Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

The
sober."
new."
Glimpses of the Religious World
Frank E. Allen, D. D.
Catholics Would Take Land
The Legislature of Quebec has refused to allow the
Benedictines of St. Benoit du Lac to expropriate land sur
rounding their monastery for the second time. Most of this
land is owned by Protestants and if they could get the land
the people on it would be subject to the rules dictated by the
abbey. Even the Province of Quebec, though dominated by
Catholics, has not had the effrontery to approve such a
project. If it were approved the Supreme Court of the Do
minion would not sustain the act of the Province of Quebec.
Money for New Churches
During 1954 churches in the U.S. spent more than $588,-
000,000 for new buildings, according to the department of
Commerce and Labor.
Parental Responsibilities
A survey is to be undertaken on "The Responsible
Christian Family" in preparation for May Fellowship Day,
May 6. Church women over the country are to study their
own and other families to find the answer to two main
questions :
1. How can Christian parents teach their chil
dren to be good neighbors and good citizens 2. How many
Christian parents are accepting their own responsibilities in
church and community life They can easily find answers to
these and other family problems in the Word of God.
Honor to Mr. Graham
The Freedoms Foundation in a ceremony at Valley
Forge, Pa., gave a $1,000 special award and a George Wash
ington honor medal to the Rev. Billy Graham. The Founda
tion gave him this award for his "stirring works for the
Godliness of people everywhere and for the faith which the
atheist world conspires to destroy. In the ebb and flow of
human life few men in recorded history have so captured the
spiritual interest of multitudes as has Reverend Billy Gra
ham."
Bishop Opposes Bingo
"The church has no business seeking a special privilege
to promote gambling,
and the State has no business, under
our doctrine of separation of Church and State, offering to
the church a special exemption from moral restrictions im
posed on the citizens
generally."
Thus spoke the Protestant
Episcopal Bishop H. W. B. Donegan of New York in a pro
test to the New York State Legislature against efforts to
legalize bingo for religious and charitable purposes.
Opposition to Harlan
The nomination of J. M. Harlan to the Supreme Court
was sent to the Senate during last November. The Senate
Judiciary Committee has opened hearings on his suitability.
Some Southern senators have given fictitious reasons for
opposing his appointment, but the real reason seems to be
that they want to delay the effort to carry out the Supreme
Court's decision against segregation in the public schools.
The court cannot hold the hearings it has promised to hold
until it has full roster of nine justices. Yet these senators
have taken an oath to support the Constitution and to pro
mote liberty.
194
Beer Intoxicating
The sheriff of Scott County, Minn., suggested to the
House Committee on law enforcement of the state that the
legislature pass a law declaring 3.2 beer to be intoxicating.
This would affect beer taverns and many drug and grocery
stores. It has been said that many of the sheriff's woes stem
from beer and its association with minors. Can any good
reason be given why 3.2 beer should not be declared intoxi
cating when, as a matter of fact, many thousands of men are
intoxicated with beer A slogan like this has been published:
"A pretty good rule for a feller to follow is never to take
a drink while he is
Campaign in Scotland
Perhaps before this appears in print, on March 21, Billy
Graham will have begun one of his largest evangelistic cam
paigns in Glasgow, Scotland. The "Tell Scotland" movement,
sponsors of the Graham campaign, has arranged for some of
the Glasgow meetings to be heard in Edinburgh over a tele
phone hookup. Arrangements are being made both to hear
and see the evangelist in various parts of the British Isles.
Was He Great
Sir Arthur Keith was called a great anthropologist. His
views have been quoted in many scientific books and maga
zines, even in medical books. He died recently at the age of
89, and we wonder where his spirit is now. He was an out
standing advocate of the theory
live without God and without hope in the world. He was
of evolution and seemed to
made president of the British Association for the Advance
ment of Science in 1927, and at that time affirmed that the
life of man was just like the light of a candle; when the light
was put out that was the end. His view was that man had
evolved from the lower animals by a natural and ascending
process. This theory rules out the truth of the Bible of the
direct creation of man by the power of God, the fact of the
fall of man, the origin of sin, and by implication there would
be no Saviour for there would be no need of one. To sum it
up, his belief or unbelief is that of an atheist. Is an atheist
great The Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God." The New Shorter Catechism
The Church of Scotland, in the new revised draft of the
Shorter Catechism- leaves out entirely the question, "What
is God" The editor of The Evangelical Christian, after
reading the new draft of the Catechism says : "There are few
improvements that we can discern in the new over the old
and many that are to be deplored. It seems to us that the
new is a poor, weak thing of emasculated doctrine and tenu
ous theology compared with the sinewy
strength of the old
Catechism in which we, with many others of our readers, were
nourished. It was one of the great stalwarts of the Presby
terian Church in Canada, the late Dr. R. P. MacKay, who
once told the writer that he valued his knowledge of the
Shorter Catechism above his university course, and that if
he had to make a choice between the two he would choose
the former .... new draft is to be submitted to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland when it meets
in Edinburg in May. Jt will be a sorry day for Scotland
should this great little compendium of moral and spiritual
theology be discarded in favor of the
COVENANTER WITNESS