Faith – Page 4 – Old Magazine Articles

Why Men Don’t Like Going to Church
(Literary Digest, 1900)

Assorted reasons were put forth in the attached article from 1900 as to why the Christian male prefers to remove himself from the pews every Sunday; here is one:

If we consider the minister, and his power in the pulpit, sincerity must be at the heart of all that comes from him. Men are drawn by earnestness and honesty, and frankness, more than by beauty and the fragrance of flowers. Truth is what man wants, not the straining after effect, which results in verboseness, for he will come only to hear the unvarnished truth, red-hot from a courageous heart.

Click here to read a 1929 article on the same exact topic.

Charles Darwin and 1920’s Society
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

An article which discusses the growing number of state legislatures given the task to vote up or down on the issue as to whether or not to allow the Darwin theory of evolution to stand as a legitimate topic for discussion and instruction in their respective school systems. Mentioned in the article was one of the major players leading the charge on behalf of creationism: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925).

Three years following the publication of this magazine article, Bryan would be standing in defense of Christian faith during the famous Tennessee Scopes Trial.

H.L. Mencken Admonishes Catholic Hierarchy
(The Smart Set, 1921)

After the slaughter of the First World War, the Christian Churches were under heavy scrutiny for essentially serving as enablers in each of the individual combatant nations – failing utterly to bring an end to the violence. In their monthly collaboration, Repition Generale, George Jean Nathan (1882 – 1958) and H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) launched a broadside at the Christian Bishops for their elite, bullet-proof status in the world.

In 1900 people wanted to know why men didn’t like going to church…

Converting Texas Protestants
(The Literary Digest, 1913)

Texas is today an American state that is almost entirely Catholic, however this was not always the case, as this short article makes clear. During the young Twentieth Century the Catholic Arch Dioces saw fit to harness the wonders of the internal combustion engine and create a mobile chapel in order to help bring an end to the Protestant dominance of Texas. However, in the end it was not the Churchmobile per se that raised the number of Catholics in the region so much as the rising tide of uncontrolled immigration from the bordering nation of Mexico.

In it’s defense, however, it should be noted that the Churchmobile did get remarkable mileage.

Billy Sunday Goes to New York City
(The Literary Digest, 1917)

Mr. Sunday pays his compliments to New York and gratefully revises his first impressions. He declares that when he first saw the big building(s) he believed they were right when they called it the ‘graveyard of evangelism’.

The Bible and Slavery – Part 1 –
(The North American Review, 1864)

This is a book review written during the American Civil War, of a British work titled, Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery by a well known anti-imperialist of the time named Goldwin Smith (1823-1910).

The Southern people tell us, that, under their training, the African has become a Christian. When they receive their runaway negroes, who are sent back to them in obedience to the law, as fellow-Christians, not as servants, but as brothers beloved, the mission of St. Paul and his Master to both will be accomplished.

Billy Sunday in Columbus, Ohio
(The Literary Digest, 1913)

Presbyterian preacher Billy Sunday (William Ashley Sunday, 1862 – 1935) was, without a doubt, one of the leading figures advocating for the adoption of Prohibition in 1919. When it became clear to many that Prohibition was causing far more problems than it solved, he continued to strongly support the legislation, and after its repeal in 1933, the Preacher called for its reinstatement.

Needless New Religions
(The Literary Review, 1912)

The author reported that in the year 1912 one could easily find a plethora of useless and needless faiths and denominations:

These religions come to naught in the end.

Christianity Versus Prohibition
(The North American Review, 1918)

Seeing that much of the momentum to prohibit the national sale, distribution and consumption of wine and spirits originated with a hardy chunk of the observant Christian community, the Reverend John Cole McKim decided to weigh in on the topic. McKim tended to believe that:

Christ, being divine and consequently infallible, could not have erred. Since it is well known that Christ used wine Himself and gave it to others…

He further opined:

But to vote what one regards as a natural right shall be declared forever illegal, is cowardly, un-American, and un-Christian.

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Girl Evangelists in the Flapper Era

Christians Butchered
(Literary Digest, 1922)

Attached is an article filed during the closing days of the Greco-Turkish War (1919 – 1922) which takes into account that seven years after the 1915 Armenian slaughter in Asia Minor, the victorious governments of the West had never dolled out any punitive measures whatever, and the murder of Christians was continuing under cover of the Greek military withdrawal from that region.

…the Christian population is flying, like herds of frightened sheep, and the fate of those who lag behind is death.