1910
By Rev. Eliot White
The question whether moral standards are the same in city as in country probably cannot be answered alike for every comparison of urban with suburban. Some cities are notably narrow and backward, like overgrown villages, while some country places have so much civic sense and alert pride that they rank high in what we might call moral incubation, being true hatching places of better social ideals and keener ethical perceptions.
At the same time several elements in the comparison make it in the large possible to contrast city and country morals. For example, the power of neighbor opinion is considerably less in the city than in the country. By this I mean that dwelling near another person in the city does not mean necessarily acquaintance with or notice of him; whereas in the country, neighbor censors neighbor, often than not gossips about him or her and therefore exercises a certain degree of restraint upon him. Much of the laborious and often petty casuistry that harasses the typical country place and that the city dweller finds intolerable, is due to this.
Religious intolerance, with its magnifying of theological trifles, for the same reason flourishes in the country, while the city forges ahead and away from it like an express train from a stage coach. People have other and healthier occupations for thought.
At the same time the city independence has its faults. Isolation is a terrible strain for the young man or woman. The country may mean gossip, but it means united support and "company" as well, and to be transplanted from such rootage to the lonely places of the great city involves some of the severest temptations to which a character can be subjected.
The moral standards probably in themselves vary little between city and country, much as they may differ in application in the two places.
Franker instruction by parents end schools on physical matters should help boys and girls "find out things" in wholesome fashion, instead of through whisper. Festivals, open-air dances and romps are needed to feed the hunger for companionship, color and joy. More freedom under wise supervision for the children and youth of both sexes together has promise of nobler development and moral standard for both city and country of which we can all as Americans be proud.
Showing posts with label rural. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rural. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
"Burning Bush" Sect
1905
Why Indiana Followers of New Religion Insist on Going to Jail
The "Burning Bush" is the title of a new religion which has reached Muncie, Ind., and since it appeals to the fanatics it seems to be spreading at an alarming rate, says a Muncie correspondent of the Chicago Chronicle. Men, women and girls have been arrested and fined for disturbing the progress of other religious meetings and they insist upon going to jail, claiming that God ordered them to do so.
The efforts of the followers to break up meetings of other denominations have resulted disastrously in several places. In Randolph county the operations of the "Burning Bush" followers have become so bold that they attempted upon various occasions to stop meetings of the Methodist churches. They believe that they are the elect and that all disbelievers will go to eternal punishment.
Miss Bessie Ford, a pretty young woman, is one of the leaders, and she was recently convicted, having been charged with disturbing religious meetings. She, together with Mrs. Mary Painter and a man named Hamilton Pursley, who have been introducing the faith in Randolph county, is being held at Winchester for her actions in various churches where regular services were being held. They all claim that they will go to prison and suffer punishment, since it has been the will of the Lord.
The work of the new religious sect has wrought up many localities, and the promoters have many followers. Not until now have they invaded the churches of the towns, and every effort is being made to confine their work to the rural districts, but this, it seems, is impossible.
Why Indiana Followers of New Religion Insist on Going to Jail
The "Burning Bush" is the title of a new religion which has reached Muncie, Ind., and since it appeals to the fanatics it seems to be spreading at an alarming rate, says a Muncie correspondent of the Chicago Chronicle. Men, women and girls have been arrested and fined for disturbing the progress of other religious meetings and they insist upon going to jail, claiming that God ordered them to do so.
The efforts of the followers to break up meetings of other denominations have resulted disastrously in several places. In Randolph county the operations of the "Burning Bush" followers have become so bold that they attempted upon various occasions to stop meetings of the Methodist churches. They believe that they are the elect and that all disbelievers will go to eternal punishment.
Miss Bessie Ford, a pretty young woman, is one of the leaders, and she was recently convicted, having been charged with disturbing religious meetings. She, together with Mrs. Mary Painter and a man named Hamilton Pursley, who have been introducing the faith in Randolph county, is being held at Winchester for her actions in various churches where regular services were being held. They all claim that they will go to prison and suffer punishment, since it has been the will of the Lord.
The work of the new religious sect has wrought up many localities, and the promoters have many followers. Not until now have they invaded the churches of the towns, and every effort is being made to confine their work to the rural districts, but this, it seems, is impossible.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The Rural Church As Social Center
1915
A Broader Sphere for Religion
By Peter Radford
Lecturer, National Farmers' Union
The social duty of the rural church is as much a part of its obligations as its spiritual side. In expressing its social interest, the modern rural church does not hesitate to claim that it is expressing a true religious instinct and the old-time idea that the social instincts should be starved while the spiritual nature was overfed with solid theological food, is fast giving way to a broader interpretation of the functions of true religion.
We take our place in the succession of those who have sought to make the world a fit habitation for the children of man when we seek to study and understand the social duty of the rural church. The true Christian religion is essentially social — its tenets of faith being love and brotherhood and fellowship. While following after righteousness, the church must challenge and seek to reform that social order in which moral life is expressed.
While cherishing ideals of service, the rural church which attains the fullest measure of success is that which enriches as many lives as it can touch, and in no way can the church come in as close contact with its members as through the avenue of social functions.
The country town and the rural community need a social center. The church need offer no apology for its ambition to fill this need in the community, if an understanding of its mission brings this purpose into clear consciousness. The structure of a rural community is exceedingly complex; it contains many social groups, each of which has its own center, but there are many localities which have but one church and although such a church cannot command the interest of all the people, it is relieved from the embarrassment of religiously divided communities.
A Broader Sphere for Religion
By Peter Radford
Lecturer, National Farmers' Union
The social duty of the rural church is as much a part of its obligations as its spiritual side. In expressing its social interest, the modern rural church does not hesitate to claim that it is expressing a true religious instinct and the old-time idea that the social instincts should be starved while the spiritual nature was overfed with solid theological food, is fast giving way to a broader interpretation of the functions of true religion.
We take our place in the succession of those who have sought to make the world a fit habitation for the children of man when we seek to study and understand the social duty of the rural church. The true Christian religion is essentially social — its tenets of faith being love and brotherhood and fellowship. While following after righteousness, the church must challenge and seek to reform that social order in which moral life is expressed.
While cherishing ideals of service, the rural church which attains the fullest measure of success is that which enriches as many lives as it can touch, and in no way can the church come in as close contact with its members as through the avenue of social functions.
The country town and the rural community need a social center. The church need offer no apology for its ambition to fill this need in the community, if an understanding of its mission brings this purpose into clear consciousness. The structure of a rural community is exceedingly complex; it contains many social groups, each of which has its own center, but there are many localities which have but one church and although such a church cannot command the interest of all the people, it is relieved from the embarrassment of religiously divided communities.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Eccentric Minister Lengthens Services if Weather Bad
1913
Unconventional Minister
A Missouri man tells of a somewhat eccentric minister in that state who is most unconventional in conducting the services of his church.
It appears that, from his pulpit, this clergyman can, through an open window on his right, command a clear view of the fields stretching off in the distance. One morning instead of beginning the service as usual he announced: "As I observe Sister Anna Morgan, somewhat late, approaching the church, I shall postpone the commencement of the service until her arrival."
On one occasion he made this announcement to his congregation: "As the weather is still so inclement, I will, my dear friends, lengthen my discourse somewhat in the hope that it may clear later."
Unconventional Minister
A Missouri man tells of a somewhat eccentric minister in that state who is most unconventional in conducting the services of his church.
It appears that, from his pulpit, this clergyman can, through an open window on his right, command a clear view of the fields stretching off in the distance. One morning instead of beginning the service as usual he announced: "As I observe Sister Anna Morgan, somewhat late, approaching the church, I shall postpone the commencement of the service until her arrival."
On one occasion he made this announcement to his congregation: "As the weather is still so inclement, I will, my dear friends, lengthen my discourse somewhat in the hope that it may clear later."
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Church to Send Pastors' Wives Away to School
1922
(By the Associated Press)
MARSHAL, Tex., May 4. — Rural and town churches in the south-west are planning to send the wives of the pastors to the summer school for Town and Country pastors conducted by the Department of Rural Work of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wiley University, here, May 1-20. A special course is to be given in the interest of pastor's wives and many of the churches are paying the expenses of wives in order that they may get this scientific and expert knowledge.
For the instruction of the pastors and their wives the following subjects are to be discussed: "The Parsonage and the Pastor's Wife," "Making the Parsonage Beautiful on the Outside and the Inside," "Making the Parsonage Healthy," "The Woman's Pocketbook — Who has it?" "The Spirit of Cooperation in the Home," "Organizing the Parsonage Home," "The Pastor's Wife a Home Maker," "The Parsonage Bad Boy," and "The Parsonage Bad Boy — Later on."
The preachers are also to be instructed in sermon building.
—The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, May 6, 1922, p. 5.
(By the Associated Press)
MARSHAL, Tex., May 4. — Rural and town churches in the south-west are planning to send the wives of the pastors to the summer school for Town and Country pastors conducted by the Department of Rural Work of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wiley University, here, May 1-20. A special course is to be given in the interest of pastor's wives and many of the churches are paying the expenses of wives in order that they may get this scientific and expert knowledge.
For the instruction of the pastors and their wives the following subjects are to be discussed: "The Parsonage and the Pastor's Wife," "Making the Parsonage Beautiful on the Outside and the Inside," "Making the Parsonage Healthy," "The Woman's Pocketbook — Who has it?" "The Spirit of Cooperation in the Home," "Organizing the Parsonage Home," "The Pastor's Wife a Home Maker," "The Parsonage Bad Boy," and "The Parsonage Bad Boy — Later on."
The preachers are also to be instructed in sermon building.
—The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, May 6, 1922, p. 5.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The Rural Church
1915
The Farmers The Custodians of the Nation's Morality
Co-operation of Church, School and Press Essential to Community Building
By Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers' Union
The church, the press and the school form a triple alliance of progress that guides the destiny of every community, state and nation. Without them civilization would wither and die and through them life may attain its greatest blessing, power and knowledge. The farmers of this nation are greatly indebted to this social triumvirate for their uplifting influence, and on behalf of the American plowmen I want to thank those engaged in these high callings for their able and efficient service, and I shall offer to the press a series of articles on co-operation between these important influences and the farmers in the hope of increasing the efficiency of all by mutual understanding and organized effort. We will take up, first, the rural church.
The Farmers Are Great Church Builders.
The American farmer is the greatest church builder the world has ever known. He is the custodian of the nation's morality; upon his shoulders rests the "ark of the covenant" and he is more responsive to religious influences than any other class of citizenship.
The farmers of this nation have built 120,000 churches at a cost of $750,000,000, and the annual contribution of the nation toward all church institutions approximates $200,000,000 per annum. The farmers of the United States build 22 churches per day. There are 20,000,000 rural church communicants on the farm, and 54 per cent of the total membership of all churches reside in the country.
The farm is the power-house of all progress and the birthplace of all that is noble. The Garden of Eden was in the country and the man who would get close to God must first get close to nature.
The Functions of a Rural Church.
If the rural churches today are going to render a service which this age demands, there must be co-operation between the religious, social and economic life of the community.
The church to attain its fullest measure of success must enrich the lives of the people in the community it serves; it must build character; develop thought and increase the efficiency of human life, it must serve the social, business and intellectual, as well as the spiritual and moral side of life. If religion does not make a man more capable, more useful and more just, what good is it? We want a practical religion, one we can live by and farm by, as well as die by.
Fewer and Better Churches.
Blessed is that rural community which has but one place of worship. While competition is the life of trade, it is death to the rural church and moral starvation to the community. Petty sectarianism is a scourge that blights the life, and the church prejudice saps the vitality, of many communities. An over-churched community is a crime against religion, a serious handicap to society and a useless tax upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential and church pride commendable, the high teaching of universal Christianity must prevail if the rural church is to fulfill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four churches in a community which is not able to adequately support one. Small congregations attend services once a month and all fail to perform the religious functions of the community. The division of religious forces and the breaking into fragments of moral efforts is ofttimes little less than a calamity and defeats the very purpose they seek to promote.
The evils of too many churches can be minimized by cooperation. The social and economic life of a rural community are respective units and cannot be successfully divided by denominational lines, and the churches can only occupy this important field by co-operation and co-ordination.
The efficient country church will definitely serve its community by leading in all worthy efforts at community building, in uniting the people in all co-operative endeavors for the general welfare of the community and in arousing a real love for country life and loyalty to the country home and these results can only be successfully accomplished by the united effort of the press, the school, the church and farmers.
The Farmers The Custodians of the Nation's Morality
Co-operation of Church, School and Press Essential to Community Building
By Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers' Union
The church, the press and the school form a triple alliance of progress that guides the destiny of every community, state and nation. Without them civilization would wither and die and through them life may attain its greatest blessing, power and knowledge. The farmers of this nation are greatly indebted to this social triumvirate for their uplifting influence, and on behalf of the American plowmen I want to thank those engaged in these high callings for their able and efficient service, and I shall offer to the press a series of articles on co-operation between these important influences and the farmers in the hope of increasing the efficiency of all by mutual understanding and organized effort. We will take up, first, the rural church.
The Farmers Are Great Church Builders.
The American farmer is the greatest church builder the world has ever known. He is the custodian of the nation's morality; upon his shoulders rests the "ark of the covenant" and he is more responsive to religious influences than any other class of citizenship.
The farmers of this nation have built 120,000 churches at a cost of $750,000,000, and the annual contribution of the nation toward all church institutions approximates $200,000,000 per annum. The farmers of the United States build 22 churches per day. There are 20,000,000 rural church communicants on the farm, and 54 per cent of the total membership of all churches reside in the country.
The farm is the power-house of all progress and the birthplace of all that is noble. The Garden of Eden was in the country and the man who would get close to God must first get close to nature.
The Functions of a Rural Church.
If the rural churches today are going to render a service which this age demands, there must be co-operation between the religious, social and economic life of the community.
The church to attain its fullest measure of success must enrich the lives of the people in the community it serves; it must build character; develop thought and increase the efficiency of human life, it must serve the social, business and intellectual, as well as the spiritual and moral side of life. If religion does not make a man more capable, more useful and more just, what good is it? We want a practical religion, one we can live by and farm by, as well as die by.
Fewer and Better Churches.
Blessed is that rural community which has but one place of worship. While competition is the life of trade, it is death to the rural church and moral starvation to the community. Petty sectarianism is a scourge that blights the life, and the church prejudice saps the vitality, of many communities. An over-churched community is a crime against religion, a serious handicap to society and a useless tax upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential and church pride commendable, the high teaching of universal Christianity must prevail if the rural church is to fulfill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four churches in a community which is not able to adequately support one. Small congregations attend services once a month and all fail to perform the religious functions of the community. The division of religious forces and the breaking into fragments of moral efforts is ofttimes little less than a calamity and defeats the very purpose they seek to promote.
The evils of too many churches can be minimized by cooperation. The social and economic life of a rural community are respective units and cannot be successfully divided by denominational lines, and the churches can only occupy this important field by co-operation and co-ordination.
The efficient country church will definitely serve its community by leading in all worthy efforts at community building, in uniting the people in all co-operative endeavors for the general welfare of the community and in arousing a real love for country life and loyalty to the country home and these results can only be successfully accomplished by the united effort of the press, the school, the church and farmers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
