New Protestant Council A brand new organization composed of the merger of seven interdenomina tional church agencies has just come into being under the name of the Na tional Council of the Churches of Christ in U.S.A. This council will rep resent the vast majority of Protestants in the United States totaling about 32,- 000,000. The idea of this council sug gests better church co-operation and a more deliberately adopted and sys- temically organized policy. The agen cies joining include: The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, Foreign Missions Confer ence of North America, Home Mis sions Council of North America, the United Council of Church Women, In ternational Council of Religious Edu cation, the United Stewardship Coun cil, the National Protestant Council on Higher Education, Missionary Education movements in the U.S. and Canada. It is to be noted that these organizations are predominantly lib eral in their thinking, yet by no means do all the supposed 32,000,000 con stituents follow these liberal tenden cies. Three Battles Lost Recently the war of progressive education seems to be going all one way. Three times the conservatives won out over the progressives. The first example of this was in Pasadena where a conservative school man was appointed to fill a progressive’s place. Also, in Los Angeles, the public school system returned to the “ A, B, C” method of grading, and in New York State a committee of historians rec ommended to the State Board of Re gents that American History in the 8th grade be taught in chronological rather than topical form. All of which makes a decided swing back to old- time principles of education which seem to be in line with Scriptural methods. Reads Bible 160 Times •s* In a recent letter from Evangelist H. Evan McKinley, it is related that T. H. Maxwell of Conyers, Georgia, has read the Bible through 160 times. This is quite a record. Mr. Maxwell read the Bible through the first time when he was but ten years of age, using a large old family Bible. Since that time, he has worn out 12 Bibles. It is his practice to read about four chapters after each meal. Then in the evening he continues to read until about eleven o’clock. He declares he is never tired of the Book and that each time he receives new light. He hopes to read the Bible through 175 times during his lifetime. F E B R U A R Y , 1 9 5 1
William W. Orr, D.D.
Sunday School Gains «** It is reported that Sunday school enrollment in the United States showed a greater increase during the period of 1947-1949 than did our church membership or the national population. Tabulated in this report were the latest statistics of 241 Amer ican religious bodies showing that there are 243,454 Sunday schools in the United States with an enroll ment of 28,893,789. Sunday school enrollment grew rapidly from the turn of the century to 1930; then there came a slump, but beginning with 1947, there were real signs of new advances. Holy Year Statistics J* In many respects, 1950 has been the greatest of all Holy Years the Roman Catholic Church has known since the first in 1300. The pilgrims journeying to Rome numbered 3,200,- 000 and more canonizations and beat ifications took place than in any other Holy Year. Coupled with this, a new dogma of the church was pronounced and in the final week the Pope con firmed the news that the tomb of St. Peter had definitely been found. The 74-year-old Pope received many thou sands in special or private audiences and during the time 34 international congresses were held in Rome. To the Roman Catholics the success of the Holy Year was a bright beam of light in a dark, uneasy world, but to those acquainted with the Scriptures it was but another move in the ever-growing picture of end-time events which will eventually culminate in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Page Seven
Israel's Growth <** The population of the new nation of Israel is growing faster than that of any region in the world according to Maurice Kesner, western director of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. Israel, which is about the size of Con necticut in area, is increasing at the rate of about 15,000 new settlers a month. The Jewish State is the only country open to all peoples who wish to settle there so there is nothing to prevent a large population growth by immigration. Southern California by comparison has had a population increase of 41% in ten years while Israel has increased 100% in five years. How Many Stars? •s* With modern telescopic facilities, the numbering of the stars goes on. The latest report by Dr. Harlow Shap- ley, Director of Harvard University Observatory, is the result of an 18- year-long galaxy count. It is to be re membered that each galaxy is some thing like our own Milky Way, made up of hundreds of millions of stars. The Harvard observers have photo graphed a million galaxies, but they estimate that there are about a billion galaxies which might be visible through a more powerful telescope and about a billion more which would be visible if they were not obscured by dust and gas. Dr. Shapley estimates that these two billion galaxies are about one per cent of the number in the entire universe, the total score of which would be 200 billion galaxies of stars, each galaxy being made up of hun dreds of millions.
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