Great Issues

1925

Judging from programs and notices of summer conferences and conventions, world problems were squarely faced and frankly discussed before many gatherings during July and August. Chautauquas and summer conferences, especially those under religious auspices, are doing much to direct public opinion in America. Many of the great questions which were discussed before the early conferences, twenty years ago, such as temperance, woman's suffrage, and child welfare, have since become national issues, or national policies. The issues presented to the gatherings during the past summer will help to shape the policies of our day and of the future.

Among the questions discussed was that of World Peace. A certain class of politician, demagogues, and those who would profit out of the war business, have obstructed all movements toward permanent peace thus far. Sane, constructive programs kept before the intelligent people who attend summer conferences will eventually overcome the retarding efforts of these obstructionists. The dominant note on this question seems to have been: The will to peace. All methods thus far have failed, and other methods may perhaps fail; but if we can get the nations of the world to will peace, we will have peace; because peace is possible of attainment by human effort when that effort is rightly directed by human will.

Other questions of national or world-wide importance were discussed by able speakers before summer gatherings. The race problem came in for its share of treatment. The housing conditions of the negro in the large cities received much attention. This is a situation which is becoming more and more acute, and calls for Christian thought and prayer. It is not a one-sided problem. When a negro family moves into a new neighborhood it means that the property of the white people living in that neighborhood immediately depreciates. The negro in most instances has no desire to either push himself in among the whites, or to injure property values. He simply wants to better his living conditions, and to get into a community where his family may escape the evils surrounding many of the neighborhoods where negroes are compelled to live.

Another problem which is usually linked with the negro — lynching — received consideration. This shameful crime, which has for so long blackened pages of American history, is gradually being controlled, but there is much work yet to be done by Christians. We who shudder at the bloodthirsty cruelty of the mob which crucified our Saviour must not permit ourselves to look with complacency upon the blood-lust of our fellow-citizens.

Another angle of the race question discussed during the summer was the relations between Christians and Jews. Jewish rabbis lectured before Christian audiences, and Christian professors lectured before Jewish audiences upon this question.

The Federal Council of Churches has a committee on race relations. Dr. Alfred Williams Anthony, chairman of this committee, says: "Ideas of neighborliness, and the exchange of courtesy and hospitality through groups of various races and classes have made progress."

When we approach the problems of life in the spirit of Christ we will find a solution.

—The Sunday School World, Oct. 1925, p. 470.