The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 63

STEVENSON THEATERS AND FILMS ART AND MUSIC BROOKLYN EAGLE FANNIE HURST. MABEL HERBERT URNER HIDDEN OBJECTS PUZZLE NEW YORK CITY, SUNDAY. MARCH 11, 192G rift tLiiu lMh DAILY Churches of America at the Cross Roads, And Their Only Salvation Is in Union to the Forces Fihtin Them With Battle C-7 THE SHADOW! With Heedless, Hurrying Millions-AIL That Glitters Is Gold, Their God, While Get-Rich-Quick Is Their Kingdom-Come Atheists and Freethinkers Plotting in Colleges and Schools Without Opposition. erate In every way, giving any aid that may be needed. The members will aovern themselves, but will be affiliated with the na- tlonal body and keep in constsnt I touch with us.

We especially In- I dorse their inviting professors to I address end advise them. Ex- portence has shown us that a goodly percentage of the pro- fessors In the average university are Atheists. "Wo expect to have a branch established at Tale within a few 1 days," he continued. "Another ie being formed st the University Kansss, and we are awaiting formation from our organiser In still another Western college. If I the present response signifies anything, we should have at least, a dozen branches functioning by the end of the present term.

Our 1 members In the cities where the 1 colleges are located will aid in I the work of organizing and help secure lecturers. "We shall slso continue nue present circularising of the senior classes of high schools from each of our eleven branches. The re- action to our propaganda ainonar students Is most encouraging." he concluded. And there are tbe Freethinker of New York City, under the leadership of Joseph Lewis, wbo frankly admit they do not believe in God or the Immortality of the aoul that this life ends it all. Here, then, are two organizations, not content with confining tbeir unbelief to their own membership, 4A HIMlH thnl.

unit. By FREDERICK BOYD STEVENSON Well, what arc we going to do about tlie Church? Are we going to let the Atheists and the Freethinkers and the Frcelovers and the Goldgrabbers tear down tlie God of our forefathers? Are ive going to calmly sit still and listen to attacks on the pulpit when the time has come for Action Vigorous Action Militant Religion to battle with the forces that are insidiously, but surely, undermining the influence of the Church? Ilefs over the World and cause tht downfall of the Cburcb! Tbe Atheists, as announced in their circular, are spreading Atheism I IN No Conflict Between We are in a Neio World of Crime, Jazz and Indif- ference. It is vp to you Ministers of the Gospel and you among our colleges. Tbe Freethinker are trying to pre-rent the reading of tbe Bible and the Ten Commandments In tbe Pnb-v lie What I the Church doing to rie- feat them? Why the Churches Must f- ii 1 1 -f lmrc to uown ins weiii Or He Will Down Them. Members of the Church to line up in the front ranks of a New Army to-fight for the Church and America and Religion and Science possible by the high rate of wsge.

Tbe cost of living hss Jumped to never before dreamed of prices Clothes are higher especlslly so In women's garment, literally In prli-e and In altitude. Food and fuel are higher. The radio hss become a psrt of our nstlonal life, to say nothing of our amusement. The wireless telegraph and the wireless telephone are taken as nistters of cotirxe. Chemistry Is darting shead nlth nondrous strides.

Nothing Is considered marvelous. The messes know the new wonders are here, but sk no nhy or wherefores. They don't cere. Living the Life Is one continuous motion picture with them. Thus It la ulth Yoiilh.

And how xilll tbe Middle Aged? TJiey are in the swim slo. They see only the swiftly moving current moving forwsrd to tlielr Oct Rich Quick Kingdom Come! Riches and Pleasure! And if in a moment of idleness from the braillong and head-down rsee. they think of a Mnllle something beyond the physical life they lead, they bear the words of a Luther Burbank saying "This Is And the Msterlalistlc Solution fits the fancy of their Illogical Itinerary. Big Business has a bard time squaring with Religion. The Sermon on the Mount doesn't carry to the conference room where the Billion Dollsr Deals are put over.

Like the Master of High Finance. is the Man-on-the-Jnti. Both say. "Let Go!" And the Devil takes the hindmost If be can es'ch him. Atheistic Society Sends Propaganda to American Universities.

WHIIhiii srey, sn oliseuie eopblcr preseher. In a conferem-e of nilnlaters In KMI, said: "Ket great thing from 'd ami attempt great things for and under Ihsl doctrine society after society ss formed in Kuglsnd. on the continent of Europe and In America to presd the goipel of God, But whs! prsetlesl efforts are making tcnlsy la spread that gospel Decency! THE Cburcb in America la the only thing that can hold America together and keep the tilted 8tatcs united. If the Church fall the Uulted Slate frill fall. And the Church in America today ia at tbe Croaa Roads.

It ia reaching the most dangerous point it baa ever reached in modern times and that la because of two chief causes. One cause la Outside Influences. Tbe other cause is Inside Influences. If the Church la to stand the Outside Influences must be defeated, and those Influences can only be defeated bjr first defeating the Inside Influences. Tbe Inside Influences are the differing creeds of the differing denom-Inatlona raised to exaggerate disputes, developing Into Jealousies, suspicions and hatreds.

Every denominational quarrel every battle between the creeds la a victory for the Outside Influences seeking to wreck the Church. Here we have churches In America reaching beyond two hundred thousand with an array of members reaching into tbe high millions, and yet In this vast 'army, which, if united, could conquer all foes, we bare dissent and division. And the Outkide Influences, realising tbla, are active and alert. Chief among these Outside Influences are The Atheists Tbe Freethinkers The Criminals The Indifferent Onea Encouraging the growth of that heedless, tblnklesa class pushing onward in a Jan of pleasure and an latoxlcatlon of Imagined Jot, and believing that all that glitters Is Gold and Ood! But let ua look at the situation Just as it Is and the poasibllltlea as Ihey must naturally develop. 234.000 Churches In the United States With 47,000,000 Membtri.

In the t'nlted States there are church organization with membership of 4T.0Oo.0TO nearly half tbe population of this country. There art 200.000 Sunday schools with membership of 24.000,000. There arc 200.000 ministers. According to the latest figures railabla the membership of churches c. Naturally this question also arise Is our Old Religion strong enough and will It be militant enough to aland the strain of these battles being waged from the outside and the changed conditions of the World among young and old today? The Church unless It admit defeat and I ready to fall must put forth it best Intellectual movement.

It must be ready to meet tbe Issue fairly and squarely. First of all It has to meet the rivalry of the races. It. has to meet tbe prejudice of Old World OpHisites reaching back Into the centuries before the daya of Abraham and Christianity. It hss to meet the heedlessnes and we might as well face It nise of Youths who re Godless.

It has to meet the Middle Aged and the Elder whose God is Mammon. It ha to meet the Industrial Crist ami the Financial Crisis. It lis to meet Materialism with a Spiritualism filled wltb the meat of Argument not Platitude. It has to meet Atheism and Free-thought with Truth that convinces. The Chore It must be not alone to It member, but to the Great Outside.

It door must be wide open and It sat mud be tilled because of Action. It must meet Science on Its own ground. The Logic of it Sc-ieuce must he a Convincing Faith tbat ill clown the babbling Luther Fairbanks. Above all. the Church must be practical.

The old Theology of blindly leading ha passed. Today tb appeal nnuf be based on the highest Intelligence, for today we hav readied the limitation of criticism. We must cesse quibbling over the trivial things. Your true Scientist and your true Treacher work band in band. The Bible I the Word of God, and so Is Science.

An. I last of all, and most important of ill, there must he a union of tbe Churches each keeping tta own creed and believing as It will lot' a union for work a union to defest the Outside Influences working to defeat all Churches. And -If we study comirtli Re llglon we shall find thst they all have much In common that they all lead toward the one Outstanding Fallh. And wotklng together and battling together is the only way that In Church can down (he Devil and the Pev II I actually loose on Earth today, and nnlesa downetl be will dona the Churches. of various denominations with over 50,000 communicants ia aa follows: Roman Catholic 17,886.646 Eastern Orthodox churches Methodists 7.918.567 Baptists 7.836.250 Lutherans 2.4S6.645 Presbyterians 2.384 683 Disciples 1,210 093 Kplacopaliana 1.U7.061' Congrecatlonailsts 819.226 Reformed 610,905 United Brethren 283,329 German Evangelical Synod 274.860 Churches of Christ 317,937 Dunkera 134.110 Adventlsts 136.233 Christians 97.084 Evangelical Association 160,000 United Evangelical Church 90.096 Unltariana 103.938 Mennonltea 91.282 Unlversaltats 68,666 Latter Day Saints 687,918 Jews (Federal Council estimate) 400,000 Sixty-Rot Nationalities Mcf in One New York Students' Club.

Thia formidable array of churches In tbla country would seem to Indicate that the Church should fill an Important role In shaping tbe moral and behavior of the people. But we must not overlook the changing conditions of the people and the many typea of people In the United States. The modern American la shifting always shifting his dwelling place. And this ia especially true In the City of New York, where we are continually tearing down and building up. And then let us not forget tbat Immigrants bsd been pouring into the United States by the hundreds of thousands until checked by tbe recent restriction bill.

Before this bill was passed they were coming Into New York City at the rate of 18,000 a month, and even since then the city's population has been rapidly Increasing. In the very heart of America we have foreign 'cities within our own cities and the Inhabitant of these foreign cltlea preserve their own languages, their own Meals, their own customs. Here In New York City we bsve our Little Italy, our Ghetto, our Bohemia, our Hungary, our Chinatown. We have our Syrian restaurants and our Oreek coffee-houses ami In Harlem there la Africa with 100,000 Negroes, And, In smaller degree. It la the same In other cltlea.

Out Id San Francisco 30,000 Italians lira is There is no conflict between Religion and Science. Your true Religionist and your true Scientist do not seek to disguise or magnify the Facts. You cannot put a Fool's Cap on History. Pulpit and Press and People should accept things as they stand fn the open. We all have the right to Review, to Criticize, to Correct, but no one has the right to Interfere with the Religions of the World that have made the World what it is today.

When the Atheists and the Freethinkers attempt to do that they are working against the very broadmindedncss which they profess is the basis of their unbelief. sum one ward. In New Britain, Connecti cut, which baa a population of only 40.000, twenty-sit different languages sre spoken. In the Students Cosmopolitan Club of New York City on Mornlngside Heights, students of sixty-five different nationalities meet. Aside from these general race of Europe there are two races In this country tbat are difficult to analyse aa to numbers and effect.

These are the Japanese and the Mexican. To those of us wbo live in the East and in the North It 1 a hard matter to realize what effect these two race bare upon our economic and church life. In California tbe Japanese queatton baa been met with strong protective measures and still, deoplta our Immigration laws, they are coming luto this country. And In the past few year there ha been a large Immigration of Mexican and. mhlle definite figures cannot be obtained, tbe most reliable estimates place the number of Mexicans now In this country at 1,500.000.

Just as an example of the many races now lit the United State today, at one newsstand in Esit Forty-second street, Manhattan, one may buy dally newspapers printed In French. Germsn. Spanish, Greek, I'kralulan. Russian, Slovak. Hun-garlan, Italian, Yiddish and Kngll-h, to say nothing of weeklies printed In nearly all the known languages of the globe.

Well what are we going to do with these millions of people from among the millions of thoughtless throng wbo seem neer for a moment to think there a God? Hucb methods should be adopted by the Inside Forces of the Churc operating for the defeat of the Outside Force that are constantly working for the downfall of the Church. These Outside Force are ac-tive. They are on tbe Job day and night. I have before me orf my desk the following props zs mis sent out by the American Association for tbe Advancement of Atheism Thst Atheistic societies Kill he established similar to the "lamned Houls" group st the University of Rochester In many colleaes throuahnut the counli wss snnounced today by Freeman ttopwood, genet si secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of AllieiMn. A statement, issued from the nstlonsl hesdciusrters st 49 Vesoy street.

New York It jr. says tlist too other colleges will hsv In sm iles within a few dsn. The new lirsnch st Itochester wss forecsat In a cctaternenl by the Atheists two weeks sgo, shi-n they snnociuced thst they otild rnncctttrut on the youth) ef the Ration. "In spite of the droll nm sd'iptcU by the students of tlie t'ntverclty of Hocbe ster." Hop-wood ssld. "they sr wholly sincere and earnest In atshlishlng a branch.

I sm Informed thst twenty students are now mm-1r. ttcjr association wltl supply them with literature and co-op all parts of the Earth to make good American ritlzena nut. of them? And what Is the Church going to clo with them or what can It do with them In the matter of leading them In the Straight Road of Morality? Modern Industry And thm Jazz Pact That Kills Bslisf in Cod. In addition to all these varying races we must consider the rapid usee of Industry Into which we of the United Steles hsve been whirled since the World Wsr. Science has helped this pace slong.

Our oil engines have attained a Do-k-breskltig speed. Our hlghws.rs are Jammed with uioionsrs made.