The Seaforth News, 1957-06-27, Page 3Church -Going Slumps in Engiand
By TOM A. Ci7LLEN
NEA Staff Correspondent
London - Christianity, after
nearly 21000 years in business, is
reaching far fewer people in
Britain than 'commercial tele-
vision, with one year of opera-
tion under its belt.
Last Sunday 1,750,000people,
or nine per cent of those in his
diocese who have been baptized
in the Church of England, at-
tended services in churches pre-
sided over by the Archbishop of
Canterbury. The remaining 91
per cent stayed home, many to
watch such commercial TV
shows as "Armchair Theatre"
and "At the London Palladium."
This is one of the startling
conclusions to be drawn from a
Gallop poll on religious beliefs.
and practices in Britain. It shows
that in contrast to America,
where a religious revival is in
full tilt, church -going in Britain
- has hit an all-time slump.
They are borne out by inde-
pendent interviews with church
leaders and laymen.
The one exception to the
slump is the Roman Catholic
Church, which with over 3,000,-
000 members in England and,
Wales, is more than holding its
own.
An American visitor worship-
ping in one of Britain's half-
empty churches might conclude
that Britain has gone pagan.
Such, however, is' not the case.
Only six percent, or one in 17,
of those interviewed in the poll
regarded themselves as atheists.
The overwhelming majority (78
per cent) believed either in a
personal God or God as a life
force, while 54 per cent affirmed
their faith in a life after death.
What, then, is wrong with
British churches that they at-
tract so few worshippers?
Dr. Donald Soper, fiery pastor
of London's largest Methodist
Church at Kingsway Hall, be-
lieves the British church -going
habit was destroyed by World
War I.
"Fifty years ago our congre-
gations had a sense of guilt,
based on fear. Today, they have
a sense of doubt," he says.
Dr. Soper, who holds an open.
air meeting in Hyde Parr every
Sunday, claims that "hell -fire"
preaching no longer has any
effect on Britons, but that no
substitute has been found,
Evangelist Billy Graham may
DR. DONALD SOPER: Today,
they have a sense of doubt.
be packing 'em in with old-fash-
ioned revival meetings in New
York, but more than three out
of four Britons no- longer ac-
cept the Bible as Gospel, ac-
cording to the poll. Only 11 :per=
cent of those po11e regard ac-
ceptance of the New Testament
as the hallmark .of a Christian.
As for church attendance,
fully 85 per cent of those poll-
ed beieve that a Christian need
not go to church, but can wor-
ship God as well at home, pre-
sumably, or even on the golf
links.
If a pint of beer were waiting
for him atcherch, it might be
different, Bernie Nielson, a 39 -
year -old bricklayer jokingly ad-
mits.
Nielson who plans to send his
three -month-old son to Sunday
school when he is old enough,
adds, "If I could go to church as
I am in an open -necked shirt
without being looked at I might
give it a try."
Mike Nolan, an 18 -year-old
shop assistant in Northwest
London, says, "I went to. see
Billy Graham when he was here
and enjoyed it. He put a lot of
life into it. I wouldn't mind.
going to church if he was there
because he is a showman."
A 28 -year-old woman psy
etiologist with whom I ,talked
complained that church -going is
too passive. "After service is
over," she explains, "you shake
hands with the vicar, talk about
the weather and how nice the
daffodils are doing. But you
haven't. done anything yourself."
In desperation, ministers are
resorting to showmanship tac-
tics in an effort to stem the
flow away from the churches.
The Rev. Brian Webb, a young
Methodist parson, thumps a
piano in Yorkshire pubs to
drum up interest in religion.
After his impromptu jam ses-
sions, Webb, with orangeade in
hand, circulates in the saloon
bar to have a quiet word with
"regulars" who are interested.
"As with everything else,"
Webb declares, "you've got to
have a gimmick."
In the crypt of St. Peter's
Church, in the London suburb
of Hackney, 200 youngsters now
rock'n'roll where only five
showed up for services regu-
larly a few years ago.
In Bradford, Yorkshire, the
Eastwood Hall Methodist Mis-
sion has bop, and the teen-agers
make their own rules: "No
swearing, no gambling, no fight-
ing, no boozing, no color bar,
no credit."
A Kenilworth vicar, the Rev.
John Thomson, is re -rigging
Bible stories as scieynce fiction,
told with stage "props" and
noises, once a month from the
pulpit.
But are gimmicks enough?
Spiash For Cash
If you could plunge into the
ice-cold water of a deep and
turbulent well in New Zealand
known as Hamurana Springs,
you would probably find plenty
of money -but you might catch
your death of cold!
Tourists have been throwing
coins into the well for many
years in the belief that they
would not sink in the upstaging
water. Three divers who went to
the bottom in search of this
"treasure trove" recently sur-
faced with a harvest of coins
worth more than $100 which has
been handed over to a charity.
But to find the coins -mainly
pennies and halfpennies - the
divers had to overcome the
heavy pressure of the water
swirling up from the source at
the bottom. The water was too
cold for them to stay long, but
they harvested many of the coins
from the many ledges and cre-
vices. Some of the coins dated
back to 1862. With their pay for
the job they made 4a splash in
town.
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AH, SPRING 1 -There's no mistaking the joy on the face of 16 -
month -old Mary Carol Diebolt. Mary goes tiptoeing through
the tulips on a fine spring day. But there's no danger that she'll
trample the plot. The flowers came up through four inches of
asphalt in a driveway. In spring, anything can happen.
TIILFMM I'RONT
JokA1?xea:
The following editorial from
the Christian Science Monitor
would seem to have significance,
I think, for many on this- side
of the border who believe - or
at least SAY they believe - that
legislation can solve the "farm
problem."
e * *
The American people appear
peculiarly addicted to the be-
lief that passing a law will cure
almost any economic or social
malady. For more than 30 years
they have been trying with one
law after another to solve the
"farm problem."
Of course, there are as many
farm problems as there are
farms, but -the basic difficulty-
and wartime exceptions only hid
it - has been surpluses. While
10,000,000 people have left the
farms in three decades, improved
seeds, fertilizers, machines, and
methods have kept production
far ahead of consumption.
With law after law Congress
has sought to halt or retard this
tremendous gain in national effi-
ciency. By curbing acreage or
artificially supporting crop prices
it has tried to prevent a reduction
in the number of farmers - one
basic way to reduce the farm
problem. The latest was the
soil -bank plan adopted last year.
And now the House of Repre-
sentatives has cut off funds for
a new panacea.
In desperation some congress-
men are turning back to a two
price system or to higher and
rigid price supports. The two -
price system could evoke 'repri-
sals from other countries as be-
ing a form of "dumping." High
price supports are a cause not a
cure for surpluses. All but $1
billion of the $8 billion in sur-
pluses now, held by the gov-
ernment was colledted under the
old high price -support law.
There is some reason for legis-
lation to prevent a disastrous
slump in farm income. The soil
bank might do that while
permitting surpluses to be 'work-
ed off. High price supports
would likewise do it, but would
also spur surpluses. It would be
folly to offer the farmers my.°
fuel for the surplus fire.
* *
White grubs are expected to
be a problem in many areas of
Ontario and Quebec this season.
This observation is based on the
fact that last year was "flight
year" in Ontario and Quebec for
the adults, known as June
beetles, and hence feeding ac-
tivity by the larvae or white
grubs can be anticipated during
1957.
e.
White grubs require 3 years
to complete their life cycle. Eggs
are laid in uncultivated vegetated
areas such as pastures during the
"flight year" and, after hatch-
ing, the young grubs feed on
decaying vegetation and roots of
living plants. They winter in
the soil and the following year
as larvae or white grubs they
feed ravenously on plant roots
throughout the growing season,
* e 0
It it is possible, the farmer
should guard against planting
crops such as cereal, corn, po-
tatoes, strawberries and gladioli
on land which was in pasture
during 1958. Where newly broken
sod is planted to these or other
crops, it is advisable to apply a
soil insecticide directly' to the
land and immediately work it
into three to four inches of soil.
Aldrin, in granular or dust -form,
may be applied broadcast or, in
emulsifiable concentrate or wet-
table powder form may be ap-
plied as sprays. It is recommend-
ed that three to five pounds of
actual aldrin be applied per
acre and the farmer should fol-
low label directions for the cor-
rect amount of product to apply.
Texas Honey
During the days of the Texas
Republic the ford across Onion
Creek on the road between Aus-
tin and San Antonio was known
as "Sasser Crossing" -from the
fact that a bee hunter had placed
his saucer of bait on a stump at
that place. In those times a "bee
gum". was still a hollow tree -
gum tree, or some other kind
-and not a manufactured hive.
The professional bee hunter
traded off his honey ashe did
pelts and game taken on the
side. Almost every settler rob-
bed bee trees now and then,
Bands of frontiersmen, strong
enough to resist an Indian at-
tack, would sometimes go out
in the fall to haul in wagon
loads of honey, along with game
meat. One such band in Iowa in
1839 found sixteen hollow white
oaks in one vicinity from which
they strained eight barrels of
honey and tried out a great
quantity of beeswax..
The bee hunter flourished at
a time when a traveler in Texas
often sat down to a meal "com-
posed of dried venison sopped
in honey." Out on long scouts,
Texas rangers supplemented
their diet of game meat with
honey kept in rawhide or deer-
skin sacks. Occasionally, Co-
manche Indians in friendly mood
would bring deerskins of honey
on pack horses to trade to set -
tiers at Fredericksburg. "We
kept our honey in a, deerskin,"
wrote Captain Jesse Burnam,
"for we had no jars, jugs, nor
cans." . .
Bread or no bread, the excel-
lence of anything was summed
up in the current phrase, "As
good as venison and honey." .. .
Because the flower (bluebon-
net) has a white tip, Mexicans
call it conejo-"cottontail rab-
bit." Some old-timers called it
"wolf -flower," the belief being
that the plant was predatory,
like a wolf, taking nourishment
from the soil .. .
Like seeds . of other native
plants, including grasses, those
of the bluebonnet may lie dor-
mant for a long time. They come
up in the fall; through the win-
ter the little plants grow only
slightly; then in the spring, if
it rains, they burgeon. If the
ground hasno moisture in the
fall, not many seeds sprout; they
reserve themselves. If the fol-
lowing fall is seasonable, they
will, in a bluebonnet area, come
up "as thick as blossoms in par-
adise."
S. S. Bundy, an observant
rancher in the hill country, told
me that when about the time of
World War I, he began raising
goats and sheep on his ranch -
which had been stocked mostly
with cattle -bluebonnets were
plentiful. Before long they be-
came scarce, and then disap-
peared entirely. For eight or ten
years he had not seen a flower
on the ranch -until he fenced
off about sixty acres for a deer
park. The spring after he fenced
sheep and goats out of this plot,.
several bluebonnet plants bloom-
ed there, and then propagated
themselves. Some seeds had
probably come up each year, the
plants always eaten down before
they could bloom. But over all
those years a few seeds had kept.
themselves in reserve. - From
"Tales of Old -Time Texas," by
J. Frank Dobie.
Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking
UNDAY SCII00L
LESSON
By Rev. R. Barclay Warren
B.A., B.D.
God's Steadfast Love
Genesis 39:20-23; 41; 46-52.
Memory Selection: The mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that
fear him. Psalm 103:17.
Women are weaker than men,
physically but they wield e
mighty influence over men. A
woman can inspire man to' scale
the heights or she may drag hire
to the depths. A woman can say
more with her eyes than some
men can with their tongues.
Potiphar's wife was a wicked
woman. Day after day she soli-
cited Joseph to commit the -sin
of adultery. He avoided her as
much as .possible. One day she
grabbed his outer garment. Jos-
eph quickly withdrew from his
garment and fled. He lost a good
coat in his flight from his temp-
tress but not his good conscience.
Now the bad woman, foiled in
her attempt to seduce the young
man, lied about him. He was
put in prison.
But Joseph's spirit was not
broken. It was an abrupt change
from the tursted overseer of
Potiphar's house to a disgraced
prisoner of state with the daily
possibility of execution for his
supposed crime. But soon he
found favor with the jailer and
was placed in a position of trust.
Joseph's interpretation of , a
fellow -prisoner's dream led,- af-
ter two years, to his release.
Now he faced the greatest chal-
lenge of his life. He must super-
vise the storage of great quanta -
ties ofgrain during years
�
' g seven of good crops to save the people
from starvation during seven
years o! famine to follow. Jos-
eph stood next to the king In
all the land of Egypt.
How: good God is! It pays to
be patient when the way is
dark. Let us keep faith. Ella
Wheeler Wilcox expressed her
faith in the following verse:
"I will not doubt, though all my
ships at sea
Corrie drifting home with bro-
ken masts and sails;
I will believe the Hand which
never fails,
From seeming evil worketh good
for me;
And though I weep because
those sails are tattered,.
Still will I cry, while my best
hopes lie shattered:
`I trust in thee'."
GAMBOLING ON A LEASH - Not al all sheepish about her
unusual pet, Mrs. H. Longmier takes her woolly friend for a
walk through the residential district of Yakima. Some friends
gave her the animal when it was only a lamb and she raised it
on her small city lot.
FLOOD LEADS ON TO FORTUNE Not everybody can find fun ln a flood but nineryear-old
Doyle Watkins thinks there's no need to look for the old swimming hole when a dandy pond Is
at the front' door of his Dallas home. Floodwaters in Dallas 1.._' e-rch' high following a recent
deluge and Doyle's not one to lose an opportun ity.,