Article July 1, 1911 Issue

The decline in church attendance, the thinning-down of...

Edinburgh (Scot.) News

The decline in church attendance, the thinning-down of church-membership, the frank breakaway from its teaching and practice on the part of the present and rising generations, are the chief topics of discussion at all church conferences, and recur even in the secular press with a frequency which argues a wide-spread concern and interest, and also a deep-rooted suspicion that in all this change and decay there are omens for the Christian churches. And so there are; but, unfortunately, there seems to be no readiness to recognize the real facts of the case. It is assumed simply that the heart of man is desperately wicked, and that for the time being spiritual things are being neglected, although the truth is that our society has already passed through its phase of intellectual materialism, and has entered upon a new one. And so we have much talk of lapsed masses, of corner boys, and parading of the streets, love of pleasure and sport, worship of Mammon. Now, the corner boy is older than the churches themselves, and in the ratio of population there was probably never much less of him than there is now. And if the modern mania for sport is abnormal, we may safely assume that its perfervid devotees are not procured at the expense of the church. The truth is that the corner boy and the football maniac do not touch the fringe of the problem. In the absence of corners to lean against, and football matches to watch and read about, their type would lie in bed, smoke, and read "Snippets" or a penny "blood."

The problem the modern church has to face is rationalism in the widest sense of the term. It came inevitably with popular education and the acceptance of a scientific theory of evolution which revolutionized philosophy. From the moment these things struck down fear and superstition, upon which the religion of our fathers so largely throve, religion had to base itself solely upon the higher emotions and reason. The best type of modern Christian holds his beliefs because they seem to him reasonable. Only the crudest type of secularist, however, will argue that rationalism gives uniform conclusions. It never does and never will; and what the churches fail to recognize is, that from this ferment of rationalism there are emerging new religions more adapted to modern needs than the old.

The problem of the Christian church, however, has to do largely with "the vulgar error of numbers," and from this point of view its most formidable rival of the future is unquestionably Christian Science. "Numerically insignificant in this country," say the clergy, refusing to hear the voice of the revolution thundering afar, until, too late, its waves engulf them. My proposition is that the churches are emptying today largely because thoughtful people (not indifferentists) are dissatisfied with their teaching, and are meantime going to no place of worship at all. These people are seriously looking out for a more satisfying religion, and the figures go to show that Christian Science will have to be reckoned with in this connection. What are the facts?

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