other men to a fight which will not sacri-
fice them needlessly as was done in the last war, and
we should have our warehouses stocked with such
things that will enable us to help the wounded. In
the base hospitals in France in the last war they
went weeks and weeks without a drop of antiseptics.
I stand as a Christian gentleman, proud of the
'-R. O. T. C. of our land, proud to say that if we have
to face that problem again, as men of Christ we can.
go in and put ourselves into a fight to win.
—
184 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Mr. Ripley, Ohio State: I have seen a little of
war, and no one can ever tell me that any war is_
justified. It is wrong, and nothing that you can say
ean make it right.
The R. O. T. C. cannot make officers, and it seems
to me that this last war should certainly have taught —
the folly of sending young men with a high regard
for the salute and close order drill and no other
knowledge of things military than that into the
trenches to lead men. They can’t do it.
The R. O. T. C. is wrong for this reason: It makes _
passive militarists of men. They put you in the.
frame of mind which will cause you to not object to.
war, in which you will say that war is inevitable
and we must prepare for it. They do it in this way 4
With their pretty blue uniforms, their trick swords, |
and the bayonets (out of alignment), their spurs,
their parades, you get the idea that war is a pretty
thing, that you parade with a band leading you.
You never see the bands in war. The band is es |
into litter bearers, stretcher bearers.
That is why the R. O. T. C. is wrong. It makes
passive militarists.
Mr. Wilson, Columbia: It seems to me there are
three questions which are typical of problems which
we as young people face. The first is the R. O. T. C.
and the military training system of the War De-
partment. The second is the proposition before us
of universal conscription which takes away from a
man in advance his right to pass on the justice of
participation in war. Third is the mobilization of
mae Sal eel ie eel
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 135
industry which is now being carried on by the War
Department, with preferred and secret contracts,
with a guaranteed rate of profit, and all that that
implies,
To return just a moment to the R. O. T. C., be-
cause that is the one issue which faces us most
Squarely as students, what can we say of this system
which intimidates students and faculties when at
one university in the Middle West the colonel of the
R. O. T. C. comes to the Y. M. C. A. secretary and
says, “You shall not have discussions in the Y. M.
C. A. on war or peace,” when in a city college the
faculty voted whether compulsory military training
_ should be continued, and fifty-four voted that it
Should be continued, sixteen that it should not, and
thirty-nine were not voting, some of the thirty-nine
not wanting to vote and others not having made up
their minds, and some of the fifty-four coming to the
students and apologizing to them that their case
was unanswerable but they could not vote with
them? What sort of system have we that intimi-
dates faculties to such an extent that they cannot
vote as their opinions direct? It means the per-
petuation of the war system, reaching down into
the high schools.
ADDRESS: “THE REAL DYNAMIC OF THE
CHURCH”
Dr. Ashby Jones
It is the vogue to-day to criticize the church, and
I think that nothing is quite so heartening as the
1386 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
fact that those who are members of the church are
becoming our most intelligent critics. Nothing to
- Ine is quite so hopeful as a gathering like this where
~ you have found out that the thunderbolts neither
of God nor of the church itself would strike you
if you stood up and frankly told your objections to
the church.
Back of all the criticisms, perchance, there is this.
feeling in the minds of us all, that with the varied
differences and divisions of Christianity, both as to
denominations and divisions within denominations,
Christianity to-day cannot deliver its full tide of
strength at any given moment upon any given sub-
ject. I don’t mean so much that we cannot speak.
the same words. God grant that the day never shall
come when we shall speak the same words or think
the same thoughts or bow at the same time, but
there should come a time when with a oneness of
spirit and with a passion for a common purpose,
we might deliver the full strength of Christianity
upon some forward movement for the world. |
For myself, it has seemed very significant that
while Jesus never left a model creed for all of us to
sign, he did leave a model prayer. I say significant
because, after all, prayer is the very essence of
any man’s religion, because in one’s prayer he re-
veals in the address the God whom he worships, and
then in the petition the dominant desire of his own
heart. While churches and denominations are dif-
fering in policies and rituals and creeds, all the
churches repeat “Our Father who art in heaven,”
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 137
and “Thy kingdom come,” and “Thy will be done on
earth.” Wherever that prayer is uttered in sincerity
we have the spiritual seed concept that shall one day
produce a harvest of spiritual unity in Christendom.
My beloved friends, to my mind here is definitely
the function of the church in the Christian world
to-day and always. The church is to make a Pente-
costal experience for man. So far from holding to
the forms of the past, so far from insisting upon the
ancient traditional vocabularies of the past, so far
from defending a religious language, to my mind
the highest function of the church is to translate
the spirit and teaching of Jesus in every generation
and in every tribe and in every tongue, the living
language upon the lips of men.
I have wondered sometimes if we haven’t tried to
narrow the commission by making it geographical,
if we haven’t thought that when we go around the
physical earth in some mystical way we carry the
Kingdom around. You might put a church on every
hilltop and in every valley around the world, but not
until the religion of Jesus had learned of the vocab-
ulary, not simply of all the nations of the world but
had learned to speak in terms of commercial, of po-
litical, of industrial life, of racial problems, not until
we had a Pentecost and until the employee could
hear the employer talk, Christ’s spirit in his tongue,
until men facing each other with their differences in
life could find those differences melting within the
Spirit of Christ because they speak the same lan-
guage, would Christianity come.
The Cooperative Work of the
Churches
F'ripAY MORNING, JANUARY 1
GREETINGS From THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Mr. J. C. Torrance, Student of the University of
Toronto
Vury briefly, I want, first of all, to give you a word
picture of that great, vast assemblage of people who
gathered together at the consummation of Canadian
Church Union. It was held in a great athletic arena
in Canada. There was a great sea of eight thou-
sand or nine thousand human faces sitting there,
reverentially in devotion, in silence. In the calm
of that hour they felt, as never before, how abso-
lutely trivial had been the things that divided them
and how supreme and how great were those things
which united them into one common cause.
Promptly at ten-thirty there emerged from the
three entrances at the back of the arena three
streams of delegates representing the Presbyterians,
Methodists, and Congregationalists. They gradually
came down, merging into one stream—three great
living streams merging into one real, vital living
stream that was thereafter to be one corporate body
for the furtherance of God’s kingdom in the coun-
try. |
The representatives of those three great denomina-
138
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 139
tions laid down or presented in words the offering
of their respective denominations. There were the
sturdy independence of Congregationalism, the
dignity and love of order of Presbyterianism, and
the fervor and evangelical zeal and enthusiasm of
Methodism fused and united together at that great
meeting. Perhaps one of the greatest moments was
when those eight thousand or nine thousand de-
voted people partook of the sacrament. The bread
and wine were passed. In one moment every per-
son there partook of the bread, and the next mo-
ment every one partook of the wine.
Why did we feel union was necessary? I think
it was this: there was a growing conviction among
Christian men and women in all denominations that
the business of sectarian strife and jealousy was
something we should put behind us, and go out and
do the real work with a united front.
A couple of real benefits of the union are these:
spiritually, we have realized the fellowship that has
never been realized before among our denominations
in the country. We have asserted the imperative
right to readjust our creeds and doctrines in the
light of new revelation and in material waste. We
have economized on men and money, on unnecessary
duplication, May it be the sincere and the real
passion of every individual here to go out from this
conference into whatever field of activity they may
be, with a prayer in their hearts to make real and
try to fulfill that prayer of our Master, Christ, that
they all may be one.
140 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
REPORT OF STUDENT COMMISSION ON THE
COOPERATIVE WORK OF THE CHURCHES
What we have long hoped for has been at least
partially realized. The churches of America have
definitely entered into the field of cooperative action
for the accomplishment of the kingdom of God upon
earth. The church has developed a corporate con-
science within recent years that is making for an
ethical and moral solidarity among the Christian
forces of the nation. Many of the denominations
have seen the folly of a divided counsel. They see,
likewise, the futility of a divided offensive against
the social unrighteousness of the present day.
The urge of a common task has Jed many of the
larger and more influential church bodies of America
into a comradeship of cooperative action that is
truly remarkable. This venture of the churches into -
the realm of practical unity is known as the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America.
Organized in 1908, the Federal Council has grown
both in strength and in influence until to-day it
represents one of the most promising developments
of our American church life. The manner in which
the Federal Council operates for the advancement
of a Christian world-order will be stressed through-
out this report.
The Student Commission on the cooperative work
of the churches, consisting of nineteen students
representing nine denominations and twelve educa-
tional institutions, met in New York City in the
office of the Federal Council of Churches, November
20-21. There appeared before the members of this
Commission the Executive officers of twelve organ-
izations, and of seven commissions of the Federal
Council of Churches.
This report will present a very brief outline of
interdenominational cooperation with respect to
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 141
international peace, industry and social service, mis-
sionary activities, race relations, and education.
I. INTERNATIONAL PRACE
There are two organizations connected with the
church which work tirelessly for a Christian inter-
nationalism :
1. The Commission on International Justice and
Good Will of the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America.
2. The World Alliance for International Friend-
ship Through the Churches.
The Federal Council’s Commission on Interna-
tional Justice and Good Will is made up in part of
representatives of the various denominational peace
committees. This Commission has recently ex-
panded its program and now furnishes secretarial
leadership for the enlistment of all ages and groups,
both men and women, for the promotion and attain-
ment of world peace.
We desire to call the attention of the Conference
to “The International Ideals of the Churches,”
adopted by the Fifth Quadrennial meeting of the
Federal Council, in Atlanta, Georgia, December,
1924;
1. We believe that nations no less than individuals are
subject to God’s immutable laws.
2. We believe that nations achieve true welfare, great-
hess, and honor only through just dealing and unselfish
service.
3. We believe that nations that regard themselves as
Christians have special international obligations.
4, We believe that the spirit of Christian brotherliness
can remove every unjust barrier of trade, color, creed,
and race.
5. We believe that Christian patriotism demands the
practice of good will between nations.
’ 6. We believe that international policies should secure
equal justice for all races.
142 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
7. We believe that all nations should associate them-
selves permanently for world peace and good will.
8. We believe in international law and in the universal
use of international courts of justice and boards of arbi-
tration.
9. We believe in a sweeping reduction of armaments by
all nations.
10. We believe in a warless world, and dedicate ourselves
to its achievement. .
We believe that these ideals represent the most
advanced step yet taken by the churches in their pro-
gram for world peace. We call upon our denomi-
nations to cooperate faithfully with the Federal
Council’s Commission on International Justice and
Good Will for the universal application of those
principles of world peace and brotherhood.
This Commission has been active in the campaign
for American adhesion to the World Court. It has
labored for fair treatment of the Japanese and other
Orientals. It cooperates each year with the Chau-
tauqua Institute for a series of lectures on Interna-
tional Relations From the Christian Viewpoint. It
publishes a most valuable type of literature bearing
upon all phases of the general subject of Christian
internationalism. It voices the conviction of the
church with respect to disarmament and the move-
ment for the outlawry of war. |
The World Alliance for International Friendship
Through the Churches is an international organiza-
tion of religious forces with National Councils in
many countries, including America. This organiza-
tion carries on a promotional type of campaign in
all lands and seeks the development of a world con-
science on the part of the churches against the war
system.
We heartily indorse the work being accomplished
by these and other church agencies in behalf of.
peace. Yet we do feel that there is need for a closer |
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 143
cooperation between these peace organizations and
commissions, and, if possible, unification.
We recommend the following specific proposals as
steps toward the establishment of peace, to be under-
taken by the churches in their interdenominational
capacity:
1. The entrance of the United States into the
World Court.
2. The entrance of the United States into the
League of Nations.
3. The removal of discriminatory legislation in
our immigration policies.
4, The elimination of compulsory military train-
ing in our schools and colleges.
5. The elimination of the war emphasis from our
school textbooks.
6. The promotion of universal disarmament.
7. The discontinuance of the so-called “Defense
Day Tests.”
8. The cultivation of a Christian world-minded-
hess among the adherents of our several churches.
We recommend that the individual churches
through the denominational agencies give loyal sup-
port to these and to other endeavors in behalf of
peace. We of the younger generation feel that our
nation should not stand aloof from the rest of the
world on the basis of the Monroe Doctrine or by
virtue of a speech once made by George Washington,
but should come forth whole-heartedly and make
its contribution toward the solution of these inter-
jnational problems.
II. Inpustry anp Socian Service
The Federal Council of Churches, through its
Commission on the Church and Social Service, has
adopted the following platform of Social Ideals:
144. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
1. Equal rights and justice for all men in all stations
of life.
2. Protection of the family by the single standard of
purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of mar-
riage, proper housing.
3. The fullest possible development of every child, espe-
cially by the provision of education and recreation.
4, Abolition of child labor.
5. Such regulation of the conditions of toil for women
as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the
community.
6. Abatement and prevention of poverty.
7. Protection of the individual and society from the
social, economic and moral waste of the liquor traffic.
8. Conservation of health.
9. Protection of the worker from dangerous machinery,
occupational diseases and mortality.
10. The right of all men to the opportunity for self-
maintenance, for safeguarding this right against encroach-
ments of every kind, for the protection of workers from
the hardships of enforced employment.
11. Suitable provision for the old age of the workers,
and for those incapacitated by injury.
12. The right of employees and employers alike to or-
ganize; and for adequate means of conciliation and arbi-
tration in industrial disputes.
13. Release from employment one day in seven.
14. Gradual and reasonable reduction of hours of labor
to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of
leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human
life.
15. A living wage as a minimum in every industry, and
for the highest wage that each industry can afford.
16. A new emphasis upon the application of Christian
principles to the acquisition and use of property, and for
the most equitable division of the product of industry that
can ultimately be devised.
We are in hearty accord with these principles.
It is our desire that the churches of America, in
their various interdenominational activities, shall
attempt the transformation of human society in
conformity with these ideals. To this end, the
Federal Council’s Commission on the Church and
Social Service has been carrying on a commendable
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 145
and energetic campaign within recent years. This
Commission, in voicing the indignation of Prot-
estantism against the twelve-hour day in the steel
industry, helped mightily in the abolition of this
economic enslavement. It is interesting to note that
in this matter, as in some others, there was close
cooperation between the Federal Council of
Churches, the National Catholic Welfare Council,
and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
More than 125 conferences have been held
throughout the country under the auspices of this
Commission, for the study of labor conditions. Both
employers and employees were represented in all
these industrial “get togethers.”
This Commission investigates industrial condi-
tions from time to time and exerts its influence for
conferences and for a just. settlement of disputes.
It carries on a campaign in the churches for the
elimination of child labor. It is concerned with
child welfare and with the problems of delinquency.
It has encouraged the wide observance of “Labor
Sunday” and has supplied many pulpits with
speakers upon labor themes.
We commend such activities and offer the fol-
lowing suggestions:
1. That the Federal Council’s Commission make
certain that its work is not a duplication of work
already being done by other Social Service Bureaus
or Commissions.
2. There is need for a study of the attitude which
the American Federation of Labor now holds con-
cerning the church’s interest and action in labor
affairs, with the view of effecting a closer under-
standing between religious and labor groups.
3. More churehes in America should conduct
Forums where conditions in the economie and in-
146 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
dustrial world might be thoughtfully and fearlessly
discussed.
Ili. Muisstonary ACTIVITIES
There are a number of interdenominational
agencies that are functioning for the advancement
of the church’s missionary program. Foremost
among these is the Foreign Missions Conference
of North America. Through this body the various
denominational foreign missionary bodies are able
to achieve many cooperative activities. This Con-
ference is an integral part of the International Mis-
sionary Council, which includes in its membership
the various national and continental groups. Co-
operation in missionary enterprises is thus made
possible on an international scale.
The Committee on Cooperation in Latin America
acts as the clearing house for the denominations
having work in that general area. The religious
life of Mexico has been greatly advanced through
this interdenominational activity. The allocation
of territory to the various missionary boards and
the establishment of union schools for educational
purposes speaks volumes for the effectiveness of
this program.
The Federation of Woman’s Boards of Foreign
Missions of North America is composed of 23 Ameri-
ean Boards, 4 Canadian Boards and 4 interdenomi-
national groups. The Council of Women for Home
Missions is doing a splendid piece of work in pro- ©
moting a follow-up service among the immigrants
and in introducing them to some church of their
choice in the community in which they settle.
One of the greatest advance steps has been that
taken by the Missionary Education Movement. This
agency publishes missionary textbooks for all the
denominations. It likewise promotes interdenomi-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH =§ 147
national institutes for the creation of a public opin-
ion favorable to missionary enterprises.
The Commission on Relations with Religious
Bodies in Europe of the Federal Council of Churches
is a medium through which the churches of the
United States assist in the reconstruction of Euro-
pean Protestantism.
We believe that, in so far as the Protestant
churches of Europe are concerned, the denomina-
tions should be willing to work through the churches
already established in this field.
We strongly urge, in all foreign missionary
centers, the establishment of indigenous churches.
We should still cooperate financially with these
native churches, but should increasingly place the
responsibility of executive amd administrative
leadership in native hands.
We believe that there is a great need for the closer
integration and possible amalgamation of all these
interdenominational agencies carrying on mission-
ary work.
There is need also for some sort of a research
and information service that could be intrusted with
the task of interpreting the new science of mission-
ary activity to the general public.
TV. Race RELATIONS
Among the peoples of the different races and reli-
gions in the United States there is a decided lack
of adjustment, which manifests itself in discord
and conflict. Because of this situation there is
exhibited social and industrial injustice that is not
in keeping with the teachings of Jesus.
In the presence of such a situation it is evident
that the church nust take some stand. The Com-
mission on the Church and Race Relations of the
Federal Council of Churches has attempted to meet
148 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
this problem in the shaping of public opinion. This
has been done by means of literature, interchange
of pulpits, work in elementary schools, and the
establishment of interracial committees. The Com-
mittee on Good Will Between Jews and Christians
has arranged Union Thanksgiving services, Open
Forums, and Student Meetings. The Council of
Church Boards of Education has secured the co-
operation of Jews and Christians on matters of
religious and moral education.
We feel that this work is an effort in the right
direction, but it is just a beginning.
We believe that the church should continue to
bend every effort to create harmony and good will
among men. We are unconditionally opposed to
the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations which
have attempted to use the Protestant Church as a
shield for their unchristian activity in stirring up
prejudice.
The work of education in such eed should be
emphasized. We feel that such organizations are
outgrowths of ignorance and misconception. The
work of enlightenment should be carried on among
the mass of the population as well as among the
college students. |
The Federal Council’s Commission on the Church
and Race Relations has conducted in recent years a
series of interracial conferences. The constructive
measures adopted at these conferences by the local
white and colored leaders augur well for the future.
Interracial committees have been set up in many of
the larger cities of the country, including Brook-
lyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dayton, Kansas
City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, and
Toledo.
This Commission has carried on a successful cam-
paign against lynching. It has inaugurated Race
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH © 149
Relations Sunday. On this day, in certain
instances, White and Negro pastors exchange pul-
pits and joint interracial mass meetings are held.
It is especially recommended that the church
remove any existing racial segregation within itself.
We believe that such an act would have definite
effect on the economic and political life of our
country and would go far toward removing race
prejudice.
We believe that this program can be successfully
carried out only by means of interdenominational
cooperation.
V. EpUcATION
One of the most effective means of securing a
higher standard of moral and religious education
not only in the local community but also in the
college center is by placing greater emphasis upon
interdenominational cooperation.
It is interesting to note that at the University
of Iowa a school of religion has been established
which has as its purpose the training of leaders
for religious activity in their home communities
after graduation and return from college. Prepara-
tion for work in Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish
centers is taken into account. At the University
of Missouri there has been established a student
religious council which is composed of representa-
tives from all of the denominational groups on the
campus. In East Lansing, Michigan, the Congre-
gational Church in the town has been converted
into an interdenominational church and now has
serving as members of its governing board Baptists,
Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians.
This church, while financially supported by these
denominations, is actually being operated by the
students of the several denominations. At the Uni-
150 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
versity of Pennsylvania an interesting experiment is
now in operation, where each denominational repre-
sentative is specializing in a particular field of
activity.
All of this is very fine, but it is limited to a very
few isolated experimental stations, and as a result
the large majority of our church population is not
affected by its work.
We recommend the wider use of week-day schools
of religious education, based upon interdenomina-
tional cooperation. In many communities the local
School Board is ready and willing to cooperate
with the churches in promoting week-day schools
of religion. However, the various denominational
groups in the locality too often are jealous of one
another and are not willing to enter into an agree-
ment for interdenominational religious education.
The next move seems to be up to the leaders of the
church in the local communities.
The interdenominational Daily Vacation Bible
School movement for summer programs has already
proved its worth. We desire to see a further exten-
sion of these schools in more cities and towns of
the country.
There must be a vital strengthening of the reli-
gious education departments in our denominational
colleges. There is also a further need for a higher
type of ministerial leadership in college communi-
ties. We recommend that, wherever the conditions
warrant, student pastors be assigned to college
centers and that they be properly recognized by the
administrative authorities.
The various denominations should raise the stand-
ard of ministerial education. A college education
or its equivalent should be a prerequisite for ad-
mission to all theological seminaries. The curric-
ulum should be continually changed to meet new
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 151
conditions, and field work should be given a promi-
nent place in the program. We should also like to
suggest that all seminaries offer a four-year course.
In the schools that are now operating to prepare
non-college men for the ministry we desire to see a
more adequate curriculum and teaching force.
It is important to note, in conclusion, that all of
these suggestions can be realized only through inter-
denominational cooperation. The International
Council of Religious Education and the Council of
Church Boards of Education are the two interde-
nominational organizations working in this field.
We believe that there is room for much closer co-
operation between these two boards. We suggest a
thorough study concerning the possibility of actual
unification.
GENERAL FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
We have had brought to our attention the two
world movements that are now at work on the prob-
lem of church union: The Universal Christian Con-
ference on Life and Work and the World Conference
on Faith and Order.
The former hopes for a far greater unity within
Christendom along lines of practical endeavor. The
latter is concerned with the doctrinal aspects of
reunion. The Universal Ohristian Oonference,
which met in Stockholm in August, 1925, really
achieved something worth while. It brought to-
gether into practical fellowship the Protestant
churches of America, England, and the Continent,
together with the churches of the Eastern Ortho-
dox faith. The Conference issued a pronouncement
on social and international questions, the first inter-
national declaration of its kind in the history of the
Christian Church. The World Conference on Faith
and Order meets in Lausanne in 1927. The divi-
152 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
sions of the church with respect to faith, doctrine,
sacraments and orders strike at the very heart of
the entire question of church unity. We express our
hope that the Churches of Christ will be able to
find some way of escape out of the ecclesiastical
confusion of the present hour.
Stockholm and Lausanne! The youth of America
hails with genuine thanksgiving these movements
toward the ultimate unity of the Christian Church.
We feel that the church, in these efforts, is facing
toward the future.
We do not believe, however, that the time is yet
ripe for the erasing of our denominational lines.
We look forward to a continually growing spirit
of federated cooperation, keeping ever before us
the ideal of ultimate unification. Toward this end
it is to be greatly desired that denominations of the
same church family shall effect an organic unity
among themselves as a stepping-stone in this evolu--
tionary process of church union. Even though the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church have failed in their efforts
for unification, a failure which is to be deplored, yet
we see in these and similar efforts a ray of hope
for the future church. We look with enthusiastic
interest upon the movement in Canada which has
resulted in the merger of three denominations in
the United Church of Canada.
We deplore the present controversial condition in
the Christian Church and feel that it advertises the
church in the wrong light. We believe that the solu-
tion of this unhappy situation is to be found
through an open-minded approach to the principles
of Jesus, which will result in a strong adherence
to one’s Own convictions combined with a tolerant
attitude toward the honest convictions of others.
We commend most heartily the work of the Fed-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 153
eral Council of the Churches of Christ in America.
This organization is indispensable to the religious
life of America and to the progress of Christianity
in our own and other lands. Its interests and activi-
ties cover the whole range of our religious life, indi-
vidual, social, and international. We would like to
see. every denomination in America a constituent
member of the Federal Council and giving it en-
thusiastic support.
As the natural development of this cooperative
principle, we recommend the organization of State
and City Federations of Churches where such insti-
tutions do not already exist. We desire to see our
Roman Catholic friends invited to participate in all
united church programs, even though they may
appear at times to be hesitant in accepting such
invitations.
There are too many interdenominational organ-
izations. We see no reason why there should not
be a general merging all along the line, for the sake
both of efficiency and of economy.
We look forward finally to the establishment of
an International Council of Churches, which shall
have as its supreme purpose the Christianization
of our international relations and ‘the establish-
ment of a fuller spiritual life among all people.
As young people we desire to cooperate with these
interdenominational agencies. We feel that we are
entitled to a place on the administrative and execu-
tive boards of such organizations as the Federal
Council of Churches and its several commissions
and committees, the Council of Church Boards of
Education, the International Council of Religious
Education, and the Interdenominational Mission-
ary Movements.
We petition the executive officers of the universal
Christian Conference on Life and Work and the
154. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
World Conference on Faith and Order for repre-
sentation on their respective Continuation Com-
mittees. We have no desire to displace the leader-
ship of our adult comrades in the faith. Not at all.
But we do have the right to “sit in” with the older
leaders of these movements and whenever possible
to add eur word of counsel in the shaping of pro-
grams and policies.
For the further promotion of these interdenomi-
national contacts we strongly advise the frequent
convening of this particular type of student confer-
ence,
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
Gorpon E. BieeLow, Union Theological Seminary
Wiii1am E. Brarsrep, Brown University
Harotp R. Brennan, Wesleyan University
Monty CoGeEsHaLL, Vassar College
Marcaret Day, Vassar College
JoHN A. Decker, Union Theological Seminary
JoHN W. Easton, Princeton University
TILLMAN H. Henperson, Howard University
Lenora Hiscock, Mount Holyoke College
Carrot, H. Lone, Princeton University
Epwin R. Levinn, New York University
Grorce E. McCracken, Princeton University
Leon R. McKetvey, Lafayette College
W. D. Marutas, Union Theological Seminary
Wiitiam C. Swartz, Lafayette College
Berry SpPEARH, Mount Holyoke College
JOHN WILLS, Massachusetts Institute of Terhnplovy
Roserr OQ. WILson, Princeton University
JAMES H. Wooprurr, Boston University School of
Theology
General Chairman
Walter W. Van Kirk, Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 155
In presenting various portions of the Report of the Com-
mission, members of the Commission placed the following
additional information before the Conference.
EDUCATION AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL ACTIVITY
George H. McCracken, Student, Princeton University
We have working in our churches two organiza-
tions which work from a joint enterprise standpoint.
The first of these is the Council of Church Boards
of Education.
Their first business is to find facts, then to put
them out at the disposal of the people who want
them. Their work is further carried on in an at-
tempt to unite the workers in various tax-supported
institutions. They have a department that works
on life service. One of their most important func-
tions is to work with the various boards of educa-
tion. ;
The other organization in this field is the Inter-
national Council of Religious Education which is a
joint combination of the International Sunday
School Association and the Sunday School Council
of Evangelical Denominations. It has State,
county, and city branches. The aim is to bring
into religious education the principles of pedagogy.
I want to stress the importance of work that is
being done by the Council of Church Boards of
Education among the universities.
At the University of Pennsylvania they have
united all the student workers into one council,
and each student worker takes up a special depart-
156 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
ment of work and is the specialist for the whole
university, for all denominations on that particular
subject. At East Lansing, Michigan, they have
started a union church in which four big denomina-
tions have representatives on the board.
SocraAL SERVICE AND INTERDENOMINATIONALISM
W. D. Matthias, Student, Union Theological
Seminary
Just what has the church accomplished thus far
in industry from an interdenominational point of
view? We find there are two institutions which
are specially important in this regard: first the De-
partment of Research and Education of the Federal
Council of Churches. We find that this group is
doing a great piece of work in the rural field. Again,
we find that the same department has given to the
public the prohibition report which has received
some commendation and vice versa. Then, again,
we find that the church is trying to see just what
the status of union labor is to-day. These, my
friends, are some of the things that that particular
department of the Federal Council of Churehes is
now doing.
Then there is the Commission on Social Service of
the Federal Council of Churches. We find it work-
ing in making an investigation of the motion pic-
ture industry, and some other things of like regard.
Furthermore, they are cooperating with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor in attempting to determine
just why labor is opposed to the church, and how
4
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 157
the church can help labor, and in turn, labor serve
the best interests of the church.
We find that in March a team is to go to Florida
to investigate some of the real-estate propositions
which are now being thrust upon the public in that
State, and at the same time hold conferences as to
just what ethical real-estate business should be.
They are now making study courses as to what the
unemployment situation is, some practical ideas of
industrial democracy to-day, and also how the
church and industry can get together.
MISSIONS AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL Work
Mr. James Woodruff, Student, Boston University
Is it not significant that in that work of the
church which most exemplifies the spirit of Jesus
and the spirit of the dark angel of sacrifice, there
came the first drawing together of the forces of
the church? To-day the Foreign Missions Confer-
ence of North America is an organization repre-
senting the mission boards of the largest Protestant
denominations in the United States, with the excep-
tion of the Southern Baptist.
Then there is the relation with the religious body
of Europe, which is a Commission of Federal Coun-
cil of Churches. May I say, I think the most
significant cooperative effort is the Federal Council
of Churches organized in 1908, a result of this co-
operative missionary effort, and now including all
the departments of the church.
158 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Race RELATIONS AND INTERDENOMINATIONALISM
Gordon E. Bigelow
Our nation was founded on the assumption of
brotherhood and yet in these latter days we find
some hectic junkers at Washington slapping our
Japanese brothers in the face by abrogating the
Gentlemen’s Agreement. As a nation we pretend
to follow Jesus, and yet scores of Americans stand
by their very church doors to watch with gibing
satisfaction the lynching of a Negro. Christian
America, although it does not seem credible, per-
mitted between 1885 and 1922, 4,154 persons, 3,120
of whom were Negroes, to be lynched by mobs.
Large groups of our population will have nothing to
do with Jews because they maintain that this is a
land for Christians, and yet at the same time claim
to be the followers of the greatest Jew who ever
lived. Many individuals distrust the immigrant,
saying that he is dirty, unsanitary, and the cause of
much crime; and yet he is forced to live under con-
ditions which of themselves produce filth, disease,
and economic hardship.
Some question the rights of the Roman Catholics
to their religion and yet praise Roger Williams for
helping to establish religious liberty. It is indeed
obvious that these conditions which I have pictured
are incompatible with Christianity. We are told
that there are over 50,000,000 Christians in the
United States to-day. Youth wants to know what
is the matter with these Christians. It is encourag-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 159
ing to note that certain groups within the church
have been working to right this wrong. Four years
ago there was formed as a department of the Fed-
eral Council of Churches of Christ in America a
division called the Commission on the Church and
Race Relations. Here are some of the things it is
doing: It is conducting a campaign to marshal the
churches against lynching, the goal being “ a lynch-
less land in 1926.” It assists local committees in
settling their community problems. It conducts
interracial conferences. It promotes race-relations
Sundays on which days white and Negro pastors
and representatives of their people visit churches
of races other than their own. We were astounded
to learn that out of 247 Negro churches less than
twenty reported that a white preacher or white
person had ever paid them a visit. Just one year
ago this past November the “Commission on Good
Will Between Jews and Christians” was formed as
a branch of the Commission on International
Justice and Good Will of the Federal Council of
Churches of Christ in America. This Commission
is aiming to bring the Jewish and Christian peo-
ples closer together, so that between them mutual
understanding and sympathetic appreciation shall
prevail. |
The Commission on International Justice and
Good Will of the Federal Council has been actively
engaged in an attempt to solve this race problem.
Noteworthy among its efforts is the protest against
the Japanese Exclusion Act.
160 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
On October 24 the Federal Council of Churches
issued an appeal for justice to China. It was urged
that China’s welfare be the chief consideration of
the international conferences being held in Peking.
The statement presented to Secretary Kellogg in-
cluded a plea for the abolition of extraterritoriality
and restoration of tariff autonomy to China.
We suggest:
1. That the church can accomplish nothing in the
solution of the race problem until its members them-
selves are won to a belief in the efficacy of the
Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount, and
then transcribe that belief into action. How can
our so-called one hundred per cent American church
members call their brothers “dagos, wops, kikes,
guineas, coons, and niggers,’ when the Christ whom
they claim to worship was himself a Jew and an
Oriental, and the one great principle for which he
lived and died was that all men are brothers?
2. Since we feel that ignorance of the facts is
really at the bottom of the whole problem, we advo-
cate a much more extensive campaign of education
which shall disseminate the real truth concerning
the races in question. We feel that altogether too
few church members at the present time know what
the leading anthropologists of the world have to
say about the question of inferior or superior races.
3. We urge that the pulpits throughout America
be used more frequently to present these facts to
their congregations.
4. We feel that here is a problem upon the solu-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 161
tion of which all the churches of the community can
work in united effort. In only such united endeavor
will the various denominations realize their com-
mon objectives, and thus foster cooperation and
good will.
Two methods of approach to the problem are sug-
gested by contemporary society: those of force and
those of mutual cooperation and good will. The
method of force has been applied through the his-
tory of mankind, and he who runs may read its
failure. It is the feeling of our committee that
this method is absolutely un-Christian. To this end
we wish to voice our disapproval of all such organ-
izations as the Ku Klux Klan, the American Defense
Society, and the National Security League. Prob-
ably the most flagrant demonstration of this spirit
is found in the Ku Klux Klan.
Youth feels to-day that the church should spend
more time learning the lessons taught at the manger
cradle of Bethlehem and less time at the tinseled
altars of one-hundred-per-cent Americanism and race
superiority, which a material civilization has
erected in our country. Then would the song of the
angels become a program of life, and in good will
men might discover that peace which is essential to
the establishment of God’s kingdom—a kingdom
which flies no flag but the flag of universal brother-
hood.
DISCUSSION ON THE CHURCH AND COOPERATION
Mr. Barton, Missouri: That speech and the pro-
162 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
gram opens the way to a very concrete and actual
suggestion that I want to make to this conference.
It has to do with our direct connection of the church
as we go back to the campuses. Anybody knows
that the place where we give expression is in the
young people’s society. It seems to me there are
possibilities of developing great cooperation in our
churches. Imagine the possibilities, if you will, of
a national program department which can give to
the program chairmen of these young people’s so-
cieties on our campuses some of these great facts
and some of the material which is presented by some
of the leading minds of the country, some of these
commissions which give us facts, that will give us
a high grade discussion on these subjects. Carry
that one step further, if you will. On certain impor-
tant occasions, and on important subjects, we could
have all over America in every student group a
simultaneous and uniform discussion of some of
these great problems.
The effect on the public conscience of America
of such a program, it seems to me, would be tre-
mendous. It would allow us as students to register
our Own opinion in a way we have never been able
to do before.
I would suggest that this conference go on record
as favoring the general idea of a higher type of
program in our young people’s society, a coordi-
nated approach on many of the important questions,
and leave the details of definition of objective and
exact organization and financing to the continua-—
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 163
tion committee of this conference which, it seems
to me, ought to be appointed.
Student, Friends University, Kansas: There was
an excellent suggestion made about young people’s
organizations. At the present time there are three
of them, the Christian Endeavor, Epworth League,
and B. Y. P. U. These are the outstanding ones.
We could appoint a continuation committee to
investigate the possibilities of amalgamation. It
could have a national campaign, a national organ-
ization of its own to work through the young peo-
ple’s societies. If we could work out something like
that, we would probably learn something about the
technic of tackling national organizations.
Mr. Winter, Chicago: If industrial injustice is
primarily a cause of war and the unwillingness to
consider property as a stewardship rather than as
personal right, we want to know about it, and the
place to learn about it is in the college halls where
we have the facilities for scientific investigation.
I think this conference should recommend several
courses in our various colleges. They should be
courses that are truly scientific.
Mr. Dieviler, University of Pennsylvania Graduate
School: At Pennsylvania we are not conscious of the
struggle between the Christian associations and the
individual denominations, such a struggle as is very
commonly felt in other colleges. We are working
together very harmoniously at Pennsylvania. The
only job that isn’t held by a denominational secre-
tary is that of the social service director. I don’t
164 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
know just what denomination he is. We don’t con-
cern ourselves with that at Pennsylvania.
Consequently, our campus has been said to be the
best organized, religiously, of any in the United
States. I don’t put that up as a boast. I don’t
know whether it is very true or not. However, we
have found the denominations work together har-
moniously under such a system of dividing up the
field.
Mr. Wyker, Lexington, Kentucky: It is high time
we young people have some organization through
which we can gain expression. The Federal Coun-
cil of the Churches of Christ at the present time
is willing to develop a young people’s department.
Mr. Veatch, Columbia: Our own campuses are
split wide open by competing organizations. We
have control over some of them to a certain extent.
Some of those we have no control over. At any rate, —
the boards of these organizations are not at all in
harmony or in cooperation. There are the Y. M.
C. A.’s, the Y. W. C. A.’s, the different church boards
with student pastors, sometimes student houses, de-
nominational houses on the campus. Here is an- |
other proposition where the Federal Council can
come in. I believe we want unity and Christian
unity. I believe we want a student control, a cen-
tral unity with all of the help the other organiza-
tions can give us.
Mr. West, Nebraska: It seems every time a group
of students want to decide something should be done
they decide to do it through an organization. I _
EE OT ey ee
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 165
wonder if we would accomplish more in carrying
out the spirit by becoming a part of the Federal
Council of Churches and working through that, or
by going back to the campuses and attempting to
put into practice the spirit that has been suggested
here, the spirit of unity. That has been suggested
as a solution of our problem. Very little has been
said about how we should go about it. It seems
to me we can do more by trying to. solve that
problem than we would by doing the conventional
thing of becoming part of the established organiza-
tion.
Mr. McFadden, DePauw: I think we need unity
rather than cooperation among our young people’s
societies. It seems to me that we students who are
here have power enough to make a unified young
people’s society, and this is a field in which we can
work and really accomplish something. I think
the Epworth League should go in with the Chris-
tian Endeavor, because the Christian Endeavor
already is a union society of several denominations.
The B. Y. P. U. should disband and go for the same
reason. I think we here have power enough to make
a union young people’s organization, and union is
what we need, and not federation or cooperation.
Miss Ashworth, Barnard College, New York City:
I think most of us who have attended conferences
know the thing that happens at the end of the con-
ference is happening here to-day. I have been at
the Princeton World Court Conference. At the con-
clusion we passed a resolution going on record as
166 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
formulating a permanent organization. Here we
are formulating another organization.
Mr. Dempster, Harvard: What we are trying to
do is merge the organizations we have into one,
and thereby instead of having more we will have
less organizations.
Mr. Smith, Union: I would like to report a cer-
tain incident which I think every one here will be
interested in hearing before we close at twelve
o’clock. It is about race. Less than twenty-four
hours ago a certain delegation here was stung open
to its own negligence, and our common negligence
in a certain race matter, and I know you will want
to hear what it was.
This delegation had invited certain other delega-
tions to supper. One of the invited guests was a
friend of one of our students and came from Liberia.
We had made our arrangements for the supper by
reserving tables. We found on visiting the restau-
rant that this gentleman had been refused entrance
there before, so we went to the manager of the
restaurant to ask him what he could do. In a very
courteous way, in a way that certainly disarmed
us from attaching any blame to him, he said he was
unable to allow this guest of ours to come in. He
said, “There are people right here in this house
eating their supper who will immediately make
trouble, and make permanent trouble for me.”
We walked for fifteen minutes across the city until
we came to a Negro restaurant, a very nice, clean
place, and the four of us had an excellent meal
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 167
and an excellent discussion on international affairs.
I might add for your information, that the gentle-
man in question is a man of exceptional education,
and is planning to end it up with a study of anthro-
pology in Berlin.
That thing could happen anywhere. A_ block
away from our own school we could not get entrance
for a Liberian. We have been asleep on the matter.
I think we have got to be all stung awake by this
little incident, so we will get back and realize the
difficulties. There are many Negroes in the city.
Are we prepared to ask for special privileges for
an African and not for an American Negro? We
have much to deal with, so I would like to see
this conference discuss the race matter locally, a
program which will require the discovery of facts
and will require action.
May I add just one thing? We can begin first by
finding out where our Negro students on the
campuses have to go to eat. In our own college a
while ago we found they had to walk or travel for
one half hour in order to get to a place to eat.
Mr. Veatch, Columbia: I also found this matter
out last night and certainly intended to bring it
up before lunch time. I made a canvass of most of
the restaurants and cafeterias in town, and found
there are very few who will accept Negroes. I
found that it is not necessarily a matter of prejudice
on the part of the restaurant keeper, but a matter
of economic necessity. He would lose certain
patronage if he allowed Negroes to come in. I, as
168 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
a Christian brother of Negroes, cannot eat in a
place or sleep in a place where they cannot eat and
sleep. I propose this noon not to go in the places
where the Negroes cannot go. | |
I propose that we eat in the restaurants where
Negroes can go this noon and to-night, or else go
to grocery stores and soda fountains and get
erackers and cheese and go out on the lake-front and
eat them.
Mr. Schuldt, Garrett: We have been speaking a
great deal about denominational cooperation, but
there was one matter that seems to have slipped my
mind. I don’t know what per cent of the students
are from denominational schools. I am a graduate
of Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa. I find
that one of the things facing the church is multi-
plicity. In the State of Iowa we have five Meth-
odist colleges that are just bleeding the people and
struggling along trying to make ends meet. We
have a military academy too.
SumMMarRyY OF DISCUSSION
Doctor Fitch: I suppose I think about this what
the man would who has been spending thirty years
in teaching lovable, exasperating, and valuable
undergraduates. I think the conference has shown
most of the characteristics of the academic youth
of this nation. It is high-hearted, eager, and gener-
ous. It is somewhat superficial and irresponsible.
It is inherently conservative. That is about what.
I should have expected from an undergraduate body.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 169
There is one thing I want to say. You want
very much to do something about certain burning
issues in our day, economic issues. The issue on
denominationalism is the particular one that you
feel very, very keenly, largely because you feel that
from inside and out. Of course you are not well
acquainted with the facts.
Young people, if you want to have this kind of
a conference show the constructive morals and
power it should, you have to lift the level of disci-
pline and intelligence on your campuses. That is
one of the things that nobody here has talked about.
It shouldn’t be injected now, however. You show
here impressions of ideas, and you show yourselves
very sensitive to impressions of ideas, and you don’t
show very much capacity to hold accurately the
ideals themselves.
- You give the impression of fine, irresponsible,
dissipated minds, scattered minds. I think one of
the things that is the weakness behind all this sort
of conferences is coming out of the system of train-
ing in the colleges, where there is too much student
activity and campus activity, and too little hard,
intellectual discipline. That is probably due quite
as much to our forms of education and the men
teaching as it is to your own intellectual deficien-
cies. I believe that it is due to both of those
things.
If this body of youth could show as much intellec-
tual conscience as it shows moral conscience, it
would do wonders.
170 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
DISCUSSION
Mr. Wise, Ohio Wesleyan: I cannot help but raise
my voice in denunciation of another organization
which we as students are backing and supporting
and belonging to.
It is not an organization, but a system which is
un-Christian from the very root of things, although
in some ways it does a great work; yet it is un-
Christian. I believe there is a remedy for the un-
Christian elements. I believe another organization
can be put in place of this, which would remove
the un-Christian elements, namely, selfishness, class
distinction, raising up distinction between men and
women, groups and individuals, and throwing up
barriers. The organization which I speak of is a
Greek letter fraternity system.
In Ohio Wesleyan University we have put in mo-
tion a movement not to displace that system, not to
oppose it, but we have built up a system based on
pure brotherhood. We call it “The Student Body of
Ohio.” Our constitution reads, “Any man shall
belong to this organization who is a member, who
is a student in Ohio Wesleyan University.”
Mr. Steiner, Ohio Wesleyan: What Mr. Wise has
told you is true. He has brought to surface some- —
thing that is very real to us. At Ohio Wesleyan ©
we have one thousand eight hundred students, about
half of whom are men. The university does not —
provide a single accommodation for these men. Four
hundred and fifty of us men are living in Delaware, ©
Ohio, doing the best we can. The fraternities are
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 171
only providing for four hundred and fifty. The
Same condition prevails in many other Ohio col-
leges.
Mr. Fallon, Allegheny: I, for one, am in favor of
the proposition that has just been stated. I had
the privilege of joining a fraternity, but I did not
believe it was Christian.
Mr. Wilder, North Carolina: May I make a sug-
gestion for maintaining the pep of this convention
on our campus back home? I would suggest that
the names be turned into the Continuation Com-
mittee of all those who have made New Year’s reso-
lutions to do something about this, when we get
back on our home campuses, and then that the Con-
tinuation Committee send out about the first of
February questionnaires or requests for a report of
what we have done up to that time; these reports
to be turned in before a certain date and published
and distributed as they see fit.
SESSIONS ON FINDINGS
Fripay AFTERNOON AND EVENING
Miscellaneous Resolutions
Mr. Hoyt, Upper Iowa University: The discus-
Sions in this conference have centered around ques-
tions of war, industry, and race, and the church
opportunities concerning these questions. These
problems are the problems of the rural people as
well as of the urban people, but the rural people
ask for understanding and for sympathy, and for
172 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
help from the leaders, primarily interested in war,
race, and industrial questions. I move that a
committee be appointed by the Continuation Com-
mittee to study conditions in relation to the church,
and suggest specific lines of action both for churches
and students through the church.
Passed.
Mr. Thomas, Columbia: We all remember the
excellent speech by Mr. Ehrensperger the other day.
In connection with this, may I offer the following
resolution? I think most of us have thought suffi-
ciently about this to require no extended discussion.
This is the resolution :
“Resolved, That the Interdenominational Student
Conference go on record as favoring the adoption
by our country and the church of a modified program
of eugenics, consisting of these recommendations:
“1. The legalizing of the dissemination of infor-
mation concerning contraception, or birth control;
2. By the means of segregation and sterilization to
progressively eliminate those who are, by heredity,
mentally unfit.”
I believe these recommendations are in accord
with the spirit of Jesus, who came that we might
have abundant life, which means the possibility of
everyone living up to the best and fullest of his
power, and not flooding the country with the vastly
superfluous number of undereducated and under- |
fed children, who have an exceedingly small chance
of becoming anything but economic and social bur- |
dens.
Carried.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 173
FINDINGS
An APPRECIATION OF THE CHURCH
This report was adopted as an interpretation of
the session which discussed this subject rather than
as a line of procedure. .
Chairman of Findings on this Subject,
John Wilkin, Boston University
“With full appreciation of inconsistency and
faults within the institution, ever mindful of per-
versions from the original spirit which gave it birth,
we nevertheless express our appreciation of the ex-
tent to which the Christian Church has fulfilled its
true mission.
“The church has had a responsibility in main-
taining adequate worship, the communion of God,
with man, and man with God. There is conflict and
intelligent demand for social service. The largest
Opinion seemed to be that that is not a question of
either, but both. The fullest expression of Chris-
_tianity demands three, God and two humans.
__ “The question was raised as to whether or not the
church should detach itself from Western civiliza-
tion. Certainly, Christianity should be free from
_the taint and coloring of any particular civilization,
but the civilization in which it has been deposited
Should have the backbone to combat existing social
ills. The church also has responsibility in meet-
ing the demands of the intellect. Religion is a mat-
ter of intellect, as well as a matter of emotion and
will. Only partially has it met this need; yet in
some respects it has made a decided contribution.
First, it has established and maintained colleges
and universities; secondly, it is rapidly improving
its religious education; thirdly, with partial guc-
cess it has trained its paid workers.
174. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
“There is still, however, intellect bondage because
of the influence of traditional beliefs. From this
bondage we must free ourselves. Although given
over to the consideration of appreciation of a
church, the Wednesday morning session showed
some decidedly critical expressions. 3
“J, Denominations are organized around ances-
tral worship.
“2 The church was born in an atmosphere of
autocracy and has fostered same.
“3. Its passion for service has given over to
passion for power.
“4. Tt has chosen corruption to crucifixion.
“In conclusion, the greatest need is a critical
loyalty to the church as the best channel through —
which to express our ideas. Unselfish, intelligent
service, steeped in the purity of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and dedicated to sacrifice, is the only method
of combating the sullen and persistent dangers of —
institutionalism.”
FINDINGS
Tue Casp AGAINST THE CHURCH
Chairman of Committee, E. W. Stimpson,
Washington University, St. Louis
Report adopted as an interpretation of the ses-—
sion on this subject, rather than as a line of pro-—
cedure: {
I. Tse CHurcH AND LaABor
A. Stanley Dowley, a labor radical, held forth
little hope for the solution of the laborer’s”
problem by the application of the prin-
ciples of Jesus in industry through the,
church. He based his pessimism upon the
following grounds: "
1. The church is controlled by the domi-
nant class and reflects its interests. ©
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 175
2.
The church is indifferent and does not
know the facts concerning labor’s true
condition.
. The church has no practical program to
offer to solve the problem.
. The church is a subtle moral weapon
to keep the worker satisfied and servile.
. The church is traditionally opposed to
radicalism.
. The conference was more optimistic than
the speaker but is agreed that
1.
The church has been saturated with the
philosophy and ideals of the dominant
class, and has sacrificed the social
teachings of Jesus for a conscious or-
unconscious acceptance of our modern
materialism. This situation can be im-.
proved by
a. A greater emphasis on the vital and
dynamic expression of Christianity
and far less stress upon the material
aspect—mere numbers, wealth, and
institutional buildings.
b. Giving ministers more freedom ‘to
preach their convictions on contro-
versial subjects, in regard to the so-
cial application of Christianity.
c. Divorcing the ministry from the
subtle pressure of capitalism.
. The conference is agreed that the church
knows far too little concerning the facts
im contemporary industrial situations.
The group felt that the church could act
as a fact-finding agency in labor ques-
tions, doing work similar to that of the
research of the Social Service Bulletin
If.
ITl.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
of the Federal Council of Churches, but
on a much larger and more intensive
scale.
Here there was a difference of opin-
ion. Some maintained that fact-finding
was as far as the church should go.
Others felt keenly that the church
should take definite and specific action
in labor controversies, and wherever
there is a demand for social justice.
3. The conference is agreed that the pro-
gram of the church with regard to labor
problems has been weak and ineffectual.
(At this session little was suggested as
remedial for this condition.)
Tue CHURCH AND RACE
A. The following criticisms of the church
from the point of view of race were raised.
1. The church has often stood for the most
bigoted kind of racial discrimination.
2. Such intolerant organizations as the
Ku Klux Klan, anti-Catholic groups and
anti-Semitics, have been tolerated and
fostered by leaders in the Christian
Church.
B. The conference vigorously opposed the Ku
Klux Klan, and all like organizations, and
believes that every church should do the
Same.
Tour CHURCH AND THE SO-CALLED “MAN OF THR ©
STREET”
Dr. Hubert Herring pointed out the fol-
lowing typical and often heard criticisms of
the church:
1. The church is an agency for propaganda
:
:
}
:
.
¢
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH — 177
rather than a fellowship for free spir-
itual exploration.
2. The church is lost in institutionalism.
3. The church has lost the spirit of daring
and adventure.
B. The conference is agreed that
1. The church should limit the dogmatism
of the pulpit, and that at least some
portion of the church services should
be given to open discussion and ques-
tioning of the speaker. We _ should
never be content with any doctrine as
final truth.
2. It is the feeling of the conference that
institutionalism of the church has been
aggravated by denominational competi-
tion and by professional jealousy and
politics among the church leaders.
3. If there is a loss of the spirit of adven-
ture, it is partially the result of our
own complacency and indifference. The
conference suggests that from within
the church we use the experimental at-
tack on all problems.
FINDINGS
CHRISTIANIZING Our CtvitizATION!
Chairman of Findings Committee, Dale W. Stump,
Ohio State University
I. The Church and War
1. We believe the church through its churches
Should excommunicate war, dissociate itself from
* At the suggestion of Mr. Roy Veatch, of Columbia Uni-
versity, a standing vote was taken showing the attitude of
students on one aspect of the war question. One hundred
eighty-one delegates voted that in the event of a future
178 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
the war system, and refuse henceforth to allow the
use of the church as a medium of preparation for,
or prosecution of, war.
2. Because we favor a positive education for
peace, and because we believe that the present mili-
tary training program of the War Department in
high schools and colleges gives war an ultimate
sanction, perpetuates the war system, delays dis-
armament, intimidates students and faculty, and
inhibits free discussion, we suggest:
a. Abolition of military training in church and
denominational schools.
b. Abolition of military training in high schools.
ec. Abolition of military training in colleges and
universities, including immediate abolition of its
compulsory features in land grant institutions.
3. Every local church should guard and guaran-—
tee the right of an individual to follow the guidance
of his own conscience when that conscience advises |
against participation in war.
4. Because war is a negation of the value of hu
man personality we condemn any attempt to impose —
universal conscription of manhood on the United
:
}
States, such as the proposed legislation before Con-_
gress.
5. We believe the United States should take a
leading share in promoting and participating in any
international organization fostering good will and
cooperation between nations. In particular we urge
the immediate ratification of the Protocol of the
Permanent Court of International Justice at The
Hague, participation of the United States in formu-
war they felt that they must absolutely refuse to partici-
pate. Sixty-five felt that their duty in the event of war
would lie in fighting. Two hundred fifteen felt that they
had not thought the matter through to a definite decision.
The total membership of the Conference was nearly 900.
1
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 179
lating plans for the projected disarmament confer-
ence, and entry into the League of Nations. We
urge the churches to continue their efforts along
these lines.
Discussion CONCERNING THE FINDINGS ON THE
CHURCH AND War
Mr. McCallum: It seems to me we are going the
other way and not being tolerant, when we say
“abolition of military training.” It seems to me we
should state the abolition of compulsory military
training, and permit those whose views are opposite
ours to have it.
_ Mr. Paige, Hamline University: Why take the
teeth out of one of the best things we have gotten
in the conference?
Mr. Nowlen, Denver: We speak of toleration. If
we mean toleration of sin, that is what we mean.
When we speak of toleration in any form of war,
it is toleration of sin. I would like to find out this
fact. Even if military training in high school is
not compulsory, it is made to appear so attractive,
so patriotic in a way that high-school students can-
not understand that it is taken up, and is just as
popular as if it were compulsory. I think we would
be taking all the vitality out of this resolution if
we put the word “compulsory” in it. I think we
would be tolerating sin.
: Student, Cole, Iowa: I come from an R. O. T. C.
institution. I realize there are a great many who
believe in the R. O. T. C. movement. We have to
take that into consideration. Not every one be
lieves the R. O. T. C. should be entirely eliminated.
If we are to take the first step, we must take it
Tightly.
Mr. Ewing, Western Seminary: This report of
the committee seems to me to be inadequate in one
180 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
respect. I am heartily in favor of it as far as it
goes. After a good deal of thought about war and
peace, it seems war cannot be abolished by the
action of the officials of one country. Therefore, I
wish to propose an addition to the motion, without
making any change in the committee report:
“5. We believe the United States should take a
leading share in promoting and participating in any
international organization fostering good will and
cooperation between nations. In particular, we
urge the immediate ratification of the protocol of
the Permanent Court of International Justice at
The Hague, participation of the United States in
formulating plans for the projected disarmament
conference, and entry into the League of Nations.
We urge the churches to continue their efforts along
these lines.” Carried. (See Findings, p. 177.) —
Miss Speare, Mount Holyoke: I would like to sug-
gest that the vote just taken be sent to the Senate
and President Coolidge, that they may know of our
indorsement of President Coolidge’s indorsement
of the disarmament conference, and also that the
Senate may know of our feelings in regard to the ©
World Court and League of Nations. |
Mr. Jenkins, Ohio State: When we go back to ©
our schools, President Coolidge and the Senate of
the United States won’t send us personal letters and
tell us to continue our efforts in the schools to get
rid of the militarization of the mind of youth. All
the State universities that are land grant universi-
ties will still keep on drilling year after year unless
each one takes the responsibility to go back on the ©
campus and stump the campus with the idea that —
we are for the abolition of these different things.
II. The Church and Education 3
Since we conceive life to be a creative experiment —
in aggressive good will, we recommend the educa- —
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 181
tional approach to the solution of human problems
facing the church, involving a careful survey of the
facts, freedom of expression, consideration of all
viewpoints, thorough experimentation, and as far
as possible living contacts with immediate com-
munity needs.
We recommend that programs be organized in
terms of Christian projects to be done instead of
meetings to be held.
We recommend the introduction of courses in
denominational schools and universities designed
to search for a Christian solution of social problems
embodying a careful survey of the facts, freedom
of expression, consideration of all viewpoints,
thorough experimentation, and as far as possible liv-
ing contacts with immediate community needs. -
EXPLANATION OF BACKGROUND OF FINDINGS ON THE
CHURCH AND EDUCATION
Mr. Howard McCluskey: In order to utilize this
time and make it just as concrete as possible, let
me give you some of the things I had in mind that
I was not able to give last night. First of all, I
want to emphasize the experimental viewpoint. I
have in mind such projects as the industrial sum-
mer projects for students. They work in the large
industrial plants and have weekly or biweekly meet-
ings and discuss experiences. It embodies the prin-
ciple of experimentation and the principles of ex-
perience, which are absolutely fundamental.
I would like to start out with this thesis. We
do not know (get this) in terms of specific behavior
_ what the Christian life means. We do know we
182 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
should not kill or steal, and some of those simple
things. In view of the complexed society, in order
to create the new life, we havea to experiment.
Therefore, there is the necessity of sae erage the
experimental attitude.
Emphasizing the careful survey of all the facts
is very, very important. As I indicated, one great
leader in the new viewpoint has utilized the past
year in getting new points, refreshing his back-
ground so he can come to these problems with the
better view. I would suggest that it be a pre-
requisite of your conference that no one should
speak unless he knows absolutely what he is talking
about, and although he may not be an expert on the
subject, at least have the advice and consultation
of the experts.
I would also suggest that you do not allow any
one to speak in the young people’s meetings unless
they have had contact with the problem with which
they are dealing, either in terms of research or in
terms of living experience. For instance, if you
are going to have a meeting in one of your young
-people’s groups on the race problem, I suggest be-
fore you have that meeting, say, two weeks before-
hand, that you appoint a committee to go out and
make friends with some college students on the
campus, and get their viewpoint, and make a sur-
vey of the restaurants where they are discriminated —
against, where they do not get fair play, and find —
all the details they can.
Furthermore, I wish it were possible to have an —
>
ny
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 183
adult educational program in the church like we
have in the labor union and other fields. I wish.
there were enough older people in the church who
were enough concerned with the problem that they
were willing to spend nights during the week study-
ing these things instead of playing bridge.
Let me suggest this concrete thing. The B. Y.
P. U., Epworth League, Christian Endeavor and
Luther League should be unified. The home offices
Should be the pooling ground for the experience
of the young folks all over the country. We, there-
fore, would have a cooperative enterprise in Chris-
tian living. Whenever you folks come up against
any practical problem in your own community, you
send a report of that problem to the home office.
They send back bulletins to you, and you will have
a unified approach of the whole thing, and you will
be approaching it entirely upon the demonstration
basis. I see absolutely no reason in the world why
all of these organizations shouldn’t get together
and work together in a unified scheme. If you
would do that for five years or for one generation,
the question of denominationalism would solve it-
self,
FINDINGS
Tue CHURCH AND RACE
We believe that present relationships between
races are inconsistent with the mind and teachings
of Jesus concerning brotherhood; and since we, as
students, now face a real problem on our campuses
184 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
in the relations of the students of the various races
and creeds, hence:
We suggest that we give ourselves to an unbiased
study of the races in an effort to find a solid basis
for relationships of equality and mutuality and to
gain an appreciation of the distinctive contribu-
tion and capacity of each race.
That the Cosmopolitan Clubs and other associa-
tions of similar purpose and scope be given all pos-
sible moral and material encouragement by the
churches, the young people’s societies, and the
homes in the communities concerned.
That we work to remove discrimination against
Negroes, in matters of grades and self-expression
in classrooms, honorary fraternities, transportation
facilities, hotels, restaurants, and places of amuse-
ment.
That we especially commend the work of the Inter-
racial Council at the Ohio State University and
recommend that such agencies be established on
every campus and in every community where there
-is a mixed population, with the end in view of dis-
covering the causes of racial discrimination and
obtaining an attitude of mind which will promote
better cooperation and understanding.
That we indorse the Dyer anti-lynching bill and
inform Congress to that effect.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING FINDINGS ON CHURCH AND
RACE
Miss Pennypacker, Fisk University: I want to
:
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 185
draw attention to another evil that is facing us to-
day. I am not a member of the Negro race or a
despised race, but I am a human being with the
same ideals, the same aspirations, the same pas-
sions, the same thoughts that you have. Some may
say that there is no need for this to be brought up
or discussed because things are improving so
rapidly. That is true. We recognize it, but I think
that there is a need, as far as Christian churches
are concerned, to discuss it, as long as they are not
allowed to come in and sit where they please and
voice their sentiments. We need to bring attention
to it so long as a dying child is refused the privilege
of being prayed over because she happens to be
black. We need to bring attention to it so long
as a blind man shuffling into a church is thrown
out because his skin is black.
I am not asking you to become a social outcast,
i am not asking you to receive Negro students as
your friends and your best pals, but I am asking
that you give them a chance to do what they can.
I am not asking that you go out in your community
to become a suffering martyr, but I am asking that
you create a sentiment whereby if you are not will-
ing to help or give them a hand, for God’s sake,
get out of their way and let them go on as best
they know how.
Mr. Bolton, Clark University: This is a perennial
problem because it is so interwoven in our national
life that we cannot escape it. It is a perennial
problem, because I cannot see where America can
w
186 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
dictate world peace, when she has shown herself
utterly unable to deal justly with her own subjects.
You probably saw this morning in the Tribune
that there were eighteen Negroes lynched in the
United States last year. Mississippi led with six.
Mississippi was the highest. I would call attention
to two specific cases. In the State of Mississippi
one colored man was accused of a crime. He was
tried. A jury of twelve white men sat upon his
ease. A white jurist presided. He was shown to
be innocent of the crime charged against him, yet
when that man stepped from the courtroom, ac-
quitted by a white jury, he was lynched. That is the
sixth case that has happened in Mississippi this
year.
I might tell of another case in Florida. A young
colored fellow was accused of the killing of a white
man. A friend of mine said: “I would hate to be
there. Some colored man is going to be killed.” In
_ jess than twenty-four hours an innocent man was
killed, because the angry mob was unable to find |
the colored man who had committed the crime.
When America shows her inability to restrain the
savage impulses, and mobs and roasts her citizens,
she cannot dictate world peace.
In the State of Tennessee, the State that passed ©
the anti-evolution bill, the State that so zealously ©
guarded the Bible as the Word of God, I saw more
than five thousand people lynch, roast, and burn a ~
colored citizen. I saw men carry a piece of the
man’s clothing in their pockets. Right within the
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 187
shadow of the capital of that State, a young colored
youth, about sixteen years old, was lynched. Yet
that was the State that so zealously safeguarded
the Bible.
There are just a few suggestions I would like to
make, and I appreciate this opportunity. I would
suggest that you young people use your own influ-
ence in learning something about the contribution
and cultural achievements of other races as a means
of saying whether other races are inferior or su-
. perior; while the psychologists make such contri-
butions, yet I feel in the present state of intelligence
tests, it is dangerous propaganda for psychologists
_ to spread the idea that the inferiority of races is
_ upon the basis of psychological tests.
_ I have a motion to put a little teeth into that
recommendation. I move that the students of the
interdenominational conference go on record as
_ recommending to Congress the passage of the Dyer
_ Antilynching Bill.
{ do not speak in defense of the colored race. I
have no selfish interests, because I am a colored
man. I rather assure you I speak in defense of en-
lightened humanity. I speak in defense of the ideas
upon which this government was founded. I speak
in defense of the assumed place of leadership which
the American nation has assumed among the rest
of the great and powerful nations of the world.
Miss Ownbey, Columbia University: I am opposed
to the students taking upon our shoulders the recom-
mending of such a bill, when we are unable to hear
188 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
all sides of the question, in particular the side of
the taxpayers who will be affected by this bill.
Although a native of the North, I have lived in the
South, and I wish to say that the white race in the
South has not been wholly to blame for these lynch-
ings. If you will investigate, you will find that
some of the cases show that such mob attacks have
grown out of injustice put over on the white people
of the South in localities where the colored people
greatly outnumbered the white race.
Up here in the North we don’t hear of the South-
ern problems in the way the Southerners have to
face them. We don’t hear of the terrible crimes
perpetrated, for which no one is punished because
of the majority of colored people in the community
in which he is tried. The South has just as good,
sincere, intelligent, Christian people of the white
race as you find North of the Mason-Dixon Line.
The only thing is that we think we understand their
problems so much better than they who have faced
them for years. I think we have taken a great deal
upon our shoulders when we attempt to teil the
people of the South how to deal with a problem
which we have never experienced to any degree.
Miss Pennypacker, Fisk: I want to appeal to this ©
body. You know “anti” means against, and you —
know the idea that lynching carries with it. I per-—
sonally am a Southerner. I was born, reared, have —
lived, and will stay in Texas. Evidently, that is”
South. lam not trying to give debate for any group 4
of men to take upon their shoulders the respon-—
|
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 189
sibility to decide what is to be given as a punish-
ment. Is it ever right under any conditions to take
human life, and let no man be punished for it?
(The Findings on Church and Race were adopted,
p. 176.)
LV:
FINDINGS
Tae CyHurcH anp INDUSTRY
We believe that the modern industrial system as
now organized on a competitive basis with produc-
tion for profit rather than use, is the prolific source
of the major evils such as war, class distinctions,
and economic inequality.
We therefore suggest the following as typical
measures by Christian students for betterment of
industrial and social relations.
1. Study of local labor problems and conditions
in the immediate community.
2. Participation where possible in the local labor
activities or organizations.
3. That the Christian exemplify in his expendi-
ture of money a simple standard of living and
view his income as a social obligation justi-
- fiable only in so far as he renders a service to
society in return.
4. We commend the endeavor on the part of the
churches to share the responsibility and aspi-
rations of labor and trade unions in all
instances where justice and brotherhood are
the ends sought, and commend their indorse-
ment of collective bargaining.
5. We further recommend that a conference be
held specifically on the Christian student and
industry.
199 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Mr. Mathias, Union: I make the following sug-
gestions in the form of a recommendation to be
added to the report:
“We, as a conference, urge that the voice of the
chureh, concerning industry, shall be, first, a recog-
nition of the worth of personality; secondly, an atti-
tude of brotherhood as between all in industry;
third, the promotion of the motive of service. I
make this as a motion at this time as the attitude
of the quorum.”
Carried.
Mr. Mathias: I have another suggestion which 1
would like to have added to the report. It is that
we as a conference urge the research and educa-
tional department of the Federal Council of
Churches to immediately get in touch with the
American Federation of Labor, in an honest effort
to make a survey of labor, as to why they are op-
posed to the church, as such, and for them to make
suggestions as to how the church can be of service
to them.
Carried.
DISCUSSION CONCERNING FINDINGS ON THE CHURCH
AND INDUSTRY
Mr. Wilkin, Boston: It seems to me the general ©
impression of this report is distinction in one class.
We have acted a good deal against the evils of
capitalism and imperialism. If we go to the other
extreme and state in the resolution that we only
favor labor, it seems to me we are just causing class”
distinction. The thing we should do is show in>
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 191
our report that we stand for the rights of both. I
believe there must be a change in heart on both
sides to solve this question by economic principles.
There should be a change in attitude especially on
the side of capital. I believe, therefore, in this
report summary we should recommend that the pul-
pits of the country flame out a little bit on religious
and social righteousness.
This goes back to the function of the church. I
think the function of the church is to afford a place
where Christians can worship God. I think if we
can make Christians and send them out in the
world, these problems will solve themselves.
Student, Northwestern: In my estimation this is
the best piece of work this conference has done. If
we table the resolution on industry that has been
presented, and substitute a very mild and very
inefficient substitution, namely, that we favor the
Golden Rule in industry, I think we have lost a
great deal that we have accomplished at this con-
ference.
Miss Lewis, Taylor University: I wish to bring
to our minds the fact that there are two sides to
this question. Capital is necessary to labor in order
that laborers may work, and labor is necessary in
order that capital may be developed, and both are
interdependent. Let us have that principle of
Christ behind us, and let us have the power of Christ
in our minds, that we may follow the principle of
Christ, whether we be laborers or capitalists.
Mr. Dowley, Ohio University: I should like to
192 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
point out that there are three elements that enter
into production. There is land, which is a natural
resource; there is labor, which is a personal ele-
ment, and there is capital which is the result of
labor expended upon natural resources. Labor is
the only personal element that enters into produc-
tion. Labor has no dependence on capital as a class.
Mr. Stimpson, Washington University: There is
a fourth element, which is the element of manage-
ment. For that reason we have two personal ele-
ments in this controvery.
_ Mr. Jenkins, Chicago: The subject brought up in
regard to management is right, but management is
one kind of labor, and the wages for management
come under the same heading as the wages for labor,
and are quite a different thing from profit result-
ing from the investment of capital.
Mr. Chandler, McCormick: I believe it is right.
If-we must take one side or the other, we had better
defend the laboring man, because he needs defense.
Capitalists already have enough defending them,
and don’t need any help.
Mr. Juvinall, Northwestern: I lived in a railroad
center for four years and have seen the strikes.
Some strikes are unjustifiable, and it is justifiable
in certain cases for students to help in breaking up
the strike, and in some cases acting as scabs and
taking the place of union labor.
Mr. Dowley: It may be true that some strikes —
are unjustifiable, but, on the whole, the reason men
strike is because of their families, because of their
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 193
children, because of hunger, because of cold, because
of all the necessities and good things of life. J
can’t imagine Jesus going in and breaking up such
a strike.
REPORT OF THE STUDENT COMMISSION ON
THE FOREIGN MISSION PROGRAM
OF THE CHURCH
Presented by Miss Rachel Childrey, Cornell
University
Introduction: In presenting this report the Com-
mission takes into consideration several facts:
1. The prevailing strong criticisms of missions.
2. The indifference toward the present mission-
ary program of the church displayed by American
students.
3. The conviction that there is a basis for a mis-
sionary program in the future.
4. And a belief that that basis may be found
through the church and may involve a reinterpreta-
tion of the missionary program.
Therefore the commission presents in Part I
criticisms of missions, and in Part IT recommenda-
tions as to the principles upon which the program
of the future is to be based in regard to:
(1) The Formulation of the Program.
(2) The Training of Workers.
(3) The Application of the Program.
(4) The Student’s Part in the Program.
Parr I: The following are some of the criticisms
of missions to-day presented before the Commission
by foreign students, Christian and non-Christian,
missionaries and board representatives.
Criticisms of Missions of More or Less Recog-
mized Validity: 1. Christian nations exploit the
lands where they are sending missionaries. Their
194 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
nationals are discriminated against and treated as
inferiors in the United States by Christians.
2. Too many missionaries are ignorant of the cul-
ture of the people among whom they work and fail
to appreciate and assimilate the good in other cul-
tures and religions.
3. Missionaries have frequently lacked the ability,
skill, and intellectual training to understand the
psychology of the people and to use the best methods
in their field work.
4. Many missionaries, even with a high degree of
training, have lacked the spirit of real friendship
toward the people. Many of them live upon a plane
too widely separated from that of the people, and
do not associate socially with them.
5. Few missionaries have entirely rid them-
selves of an attitude of superiority as to their own
race and civilization. Many have had attitudes
of intolerance and patronage without willingness
to receive and learn.
6. Missions have in many instances decultural-
ized, even Americanized, nationals both in schools
and churches.
7. Missionaries have failed to develop many rl
leaders among nationals. Training for leaders has
too often produced men who will carry out their
ideas. In their over-anxienty for certain results
they have been unwilling to trust the leadership of
nationals. Graduates of Christian schools have
thus turned to other fields of work.
8. Missions have forced Western sectarian and
denominational divisions upon peoples to whom
they mean nothing.
9. Mission work in some countries has been based
upon Western governmental protection, backed by
armed forces, or upon rights gained in forced
treaties.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 195
10. Missionaries have been the occasion of large
indemnities. They have rights and privileges not
possessed by nationals and are backed by the mili-
tary force of Western nations on land and sea.
11. Many missionaries have created false impres-
Sions of mission lands for the sake of raising money.
Missionary talks on education have frequently pro-
duced pity and condescension rather than apprecia-
tion and true understanding.
12. The church in America is largely unwilling
to aid Christian work in the East except as con-
trolled by Americans and American ideas of Chris-
tianity and of the church.
13. Many missionaries in a scientific age are un-
scientific in their methods of interpreting the Bible.
Criticisms of Missions of Doubtful Validity:
1. There is nothing absolutely unique in Chris-
tianity to warrant its propagation where other reli-
gions, revitalized, are meeting the needs of people.
2. Christianity is a Western religion unsuitable
for Eastern peoples.
3. Missionaries are to withdraw from countries
where Christianity is well implanted and so allow
it to grow naturally.
4. America should solve its own problems before
exporting Christianity.
9. Christianity does not accomplish what it
claims. Its power to make the nations and the peo-
ples of the West like Christ is not evident.
6. Christianity is a spiritual arm, or a cover for
Western imperialism, and missionaries are govern-
ment agents.
THE REINTERPRETATION OF THE MIssIONARY PROGRAM
I. What Is the Program?
A. The Postulates of the Program
1, Christianity is unique among religions in the
196 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
person of Jesus Christ and the expression of the
character of God in Christ.
2. Fellowship with God through Christ furnishes
a unique dynamic to live in accord with universal
truths wherever found, whether in Christianity or
in other religions.
3. Taking the life of Jesus Christ as its ideal, the
program of Christianity is to make available for
all men the power which comes through knowing
him to grow toward that ideal.
4, The foreign missionary program is an integral
and essential part of the whole Christian enterprise
to carry this unique dynamic through every area
of life, the responsibility for which is shared by
Christians in every land.
B. The Objectives of the Program Are
1. To make available for all men the power to
grow toward the ideals of Christ which comes
through knowing him.
2. To provide spiritual cooperation which alone
can solve the increasing common problems caused
by the growing material interdependence of peo-
ples; the establishment of world fellowship, world
peace, and a new social order.
3. To contribute to the development of Christian-
ity through its fresh interpretation at the hands of
new people.
4. To quicken the world to spiritual development
by revitalizing the spiritual values in other reli-
gions.
C. Some Concrete Applications of These Objectives
in the Policy of the Churches and Their Boards
1. Preaching of the gospel of Christ at home and
abroad in order that his ideals and the power of his
life may be made available to all men.
2. Willingness to modify and reinterpret the mis-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 197
sionary program in view of changing world con-
ditions.
5. The recognition of responsibility toward polit-
ical and economic life.
(a) The missionary program should declare its
independence from political and militaristic sup-
port such as is afforded by:
(1) The unequal treaties,
(2) Extraterritorial rights,
(3) Presence of gunboats,
as directly contradictory to the principles of Chris-
tianity.
(b) The missionary program should stand di-
rectly opposed to all unjust economic exploitation
and encourage economic development along lines
which recognize the value of personality.
(c) Insofar as social and national movements
are an expression of the attempt to realize the prin-
ciples of Christianity the missionary program should
support them to the best of its ability.
4. Recognition of the place and worth of na-
tionals.
(a) The nationals should be allowed a complete
expression of their national life and culture in all
matters whether of interpretation, organization, or
external expression of Christianity.
-(b) The administration should be turned over
to nationals as rapidly as possible and the emphasis
should be laid upon helping them to develop their
leaders. 7
(c) The mission program should do everything it
can to develop an indigenous and financially inde-
pendent church.
(d) The nationals should be given greater au-
thority in the selection of missionaries.
_ (1) One or more nationals should be given a voice
either by representation on the candidate committee
198 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
or as a reference in the selection of candidates be- ©
fore they are sent out.
(2) In regions where the Christian movement
is well developed the nationals should be given a
controlling voice in determining whether or not a
paraeaieid should continue his work.
5. Recognition of a unity of purpose behind dif-
fein theological opinions.
(a) The missionary program should lay less
emphasis on the definitions that divide and more on
the essentials which unite.
(b) Consolidation and unification of Christian
effort actually should take place both at home and
abroad for the development of the essential objec-
tives of Christianity.
Il. What Kind of Preparation Is Needed by the
Workers Who Are to Carry Out This Program?
A. The Intellectual Preparation
1. The missionary should have a broad academic
education and a thorough training in that specialty
for which he is best fitted.
2. He should have the ability to relate his inter-
pretation of religion to modern developments in
science.
». He should have a knowledge and appreciation
of the culture of the land to which he goes.
(a) The mission boards should provide greater
opportunity for extending this knowledge and ap-
preciation for the culture of the land in which he
works, both here and on the field.
B. The Preparation in Spirit
1. Every missionary should think through and
test for himself the uniqueness of Christianity.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 199
2. He should be able to see and appreciate truth
wherever it is found.
3. He should eradicate all tendencies toward
superiority and exclusiveness in his life such as may
be found in fraternal orders, assertive denomina-
tionalism, individual and group racial discrimina-
tions, industrial organizations, social classes, and
wherever else they are found.
Ill. How Shall This Program Be Applied by the
Missionary ?
A. The Attitude and Spirit of the Missionary
1. He should recognize the essential unity of the
human race in spite of differences of race, color and
creed, and work with all as brothers.
2. He should be fraternal rather than paternal in
his work with the nationals.
3. He should take a firm and unequivocal stand
on economic and social problems vital to the welfare
of the people with whom he lives.
4. The missionary should be tolerant and willing
to learn.
d). The missionary should be liberal toward those
with whom he disagrees in theology or religion. _
6. The missionary should adapt his personal
habits and customs to the life of the people with
whom he works, to the end that he may be accepted
as an integral part of their society.
B. The Method of the Missionary
1. He should go not to teach a system, but to
share his Christian experience through personal
contact.
2. He should help the people work out their own
expression of Christianity.
200 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
C. We Commend the Statement of Gandhi That
missionaries should ‘accept the high challenge to
put in practice the principles of Jesus without adul-
teration or toning them down.”
IV. What Is the Christian Student’s Part in This
Program?
A. As an Individual Student
1. He should develop friendly contacts, and may
I say also friendships, which are a little more than
friendly contacts, with the foreign students who
offer an exceptional opportunity for a sharing of
ideals and culture. May J say that this Christian
student’s part of the program is not primarily in-
tended to mean only student volunteers and those
who are planning to go to the foreign field? It
means every single Christian student.
2. He should bear his share of the missionary pro-
gram: to carry the ideals and power of Christianity
into every area of life throughout the world by
carrying them into his own life and social rela-
tions whether in business or in the church, at nome
or abroad.
B. As a Member of Society
1. He should oppose anti-Christian legislation
such as the section of the Immigration Act which
discriminates against Asiatics; unequal treaties in
China; and practices which discriminate against ©
Negroes or other races in this country.
2. He should actively combat the increasing eco-
nomic imperialism and exploitation backed by mili-
tarism in the United States. |
3. He should recognize that there is a loyalty to-
humanity and Christian idealism which should —
always take precedence wherever it comes in con-
flict with lesser loyalties such as those to state, —
church, or social class. :
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 201
C. Asa Member of the Church
1. He should foster the consciousness that the
church as well as the individual is a member of
society and as such should give its corporate sup-
port to the convictions of its members,
2. He is obligated to take his share in the mission-
ary program of the church and to help the church
to an intelligent adaptation of its program to the
present needs of the world.
(a) By working in local churches throughout the
country for a presentation of missions adequate to
the demands of the present time.
(b) By enlisting their active support for progres-
Sive board and missionary policies, which we find
exhibited in many boards and churches, and which
we find sadly unsupported by many, many other
churches.
(ec) By educating the church in this program, by
giving:
(1) A fair and unbiased picture of national cul-
tures and ambitions.
(2) A feeling of mutual sharing in the realiza-
tion of the ideals of humanity.
(d) By urging foreign students in this country
to associate with and to become active workers in
the church. In other words, to begin at once to be
missionaries from China to America.
Strupent CoMMISSION ON ForrIGN Mission Program
OF THE CHURCH
Newell S. Booth, Boston University School of
Theology
John St. John, Union Theological Seminary
Katherine Dieffendorf, Mount Holyoke College
Donald McConnell, Union Theological Seminary
Logan H. Roots, Harvard University
Dorothy Post, Vassar College
202 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Mary Lichliter, Wellesley College
Ruth Drake, Wellesley College
George B. Leeder, Princeton University
Anita Harris, Elmira College
Martin De Wolfe, Hartford Seminary
Charles Reinbrecht, Lutheran Theological Seminary,
Mount Airy, Pa.
James Bradley, University of Pennsylvania
Edith Petrie, 3921 5th Avenue, N. W., Washing-
ton, D. C.
Virgina Pritchard, Blanksburg, Virginia
Noel Mayhew, Yale Divinity School
Leo. V. Barker, Union Theological Seminary
Rachael Childrey, Cornell University
Mary J. Harrar, Bucknell University
J. Levering Evans, Yale Divinity School
Y. T. Wu, Union Theological Seminary
Harriett Crutchfield, Vassar College
Esther West, Columbia University
Miss Marquis, .Wellesley College
FINDINGS ON FOREIGN MISSIONS AND
THE CHURCH
The conference indorses the report of the Student
Commission on Foreign Missions as a statement of
its principles especially concerning the reinterpreta-
tion of the missionary program, emphasis being ©
placed on the following:
1. Denominationalism should be absolutely cut
out of the spirit and method of the Christian enter-
prise abroad. :
2. We must strive for more mutuality of giving ©
and receiving not only in mission work but also by —
means of exchange students, professors and Chris-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 202
tian workers. We ask the United States Congress
to appropriate as much money as they now spend
per year on R. O. T. C. in colleges and high schools
for an exchange of students between the United
States and other nations.
3. Jesus’ way of life must replace creedal and
legalistic teachings.
4. We must separate Christian missions from
political influence and Western materialism and we
must stand unqualifiedly opposed to commercial
exploitation.
5. The missionary must work in such a way as
_ to eliminate the need for his leadership as quickly
as possible.
6. We must seek friendship with students from
_ other lands.
Further the conference makes the following addi-
tions to this statement of principles in the report:
1. The missionary enterprise should become more
responsive to the courage and moral vision of youth
and not be bound by the lack of vision in the
churches.
2. The Mission Boards should be more honest with
the constituency who are supporting them by ex-
plaining the policies fully though it forfeits some
financial support.
__ 38. We must seek to avoid fostering by our mis-
sions a narrow nationalism.
4. The Mission Boards should seek to find a way
to appoint candidates to country and profession
early in their educational career.
5. We must recognize a new frontier other than
geographical which the evils of new social and eco-
nomic exploitation have created.
_ We resolve, in the light of these principles that
We should undertake the task of the Christian stu-
204 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
dent in working for this program as outlined in the
report, as a student, as a member of society, as a
member of the church.
(Suggestions offered but not added as amendments. )
1. That we substitute for the words “missions”
and “missionaries” words which have a better con-
notation, e. g., “American church international
activities,” “Christian world enterprise abroad.”
2. That a young person or persons be placed on
the Mission Boards.
3. That the Board of Foreign Missions recognize
the right of Oriental Christians to administer for
themselves the money raised for Christian work in
their own country and to direct their own religious
policies.
FINDINGS
COOPERATION OF CHURCHES
Chairman of Committee, Mr. Nelson
We favor the unification of all Christian churches.
To. secure this we suggest the union of all Prot-
estant denominations.
As a first step toward this end we suggest the
unification of young people’s societies—the Chris-
tian Endeavor, the Epworth League, the Baptist
Young People’s Union, the Luther League, etc.—
and that this be done through the Federal Council
of Churches, if possible.
We suggest this step toward union unification be
taken first of all in the young people’s societies of.
local churches.
We suggest a unified program of religious edu-
cation.
a. A department of religious education in every
college.
b. That all Christian colleges and theological
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 205
schools be made undenominational in their char-
acter.
Discussion CoNcERNING FINDINGS ON COOPERATION
OF CHURCHES
‘Mr. West, Ohio University: I wonder what kind
of unification of young people’s organization is
meant by this? Is it another organization to bring
about unity of denominations? We already have a
national young people’s denomination. Is_ this
Simply a unification of the societies in the churches
throughout the country, without any overhead na-
tional machinery?
Mr. Nelson: The committee felt that the young
people of this assembly or of the country could not
logically ask the churches to unite until they were
willing to unite in their own organization. Since
we have the Christian Endeavor working in several
different denominations, we felt that all of these
young people’s organizations could come together
under one head. If they wanted to forget their
names, they could take another. I think that was
the idea.
Mr. Wills, Massachusetts Institute of Technology :
I am from an engineering school. I don’t see why
we should have a department of religious educa-
tion.
Mr. Shock, Purdue: I come from an engineering
college. I think we have a distinct need for some
religious education there. For that reason, I feel
courses in religious education would not be out of
place in an engineering college.
206 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Mr. Schwarz: We also have Bible work, and the
engineers in the place feel that the time is not any
loss. All the engineers I have met feel it is really
good for them.
Mr. Kill, Toronto: Candidates for the ministry
of the United Church of Canada may differ on cer-
tain individual points of doctrine. It is left to the
conference to decide whether this person is eligible
for the ministry. The responsibility should be on
the living church and not on the dead.
Mr. Leper, Allegheny: I think one small item that
might be contributed to our thought on this ques-
tion is the experience of the Society of Friends. I
think the general opinion of the people here is that
that group succeeded in emphasizing spiritual life
and social service in a way that hardly any other ©
group has done. In my study of that group this
past summer it has become my conviction that one ©
of the things which aided them to do that was the ©
fact they have no statement of theological belief. :
When you ask to become a member of their society —
they do not even ask you what you believe. I think, ©
therefore, if we are to have a united church with the
right emphasis, we should incorporate this first —
article.
Miss Evans, Kansas: I think if we are going to —
have any basis of union at all, it will be on the prin-
ciple of freedom of the individual to believe as he ©
Sees fit. The reason we have no scientists, to speak —
of, within the church is because we don’t have this
freedom of belief. In my own local church, in the
Bs te ee
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 207
young people’s department there are several of the
best workers we have, some of the most respected
members who don’t conform to the beliefs laid down
in the discipline of that church. I think we can
have difference of belief within a unified church
and maintain a spiritual fellowship.
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE
Chairman of Findings, W. E. Dempster, Harvard
We suggest that the conference urge the Church
of Jesus Christ to develop according to the follow-
ing suggestions:
1. That the church be based upon an entire free-
dom of belief.
2..That the minister may take part in movements
in which his church cannot function ag a church.
3. That it conceive a major purpose be to educate
and to inspire each man to bear his share of the
social burden.
4, That it be a distinctly religious organization
conserving and recreating Spiritual values in man
by communion with God.
5. That one united church be substituted for de-
nominational organizations.
6. That the local churches provide different types
of service to minister to different religious beliefs
and temperaments.
¢. That as a beginning toward unity we urge the
young people’s societies, immediately, to join forces
regardless of denominational lines, preferably under
the Federal Council of Churches.
Discussion ConceRNING FINDINGS ON THE CHURCH
OF THR Fururn
Mr. Taber, Taylor: The first proposition is based
t
208 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
upon the assumption of what we believe is not im-
portant. When John Wesley revolutionized Eng-
land, it was because he believed God could do cer-
tain things. With that power he served England.
Any person who wants to stir the country to-day
must have definite belief in some power.
Mr. Turner, ITilinois: It seems to me this sug-
gestion is based upon the idea that the individual,
if he is given adequate training in religious educa-
tion, can determine his own beliefs much better
than any larger group can determine a set of beliefs
which he should accept. It will mean more in solvy-
ing some of the social problems and a lot of the
feeble beliefs that somebody hands down to us.
Mr. Dempster: I feel very deeply about this first
question. You have convictions about) God and
about Jesus, and you believe that those convictions
are the true ones. You believe that very sincerely,
but you know other students on your campus; you
meet them every day and you like them; you don’t
fight with them very much; they have different feel-
ings about the matter. They are equally as sincere
as you are. They perhaps would like to believe in
the kind of God you believe in, but they, for some
reason or other, find, despite their sincere efforts,
that they can’t believe that way. These students
who believe differently than you do—and you know
there are thousands of them on the campus—could
worship in the churches if they were allowed to —
worship there. They do worship in some churches
which do not require belief for admission.
¢
‘YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH &9
These propositions that are before you suggest
that each group that is large enough to have a serv-
ice of worship of its own, according to its own belief,
be provided. If you are big enough and broad
enough to let the students who do not happen to
believe the same way you do, come in the same
church you are in, and have their own services of
worship, or worship as they may, how will you
weaken the church? There will be plenty of belief.
Miss Lewis, Taylor: I believe there are some essen-
tial fundamental principles in Christianity. If
there are no fundamentals, then there is no Chris-
tianity; there is just religion. There are funda-
mental principles upon which Christianity is based.
if a person does not believe in those, he is not a
Christian. I believe this resolution should not be
passed, because Christianity in itself is not entirely
open to freedom of belief.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FRIENDLY
CONSIDERATIONS
Chairman, Harold C. Hodge, University of Iowa
The Findings Committee as representative of the
students and expressing their sentiments take this
opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of those who
have made this conference possible. For the promo-
tion of the conference we are indebted to the peo-
ple in the gallery, who have given their time and
labor; to the church boards for their moral and
financial assistance, and to the scores of people
whose voluntary services have contributed to the
success of the conference.
210 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
We are sincerely thankful to the pastor, Board
of Trustees, church secretaries, Mr. Gustafson, Mr.
Johnson, and the members of the First Methodist
Church of Evanston, to the homes and fraternity
houses of this city, for their hospitality, to the Con-
gregational and Baptist Churches of Evanston, to
Northwestern University and Garrett Biblical
School, to the Boy Scouts, the Y. W. C: A. and
Y. M. C. A. for their cooperation.
We are indebted to members of the Executive
Committee, the executive secretary and office secre-
tary, the treasurer of the conference, and the chair-
men of the committees for carrying out the confer-
ence purpose and program.
We thank the organist and song leader, the
speakers, Stanley High, and Albert Parker Fitch for
their contribution to the conference program. We
are grateful to the press for its rather fair evalua- —
tion and excellent cooperation and admirable con-
sideration during this conference. Carried.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON A
CONTINUATION COMMITTEE
Chairman, Mr. Marvin Harper, Yale
T will make the report. In the session this morn-
ing you voted there should be a Continuation Com-
mittee. You did not specify what sort of a com-
mittee you wanted, what type of personnel, or what
type of work they should do, but it seems several
reasons were in your mind. You had several rea-
sons in mind when you proposed such a committee.
Those possibly might be summarized briefly as fol-
lows: first, that the average American student does
not know the definition, purpose, or program of the
Christian Chureh; secondly, that the American col-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 211
lege student does not know how the church is work-
ing or can work with the social, economic, and inter-
national affairs of our day; thirdly, that certain
problems have come up which are seen to require
further study by students. These should be studied
by a Continuation Committee of this group.
The committee that was so appointed suggested
that the Continuation Committee consist of twenty-
five people; that fifteen of these shall be students;
six shall be nonstudents engaged in definite church
work, and four shall be members at large and, of
course, shall be those definitely interested in the
church and in the things which this conference has
been discussing.
I think the method of choosing these names should
come before you. First, will be the students who
have been active in promoting this conference before
we convened; secondly, students, who from the list
of conference nominations are eligible. You re-
member you nominated a group of forty. There
were two hundred nominations that came in. These
were studied, and from that number, certain were
selected for this committee. From our recommenda-
tions you will see we knew what certain students
had been doing back on their campuses as well as
what they were doing on the floor, so we had that
to judge by.
Then we selected students who showed activity
on the various Findings Committees and in confer-
ence discussion from the floor. The nonstudent
members are those who have shown great interest
before and during this conference.
I want to submit the nominations of this com-
mittee. As I said, there are fifteen students, six,
what we might call, church people, those engaged
in doing church work, and four members at large.
(See Appendix. )
212 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
CLOSING ADDRESS
Mr. Howard McCluskey, University of Michigan
According to the program, I am supposed to give
some sort of a final touch to the conference, so we
“can get out of here and not feel that it was a con-
fused meeting. If you will help me, I will try to
do the very best I can.
I am going to talk very briefly in the form of a.
confession, because I think I can make it the most
significant by talking to you out of my own personal
experience. I am still an idealist, in spite of that
fact I have gotten out in the game and it is begin-
ning to be appalling. After people get out of this
‘student period they hit a slump. There is a tend-
ency to go down. I am not giving this to you folks
just simply because this is a last-minute appeal,
but as a sincere, genuine confession, as an interpre-
tation of what your reaction might be to the thing
that occurred here this evening.
I want to analyze the situation. You were here
together in a most extraordinary situation. A great
group of you folks came together from all over the
country to discuss the problem. There has been
absolutely no protest from the gallery. You have
had the support and have had the influence of a
group of people around you, which has made you
more courageous and more brave than if you were
in it by yourselves. The psychologists know that a
person is absolutely different when he is in a group.
You have been courageous because a great group has
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH = 213
been here to support you, but just as soon as you
leave the doors of this conference to-night, you are
placing yourselves in an entirely new atmosphere,
where these other distintegrating forces will begin
to take place. The good Lord help you, and I hope
he does, but there is some one who is going to go
down, and some one is going to betray the spirit of
this conference. Don’t you make any mistake about
it. |
You will hardly get out of the church when you
will be smack up against this thing, and you can-
not evade it. We are in the midst of life. We are
in the midst of a situation, where forces about us
are going to influence us. Whether you like it or
mot, you are going to be influenced. Life is not a
vacuum. You simply can’t sit down and hold your
hands and let the rest of the world go by. You
either go with the world or against it. Don’t make
a bit of mistake about that.
In the face of all that, what hope is there? I
think there is far more reason for hope than there
is reason for pessimism. There is bound to be a
slump when you leave the conference. To my mind,
the remedy is that we, by some hook or crook, find
the source of new powers of life.
After all, what is the secret of life? What is
the thing that is going to keep us going on and on
at this high peak of existence?
I maintain there are powers, there are secret
powers that we haven’t yet dreamed of, and the new
psychology is beginning to indicate to us, if we
214. YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
could develop the technic by which we could dig
down and get to those tremendous powers which we
will call, for the want of a better term, spiritual
powers, we would begin to understand the secret of
life and begin to get hold of the thing that will keep
us from slumping. It is coming to me with power-
ful conviction that there actually are resources at
our command which we have not yet even tapped.
There are tremendous reservoirs of strength. There
are uncharted seas that would literally make us
supermen if we knew how to get them. I venture to
say the new race is not going to come in this genera-
tion, but I bet you the new race is not only going
to be intellectual giants but spiritual giants. It is
up to some of us to begin to experiment with life
and prove to the world and prove to the skeptics,
and those who have not found the higher way of life
that it is gloriously possible te combine this pas-
sionate search for facts and this fine intellectual
honesty with spiritual fervor, and be cognizant of
deeper reservoirs of strength.
Psychologists and some of us in the outside field
are beginning to find out that perhaps one of the
finest things you can do is to keep quiet for about
an hour. You ought to have a period where you
devote just as much time to spiritual exercise as
you devote to eating or physical exercise. Did it
ever occur to you that in perhaps two hundred years
when all of us are in our mummy cases, the new
thinkers and the new psychologists and new spir-
itual masters of the race will be discussing spir-
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 215
itual nature? It ought to be just as necessary to
consider the spiritual nature as it is to eat.
Immediately when you go out of this conference,
you are going to have that tendency to slump. I
think the solution for the thing is that we have to
develop some way, somehow, to get at the secret of
strength that Christ seemed to have. He got it
from some place. I don’t care whether you say it is
conscious of unconscious. I submit that some place
he got strength that was not in himself. I submit
to you that some day we will know what that is, and
I submit to you further that that is just as neces-
Sary as this extremely scientific and intellectual
- approach.
I hope that those of you who have been in the
conference will go out and be centers of influence,
that you will give yourself earnestly in serious at-
tempts to combine these viewpoints. The only
thing you can do in all honesty is to get down on
your knees, walk out in the moonlight, or on the
lake shore; I don’t care what method you use, but
get next to yourself, and convince yourself that you
are sold on the Christian program, and you are go-
ing to try and seek the new levels of energy and find
out what the true Christian life really means as
Christ knew it.
APPENDIX
EXECUTIVE COMMITTER
Howard Becker, 1719 Hinman Avenue, sarap
Til. Northwestern University. ©
George Bell, 825 Ayars Place, Evanston, I. Gar-
rett Theological Union.
Dorothy Dyer, care of Dr. 8. A. Knopf, 16 West 95th
Street, New York. Union Theological Semi-
nary.
O. T. Gilmore, 181 West 104th Street, New York
City. Columbia University.
Frances P. Greenough, 276 Fifth Avenue, New York
City.
Glenn Harding, 306 Plymouth Building, Noe
University of Chicago.
Marvin Harper, Emory University, Georgia.
James Henley, 1900 Duncan Avenue, Chattanooga,
Tenn. Yale University.
Stanley High, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Dr. L. B. Hillis, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Dr. Willard M. Lampe, 77 W. Washington Street,
Chicago.
Gilbert Lovell, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Twila Lytton, Dean of Women, Lawrence College.
Serena Pendleton, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York
City.
C. M. McConnell, 740 Rush Street, Chicago.
Mary Ann Randolph, 740 Rush Street, Chicago.
216
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 217
Harry W. Seamans, 10 E. Huron Street, Chicago.
Mrs. H. R. Steele, Lambuth Building, Nashville,
Tenn.
Kathleen Stewart, 1037 Marquette Road, Chicago.
University of Chicago.
Harry T. Stock, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
Florence C. Tyler, 25 Madison Avenue, New York
City.
Marian F. Warner, 317 16th Avenue, Columbus, O.
Ohio State University.
Bernard Meland, care of Meland Brothers Music
Store, Harvey, Ill. University of Chicago.
Dr. Ralph W. Owen.
_ Fred Kuebler, Northwestern College.
_ Raymond E. Wilson, 500 Riverside Drive, New York
City. Columbia University.
Ralph Barton, Laury Hall, University of Missouri.
Elizabeth Conrad, 2017 Hill Street, Ann Arbor,
Mich. University of Michigan.
Dorothy Post, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Vassar College.
Ann Silver, Salem, Oregon. Willamette University.
John St. John, 500 Riverside Drive, N. Y. Columbia
University.
Cecil Headrick, Winfield, Kan. Southwestern Col-
lege.
Robert Weston, University of Denver.
Agnes Sailer, Vassar College.
G. E. McCracken, 312 Henry Hall, Princeton Uni-
versity.
Irene Gates, 1300 W. 22nd Street, Philadelphia.
| Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.
218 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
James Woodruff, 72 Mount Vernon, Boston, Mass.
Boston University.
Ralph Wiborg, Garrett Biblical Institute.
Harold Ehrensperger, Garrett Biblical Institute.
R. A. Schermerhorn, Garrett Biblical Institute.
Chairman of Executive Committee, Harry Seamans.
Vice-Chairman of Executive Committee, Howard P.
Becker.
Secretary of Executive Committee, Dorothy Dyer.
Treasurer, Mary Ann Randolph.
Committee on Program, Bernard Meland.
Committee on Finance, George R. Bell.
Committee on Local Arrangements, Harold Ehrens-
perger.
Executive Secretary, R. A. Schermerhorn.
CONTINUATION COMMITTEE
Students
Barton, Ralph F., Laury Hall, University of
Missouri.
Childrey, Rachael, 332 Wait Avenue, Ithaca, N. Y.
Cornell University.
Ehrensperger, Harold A., Garrett Biblical Insti-
tute, Evanston.
Fisher, J. Elliott, 34 North Park Avenue, Oberlin,
Ohio.
Headrick, Cecil, 101 Michigan Avenue, Winfield,
Kan. Southwestern University.
Henley, James W., Yale Divinity School, New
Haven, Conn.
YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH 219
Morgan, Ernest, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Antioch
College.
Paik, L. George, 1195 Yale Station, New Haven,
Conn.
Sailor, Agnes, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie,
Said ie
Silver, Ann, Willamette University, Salem,
Oregon.
Steiger, Andrew, Elmhurst College, Elmhurst,
Til.
Stimson, Edward W., 5960 Enright Street, Saint
Louis, Mo. Washington University.
Thurman, Howard, 300 Alexander Street,
Rochester, N. Y.
Warner, Marian, 317 Sixteenth Avenue, Colum-
bus, Ohio.
Wilkins, John, Boston University School of
Theology.
Nonstudent in definite Church Work
Foster, O. D., Council of Church Boards of Edu-
cation, Chicago, Temple Building, Chicago,
Til.
Greenough, Miss Frances, Board of Education
of the Northern Baptist Convention, 276
Fifth Avenue, New York City.
McConnell, C. M., Board of Home Missions of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, 740 Rush
Street, Chicago.
Owens, R. W., Religious Education Board of the
'
220 YOUTH LOOKS AT THE CHURCH
Presbyterian Church, 77 West Washington
Street, Chicago.
Stock, H. T., Board of Education of the Congre-
gational Church, 14 Beacon Street, Boston.
Tyler, Miss Florence, Secretary, Women’s Chris-
tian Colleges of the Orient, 25 Madison
Avenue, New York City.
Members at Large
Doan, R. A., 2958 Olentangy Boulevard, Colum-
bus, Ohio. |
High, Stanley, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
McCluskey, Howard, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Mich.
Van Kirk, Walter, 105 East 22nd Street, New
York City.
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