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Show The Church and c c rSociarAttitudes By Frank Connor One of the greatest aims of Christian churches is to establish right relations among men. "peace "pea-ce on earth to men of good will" the passage of scripture reads V in many ancent manuscripts. Indeed, In-deed, it i only to men of good will that peace can do. Men of good will have developed develop-ed right social attitudes. They constitute a universal brotherhood. brother-hood. Greed and hatred cannot abide with good will. Appreciation Apprecia-tion of others and respect for their rights on a basis of good will. So far so good. To train people in these virtues is the aim of all churches. If other elements did not enter the story would be for more pleasant than it is. Unfortunately Unfortunat-ely they do enter. Churches are affected by the social standards of the people who compose them, despite the fact that the aim of churches is to transform all attitudes at-titudes into the attitude of Christ. That is how it happens that in much formal religious instruction instru-ction children are given the idea that the particular denomination which they belong has a monop-ly monop-ly on virtue and truth; that all others are somehow inferior, that amazing numbers of Sunday school children have been led by Sunday school instruction to form tad opinions of Jews, Mohammedans Moh-ammedans and people of other , religious persuasions. These are definitely false social attitudes. They fail in appreciation of others oth-ers and are not consistent with the idealism of all religious denominations. den-ominations. They prevent the development de-velopment of good will, the. most important of all social attitudes. Another failing is that of condemnation con-demnation .of those who fall into states of sin. In many instances instan-ces the importance of the doctrine doct-rine of free will in religious beliefs be-liefs leads to a failure to recoer- nize social and environment situations sit-uations which are more responsible respon-sible than the individual for the existence of such states of sin. A third important social failure fail-ure of many people who take religion re-ligion very seriously is that of failing to recognize individual differences. The background of all people is not the same. There are many impulses and emotions, many stimulations to action. The motives of individuals vary as do their outlook on life. It is those who feel that the last word has been said who generally fall into this class "of social offenders. Again, this account is by no means complete. Please bear in mind that it is written by one 1 who has profound respect for . religion, who believes in organ-U organ-U ized religion and that all who truly search for spiritual light shall find it. There is no criticism critic-ism here of any particular church or religious institution. The faults depicted above are fallen Into by people of all churches. church-es. And all churches possess the doctrine of good will. |