Show MODERN RELIGION FAR FROM POTENT J No Rich Red Blood in It Today Says Field Secretary of the Unitarian Society NEED A AN ADEQUATE KIND Social Feature Should Not Sot Be He 0 O cr Cr- Cr k Says Thuri- Thuri s. s I ton tOil BlOwn Broun 1 I That hat modern has haN In I It t no potent force to deal with economic and quasi political conditions of today was the theme around which William JuI lon Brown held secretary of oC the American n c Unitarian for or thy the kY- kY Mountain department built an estimable sermon s sermon rmon at Unity hall hail yes yes- An Att Adequate Hell Reli r gion 1011 was the thc subject o m of the sermon m atmil l In Iii part Mr Thurston said 1 I venture to name three qualities which will In Infallibly bl mark anything which mil may justly bo UC called an adequate i t religion Au An n adequate rell religion lon not on only I will 11 set Net no bounds to human thinking lIlg- lIlg bu hut but will demand as gs s a prime and lal requisite the limitless freedom leedom o of the time human mind Not only that but hut I It will have ha no more nore Insistent demand than this that every child that comet comes Into the time world shall have opportunity to think that no con condl contil- l- l lions shall be bc tolerable which cramp or Ul drawf lC or stunt the thc human Intellect has lias there ther not been heeti a suspicion throughout hout Christendom Christendom and and Is there Hint free freedom om of thinking Is dangerous Is sinful Is It ii not true that free thinking and nod free thought arc are c phrases hrascs which common u usage age has made tle synonymous with with In- In What mt Is more to the thc point 4 l Is It not true that conditions widel widely prevail plc in human which disfranchise millions from Crom citizenship in hl the thc world of oC thought 1 I Adequate lou IK l. Open There JI ICI e i 1 Is 11 no d demand 1 more moore sacredly 4 Imperative than thun this this that that we wc men and IlIIlI women shall hall be as an eminent publicist puts it it all ull there thero in religion that no Ito man shall feel that he hl must den deny the c I fullest and antl freest fi exercise of that faculty which In lii 1 il supreme sense I makes him llin a man mann his his reason his In In- In fr ln In In order ordel to be bc 1 religious There can be hc no adequate religion which Is r ci not open four square to the thie truth f tt which which dots does not PU pay reverence re to truth f as Itself the time theer er very ery presence e and anti life liCe of oC 1 J GodIn God f. f c In the time second place 4 an on adequate re religion re- re ligion will nH ke God rea real and anil available a 0 I in fl and for COl the time personal individual life r It is simply the affirmation that the per personal onal sense of Go God which every c prophet pro pro- phet of an any age has has possessed Is Is forever for for- or ever a a. human right a a human It it- it 11 We e read n. in some of or our OUI liturgies les time tile words of the c Incomparable Psalms Psalms- The Thc Lord Is a I Ier er very ery present Plesent help in trouble ti The Lord d I l. l Is m my shepherd I hall shah not He lie mo nw to lie down In Itt green pastures he lie me inc beside the still utes hess the Lord Q Ill my amy soul and anti forget not all his hh beneti bene- bene ti c who imo nil thine Iniquities I who nho all Ih thy diseases who vho I mp lh t t in g k a i. i I Ien cK en mercies V o or r uli sacred acred not at nil all because the they are arl In the Bible Dible sacred mercil only b bo- bo muse hust thc they stand for rOl a human tact fact tIme fact ral thai hal mi-mi like ourselves have tapped tupp tap tup- p pod ped tl time the Inexhaustible reservoir of or moral power lO an and spiritual grace that men muon there wen wen- who found God available fo for the least and humblest needs of oC life A rind nod bet because of or that thou experience their jo pI p I n j l souls Into son tonga 14 whose beauty J 11 and HI refreshment are arc self evidenced more inore than two thousand years after afler- I If Ward ani I 1 sa say we read these words and antI I f fancy we am toni make them our own forgetting for for- getting that not the words but time the eXI ex experience eX- eX I rl lIce of or communion of dependence t nf ot a souse sense of or God IK Is the vital thing thing- rc Time The gain will be he beyond estimate esti oIlI mate when an eXl exaggerated re f rot for or the time words of the time Bible shall shah disc dis- dis t r- r c appear anti and in itt Its place shall come time the 5 acceptance of the same moral tasks tt and therefore possession of the time same spiritual consciousness which created the Bible can eun create other scriptures scrip scrip- r- r Lures tures as us sacred 11 ml lie lie- social Too 4 j In hit the thc third place an fin adequate IJ re religion m- m ligion J will be bt social In Its nature That hat Thatis 4 is 13 to say It will Include time the whole man 1111 r and not miot some pc petty tl 30 fraction of or his lift life V Wo 0 ha have had hind no iio rell religion lon thus fur far which liari hils included the whole nato man We c z- z I have i none now HOW that even Cn contemplates or attempts such a u timing thing Religion I It Is t not lIot In lii actual fuel fact to have havI t anything to do 10 with business with politics pol poI lUes with anything In III our out social so so- eta cial hife life which 1 is as UM much h a Il part Irl of us its q as 08 our OUI bodies art are as our moral nature Is Is and and that explains M wh why wimy our called so-called t religion m lod today of who whatever cl lever name is hi such a U thing wh why It has lias no rich red blood In It why It has lias been banished hun ban steadily lo to the remote background back back- L ground of oC Out our life An Au adequate religion lon will vitally tout touch and concern ever every part larl of a aman's amans mans man's life every vcr lii Interest terest that claims hl his imis thought every function or expression sion of his Imis nature It IL will In arise from the time awakened ene that we are all ull b by a law Jawor of our being social cn creatures crea a- a turcs tures fractions of u Il social whole members mem mom bers lIers one of oC another An adequate religion re Ie re- re r- r ligion Is I the thc religion of oC socially sensitive semi sen k sHive socially Inspired socially just socially awakened men and women City of it V tb- tb There TheIL In no ito city in iii this tills country countr which lias hus a larger proportion of or 4 churches on om a a larger percentage e o of I professedly religious people than Philadelphia Phil adelphia no mio no city where time claims of r religion a iLS aM voiced by the churches an- an more wide widely allowed none where so- so called Infidelity or ur atheism Is less in ill evidence But nut a n political Investigation initiated not ut at Ill all by hy the church nor mior In iii Inthe tiLe the name of religion lon hits has disclosed cd tin tin- fact that that- for long long continued continued political ll corruption for fOI complacent robbery and ammil raft graft for or rotten civic politics Philadelphia Phil Phil- t adelphia adolphia bears benns off orr the palm from every cven I 1 known competitor Not one half not one not tenth one of Its s ory IV-ory ory of or Iniquity W was LH laid bare In that investigation there in there wasn't enough moral virtue even In tIme Hie the probe to reform forces to plunge 4 the very cry bottom of oC Its Ils noisome sore sore- of that corruption I anti and yet et the thc existence o tion has been ben known mo for COl years yeal's and years by its Itc smug smug- church members members- And AntI the time custom of counting a hundred thousand votes having no ito existence has lias lt been followed followell and lIlII approved b by men inca 7 who attend and support Christian i churches churches and and I J dare dalp to say Sa that few of oC them ever heard a u word from Crom those s e w pulpits which could possibly disturb their calloused consciences k I. I IK hi I II I- I In other oilier words tIme the religion of Philadelphia Phil 4 adelphia of of the people o of that city city city- of Its churches and ministers has ministers-has has has- been I up tip to date as am impotent to affect much of oC Its Us I less les correct the moral rottenness politics or its Ita business as us its drinking ing water vater taken from the tIme unspeakably river ha has lulled failed to check the time ravages ra of Philadelphia Philadelphia's s 8 periodic plague plague typhoid typhoid foyer fever II It waIn was wa In Imi that city you OU remember that the ministers Jt came caine to together ether a few years ago and prayed th the Almighty to arrest I I 0 I the Ite he t I lM hoid epidemic then claiming I ll Is terrible toll toil while at lh time the same ml I I time the people continued to get their I III nm fm-nm flom to time the nino stream Into which not only the sewers of that limit city but hUl time the s of oe several sC others camp empty y f Is true of P is III true trite o of this eft city arid and every other Religion lon is hI s as Impotent an OK It In lit there us fu Cu- Cu ii tile tHe for the time cr very ends which It Il Is In des tie de- s sl signed nell to serve C as the tIme Spanish warships war war- ships in the time battle of oC Manila were cre to make good ns as an un effective navy i An n adequate rell religion lon will be bc a so so- so cial religion A A compan of people who are arc rell religious lous simply ni units each ellch one for himself never nc lid did and anti never can cun constitute a rl righteous com or 01 city or state and no mio num num- her ber of or such people can make m up n R nation On Only I it n. body of men and women who frankly and op openly nh and amid effectively make kl politics anti and hU business C essential functions of or religion lon who view tIme the city and amid state and nation as us the lie organs of oC religion In a sense in itt which no ito church nor nil all churches to together together to- to gether can call be ue as us time the means by h Gods God's will I Is to be le done and amid his king kina dom Is Isto to come fUl nay as the hc means b by which In In iii It a supreme sense ClIse tin tIme II divine h being Is to IJ be disclosed to time thc minds II of time the least and humblest only humblest only that kind of people have an amm adequate rc- rc a u Jell religion lon which hits has the tho remotest remotest est chance c to make good rIty a Sm Ira o ruc Peril There Is not miot a thoughtful In iii j a today who does hoes not know that the lie ver very prosperity of or which we boast boas has las become our national rell religion lon constitutes con con- tIme the Irn c gravest t moral and sprint sprint- ual p peril to nil all that we wc may rightly hLl hold lold dent dear whether in itt public yr QI r in itt vale patu life If ever there was need that tha noral und and spiritual forces and amid the In In iii- which are arc time the accepted exponent ex ex- of oC these forces should make good rood should breathe Into this materialism of ours a soul IOU I so that hat tho ho increasing Increasing- multitude of or those thos who vho care are for or no church and antl no religion because no church chUlch and no rell religion lon Is bearing convincing witness that 1 It cares ares for or them item who hold their lives cheaply because our OUI whole Industrial system knows nothing so cheap as HI human hu hu- man mun life shall have the gospel preached lo to them them preached preached too by the thu most persuasive and convincing agencies ag the manners and customs the policies and opportunities the whole material maleria environment In which thc they live jf live ever such a gospel was Imperative that lime Is now flow And nL unless th the church gets gels onto I Us its s Job unless the church furnishes furnish es great materialism of ours with a soul in itt the cr very process of that thal failure It will rot and spiritual emancipation eaton eman and anil fruition will come comae from fromn rom another source f |