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VOLUME FORTY-EIGHT CAROLINA. LY^JUNE 26f 1924 NtJMBER ___ THE IDEA OF RACE SUPERIORITY. By Robert E. Speer President of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ-in America.* (The following: article is an abbre viated section of the second chapter of the new volwfne,“ Of One Blood,” a short study of the race problem published as a general mission study textbook by the Missionary Educa tion Movement and the Council of Women for Missions. The volume as a whole is a penetrating analysis of world-wide problems of race in the light of the Christian teaching, and merits the attention pi Christians ev-*\ ery where.) There are many , errors which jjle back of our ideas of race superiority. 1. One is to assume the validity and supremacy of our own standards and condemn to inferiority all non conformity with those standards. We regard with favor certain physi cal characteristics—-white skin, fair, hair, blue eyes, a certain type of feat ures, our own odors. Another race will naturally have entirely different tastes. It is a matter not of superior ity or inferiority but of variety. “Some men $ay that colored people are ‘ugly.’ They should be reminded that beauty is very relative, and that oar own idea of beauty is subject to changes of fashion. We know, too, that artists so refined as the Japan ese find our large byes and high noses horrid.” In moral qualities we exalt energy, promptitude, exactness, verac ity, ready for progress, and so forth. These are good qualities, but^ in the first place, are we sure that we in dividually possess them in sufficient meaure to ‘be entitled to racial self satisfaction; and, in the second place, how shall we weigh them against the qualities of patience, long-suffering, considerateness, con tentment, which are possessed by other races in ^ measure beyond us? If we were to judge each race by its possession of the qualities exalted by Jesus, especially in the Beatitudes, which races would rank highest? 2. A second error is the assumpj tion that backwardness And inferi ority are synonomous. “Backward,” says Ratzel,- “does not necessarily mean inferior.” The; conception of child races is a familiar conception. But we have not accepted this con ception in its full application. It is time that we should do so. A so called Inferior race la simply a Tace which has not yet enjoyed the educa tion and felt the influences ^which would lift it to the level of fts poten tial happiness and serviceableness ^, And in this sense all races are atill inferior. 3. A third error Is the idea that the apparent inferiority of a race is cue to it8 race character and destiny and not, as is the fact, to its lack of motive and opportunity and inspira tion ! This /lack, however, is dn effect as well as a cause of race character, jtkat is, inferiority of Circumstances in a‘ race’s condition may he both cause and effect of inferiority of ra cial capacity. And/ it is of equal im portance that the race which needs cpportunity and inspiration should receive them and that the. race which has them to give should impart them., A superior race that does not seek to share Is superiority with an inferior will inevitably bo dragged down to share the lower race's inferiority: 4. A more radical error is the Idea of the fixedness of race Charac ter, of the fiat of unalterable race status. On the other hand, the truth Is that there is no static, inherent, abiding status of race superiority or inferiority. No race i$ assured of con tinued ascendency. The alarmist school realizes this. Indeed this is thp cry of terror it - is sounding abroad. Having cherished the idea of white ascendency, it now sees-that ascendency threatened, and, uncon vinced of the right solution, of the race problem, it is appealing for «eg ’ A \ i 1 regation and race withdrawal and for the eugenic race breeding of the , white peoples in the interest of the preservation of their superiority of race character. This truth of"race growth and change is indeed a warn ing to all race vanity jmd privilege, but it is also the hope of all races, superior or inferior. None of them is doomed to a fixed status. A sound ethnological view is a confirmation of all the promises of Christianity to the races sth# to'/the med who‘com prise them. It is ;an_prror also to Identify races and ciyilizations and to con demn as inferior the peoples of in ferior and backward culture. In the first place, our Western civilization is Itself none too superior. To the extent that it embodies the truth Which God hag written upon nature and conforms to the mind of Christ it is true civilization. But in neither of these respects has it advanced far enough, and.it is seamed,with evils which are now so patent to the world that in condemning them there is danger that we may lose the es sential values to WUich they are clinging. In the second place, so far ag it is good, it is not ours. It is or is meant to be all men’s possession. We ourselves have drawn heavily from others. We need to remember our racial debt. It is too often, assumed that our claimed racial superiority is our racial achievement- It is not so. ‘T am a part of all that I hate met” is more true of a rape than of a per son. All generations and the races which preceded usl. and the Tacos which surround us have helped to make and endow us. To any nice conscious of its privilege, Bt. Paul ’ puts his ancient question, i'What hast - thou that thou’didst not ~ 6. We, err also in our sweeping race judgments when we fasten all individuals of a race within a racial inheritance as though the generalized character which we give to the race holds each member of the’ race to its* determinism. Thank God, it does nothing of the kind.. Men of the so called inferior race®, not in excep tional cases but by the thousand, can be excited whoy transcend in char acter, culture, power, influence, use fulness and humanity, members of the go-palled- superior raee®-. This examination of the idea" of race, superio|itiy has not been -made under a presupposition of theoretical race equality of any kind, nor has it touched the nature, characteristics and qualifications of the idea of ra cial equality which have emerged. Our review has had four things In mind: (1) the dissolution of that rrejudice against any race which may become the canse of its racial discouragement and which implies the assumption that it or its mem bers are barred from any of the achievements or possessions of hu manity: (2) the affirmation of the truth of a general equality in rapial gifts/ ohe.gift differ eth from another, erne race from another, yet all may contribute with equal faithfulness to human progress; (3) the emergence cf the duty of’ service as the one real evidence and privilege of supe riority; (4) the reassertion from a larger point of view of the truth of human unity. / -t - —Federal Connell Bjdletin. MINISTERS, FARMERS^MEET AT HAMPTON.^_ The eleventh annual meeting of :he Ministers’ Conference at Hamp :on Institute will he held in Meino* •ial Church,. June 23 to 27, under'the iirection of the Her. Laurence Fen linger, chaplain of Hampton fnsti rate. The Conference lecturers will Include Dr. James Hardy Dillard; Prof. Kemper Fullerton, ^professor of Did Testament in the Oberlin erad iate School of* Theology, Obelin, Dhio; the Rt. Rev. Lynwood W. Kyles, D. p.r Bishop at the A. Ir. B. Ziop church, Winston-Salem, N. D.; the Rev. Dr. Pesavia O'Connell, (Continued to page S). V ; , !, ’ l&Aij. I--' :\.;V;A By Rev. J.R. T. D.D. The function of the pulpit" is not defined by"* saying that it Stands for the' propagation of the gospel. It is essential that it shall comprehend proper approach, style of Utterance, purity of motive, breadth of vision, dignity of purpose. So comprehensive a function is sufficient to awaken pro* found concern both on the part of the pulpit and of thf pew . That such a concern has been awakened is evi dent by- the exceptional' cafe exer cised by the laity id the call of min isters, and the IhCelligence With which ministers" are considering calls. Aside from the press, the pulpit has the most conspicuous place in the molding of public opinion. The problems of the day' are large, vital, sensitive, weighty and the public never appreciated mltore keenly a well equipped ministry sophic and sympai tion. There has jusi church near the wi thoroughly prejjari outstanding questii ed, incisive, winsoi pressive diction, hi exceptional op] How may the iml: effective? By tho: preparation, closer classes and masse, experienceandV: mitjtai to the ethi< social question ipable of philo* ietic inteipreta le to a great it a young man to deal with is. AccOmplish ie, with an im enterg into an |ity, ; be made more intellectual : with the '■"filial com-. By intellectual preparation is not meant college training *thai is, taken for grafted, but subsequent Study, discriminative, judicial, adaptive. We only win whence achieve. We are sent to capture, not to quiet the qaie my. As ive are constantly dealing with those Who aTe penetrative, scholarly, trained in debate, but thoie who at the same time are obsessed with error, entrenched in social com plications at times very questiona ble and many times positively, odious, it is essential to the highest efficien cy that the message shall -appeal to the imagination as well as to the conscience. In the average congregation are the following types: The thought ful, the speculative, the fastidious, the radical, the bigot, the latitudi narian, the epicure, the stoic, and now and then, let us hope, a sincere Foul who longs for the truth. The young are there, the aesthetic, and if there be any other type he is'there alto. That is, the intellectual, and moral disharmony really existent in the average congregation is enough to appal itmy minister. liet ug fancy that the minister is now in his pttpit. The congregation is present. He is aware of this die* similar social condition. What now. is his *etudl task? In thd language , of the industrial agent it is to sell the, gospel to that' assembly. I eay to the assembly-—not only to one here and there. He must correct preju dice, silence opposition; create an atmosphere for the business of the King. He, is to'do this in a manly, upstanding way, no compromise, no apology, without^4ear, in assertive confidence. He is to make the un pleasant troth to appear at least not repellent. That is to say, thia min luter is given the stupendous Isk of weaving his messages into an art which preserves the1 power of his qmSsage. In the firaseume of art it - has Seen observed how inultitudes stand in ,*we before the paintings which portray the terrors of life—f they do so because it the matchless art in which they are clothed. Con gregations do not cleave ministers who portray the terrors of, the lost f it i« done true to thp taws of the tery constitution of things and in language impelling and nnre The writer now has 1 H W -.) *1. ■* 1 ' '.M'W" Of whom it let said that he preaches each ^eek to the largest congrega tions that gather in any one church in this country, and it is to'his honor and^the glory cf his Calling that he drives home with overwhelming might the Judgments of God time and again, but he does this with, the choicest and tenderest words which can be chosen, and jrith figures of Speech so illuminating that men re turn again and again. y ^ Now in this attainment of this art of expression few things help as does the study of literature, for the follow ing reasons: 1. Literature is the product of the cultured mind, wrought out by those' nobig souls to express the deepest and truest undercurrents of our be ing. It i8 the symphony of language, the divine -harmony of ideas,. poet ically expressed. It is the Work of the masters. Dante as truly lives in letters as does Michael Angelo in sculpture. ^ Literatures knocks at our cham ber door and blessed is he who gives it entrance. Its messages are world wide and age-long and thoroughly human, which is the same thing as «aying it approaches the divine. 1 2. It is the message of the heart. All the passional life of the race is delineated, defined—from love to hate. The heart of humanity is fath omless, terrible, expansive, and as the minister is constantly dealing with it, in order to interpret its ter rors, its possibilities, its longings, he needs Just that which the study>pf literatcre can furnish. For language exalted, pathetic,-* tragic, soothing, pitiful;—such __ master-pieces a The Ring and The no literature. The great poem to which I have referred is like the mighty surgings of the Pacific. It gathers within itself everything glorious and terrible. Heaven and hell are there. God and the POpe,^ the Priest,, the Church and the State, and the wreck age of life. Tenderness, forgiveness^ judgment, remorse—for Browning intended that infinitude symbolized by the ring, and power and art sym bolized by the boOk, should all be there. Browning is the preacher's poet. But Shakespeare waits to add power to the message of the pulpit. Suppose one wishes to show how brilliancy trained under the most fa vorable circumstances" can come" to helplessness and'to banter, where ;an we find so apt an example as Jn Samlet? Shakespeare wishes to tell te that here is an example of iinpo iency of will and of eyil mrequited. Or, if ; one • wishes 0 portray the struggle of the human loul with environment, where Is there n all literature so powerful an in itance as Jean Valjean in Hugo’s nasterpiece? But if one should wish he sweeter truth of the Eternal Love >f God, let him read the rich words n "Eternal Goodness,” by Whittier. Whether the npinister turns to the nytholsgies, especially of the Greeks, or the powerful literatures of nany nations he will discover they rill teach him the art of embellish ng his messages . These masters ad nfnister to the imagination and 'lay upon the emotions. And if t he true that men are . moved to ac ton more by feeling than by reason, nor^ by delineation of mottive' than ly argumentation of principles, then the plage of literary art In the cloth ng of pulpit nmssageg is vital I have purposely kept myself with >ut the folds of the Scriptures, as hat is the "one book It Is assumed 1 minister should know- He who >ring^ to hi8 message the enriching Igures and illusratlons of Scripture,, ts adornments, whether horn the tlstorical settings or the roi ►oetic, will find himself a Going bkck to the simple rules of Wesley, Paul and Christ, the Meth odist Episcopal General Conference has lifted the historic ban agsiinst certain forms of amusement, and,* in stead, counsels its members against all -amusements “which cap noi be used in the name of the Lord Jesus” —a phrase f#hich came from *the lips of . John Wesley himself . Thus it is feft to the individual conscience to decide what diversion ^ Methodist may enjoy and at the same time feel him not derelict in his religious du ties. There was no debate on the question. The action had been re commended by the Board of Bish ops, .and a favorable ^report was adopted by the standing committee on the state of the church hy a vote of 69 to- 3Q,. A minority report, for bidding theater attendance- oa^ Sun days and specifynig dancing and Im moral (theater performances as tabu, was tabled by 460 votes to 285. In presenting the report, W. M. Short\ of Fort Worth, Texas, said that-the majoritf report would bring a mad up on charges if he ‘‘indulges in sinful temper of words” vrhen a tire goes flat on hig car, but would permit him to* indulge in dances to thei limit. “The? majority report,’* he went on, “will lift the ban on dances and theaters*/ If you adopt the -majority report it will serve notice that the Methodist Church has retreated from , its * ad vanced position in the fight against Bub tlie change in discipline, said Dr.. George Elliott of Detroit, is-not a retreat; it is an advance- “Pleach tiLZSk “ow,9tand *n t?eir. not vHfh a pohcemairs club, but with the shepherd’s - crook in their hapds. They will . go along on a new pro gram the saving of souls.” He insists that: T . “We are going from Mt. Sinai to the place where the sermon on- the Mount -was preached; we ar,e going' from the. law to the gospel. We, ar^ applying the scriptural .principle. In the name of the Lord Jesus’ will cover all. It will raise a. sufficient barrier against prize fighting, hull* fighting and cock-fighting and other ambsements that are bad., What we need in this anrasamant question Js more religion.- ■; “We-are troubled with an immense amount of social wickedness in this countrjr. Dancing is indecent: it has ceased to be esthetic and has become acrobatic and athletic. JThe theaters are full of vile things that make a sex appeal. I say that the man who loes not go anywhere that he can apt take the lord Jesus can be Tested in any place. We appeal to he conscience and Cover the ground lecessary in the ‘special advices .1 Before this action, ^indulgence in landing, playing at games of chance,, ittending theaters, horse-races, cir :usee, dancing parties, patronizing iancing-schools or taking Such amusements as. are obviously mis*-, eading or of questionable moral ten-' van vnai#fl«allv Mtafnmiail iency” were specifically, catalogued in the Discipline as dfepseg against church law for wWch a member could be expelled. Now "case of neglect !>f duties of any kind, impnident'oou 2uct nidulging in sinful temper of words, taking such diversions as can,not be used in the name Of the Lord Jesus, or. disobedience tP the order and diScipliae of the church* lefies the disciplinary law; and the special advice in perag^hph sixty cine of the Discipline Is altered and strengthened te read: . ~ “Improper amusements end * exces sive indulgence in innocent amuse nents are serif tinning rell| causes of spiri mrasementgin finely demoral f fruitful Some are Pos
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 26, 1924, edition 1
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