May, 1941
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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church, Dr. Riley offered his resigna tion. By unanimous vote of its advisory board and congregation, the church de clined to accept the resignation. In the multitude of the Lord’s people who, in one way or another have had fellowship with this loyal, sympathetic, generous servant of His, many will rejoice in this action. May it please God to give to Dr. Riley an increasingly fruitful ministry as the days come and go. Bahaism in America It is surprising how many and how varied are the forms of religious ex pression men and women in America will embrace—some of them plainly non-Christian in character. A move ment that is not by any means new, but which is gaining ground in certain territories, claiming to have adherents in every state of the Union, is the Ba hai movement. William McElwee Miller, in a book let, The Bahai Cause Today, has given a careful account of the cult from its inception to the present day, pointing out that “the number of Spiritual As semblies (local congregations) has doubled in the last decade . . . The property of the Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, is now worth over a million dollars, just twice what it was in 1926.” Discussing the principles upon which the Bahai faith is founded, and tracing the relation of this movement (which is drawing increasing numbers of pro fessing Christians into its ranks) to ancient Mohammedanism, the author states: “The Bahai Faith recognizes the unity of God and of His Prophets, upholds the principle of an unfet tered search after truth, condemns all forms of superstition and pre judice, teaches that the fundamen tal purpose of religion is to promote [Continued on Page 172]
Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT Washington, D. C , and San Diego, California
THE REAL ENEMY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: • In a widely publicized address given before a convention of educators and sci entists, the noted Professor Mortimer J. Adler of the University of Chicago declared: “It is probably not from Hit ler, but from the professors, that we must ultimately be saved.” This struggle to save our youth from the professors and propagandists of pa ganism promises to be the longer and the harder conflict. After Hitler is dead and gone, this battle must still be con tinued. Walter Lippmann, who seems to have departed from the camp of modernism in which cause he was once a pen-and- ink warrior, has stated the issue bluntly and candidly. In an address delivered under the auspices of Phi Beta Kappa at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci ence, he defined it as “Education versus Western Civilization.” He declared: “The prevailing education is des tined, if it continues, to destroy Western civilization and is in fact destroying it. . . . Our civilization cannot effectively be maintained where it still flourishes, or be re stored where it has been crushed, without the revival of the central, • continuous, and perennnial culture of the Western world.” The “culture of the Western world” is the expression of the Christian faith. As Mr. Lippmann pointed out:
“Modern education, however, is based on a denial that it is' neces sary or useful or desirable for the schools and colleges to continue to ■ transmit from generation to genera tion thé religious and classical cul ture of the Western world. . . . Modern education rejects and ex cludes from the curriculum of nec essary studies the whole religious tradition of the West.” Modern education stands revealed to day as the real and enduring enemy of Western civilization. SCIENCE—A FALSE MESSIAH: • Science cannot itself be a substitute, nor can it supply a substitute, for the religious faith which must provide pur posive direction and spiritual content to the culture which underlies Western civ ilization. As Mr. Lippmann says: "The power which s'cience places in men’s hands is ungoverned. Quickly it becomes ungovernable. . . . That is why men today are ap- ■ palled by the discovery that when modern man fights he is the most destructive animal ever known on this planet. . . . And, at last, educa tion founded on the secular image of man must destroy knowledge itself.” Lippmann might have gone on to show that modem dictatorship is the logical consequence of substituting the “authority of science” for the authority of the Word of God. A school system which exalts science over the Bible is bound to produce a system of govern ment which elevates militarism and ma terialism over the things of the spirit. • War preparations will increasingly compel the American people to do with out many things they would otherwise use in abundance. We do not suggest that it is the equivalent of a silver lin ing for the cloud; but it is true that, on the whole, some of the war-created shortages may actually be beneficial. For instance, a United Press dispatch contains this information: “It appears that the war is about to cause a shortage of artificial blondes. Peroxide is getting scarce. Red fingernails also are liable to disappear. The goo that m a k e s them red is being used to make high explosives. WAR SHORTAGES AND SACRIFICES:
Dr. Talbot in the Bay Region Under the auspices of the Christian Business Men’s Committee, San Francisco, Calif., Louis T . Talbot, President of the Bible Insti tute of Los Angeles, will be heard jn meetings from May 11 to 16: May I I— 11:00 A. M. — First Baptist Church, San Jose. 3:00 P. M.— Rally held at Melrose Baptist Church, Oakland. 7:30 P. M. — Glide Memorial Church, San Francisco. WEEK DAY MEETINGS AT 7:30 P. M.t May 12— First Baptist Church, San Francisco.
May 13 — Alliance Tabernacle, Oakland. May 14 — First Baptist Church, Richmond. May 15 — Mission Covenant Church, Oakland. May 16— Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco.
From Monday, May 12, through Friday, May 16, Dr. Talbot will be heard daily over the radio, KYA, 1230 kc., at 12:30 P. M. Please pray for these services and make them known as widely as possible.
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