Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

Glimpses of the Religious World
Frank E. Allen, D. D.
Bingo in the Churches
In the current issue of Christian Herald there is an ar
ticle entitled, "Bingo
Shame of the Churches," in which
the writer affirms that though the Protestant churches
have pronounced bingo a vicious form of gambling, yet the
authorities of the Roman Catholic Church have given the
game their official blessing and also their enthusiastic spon
sorship. The manufacturers of gambling paraphernalia have
repeatedly shown that Catholic churches are among the
country's biggest buyers 'of bingo equipment. And crime
commissions investigating the enormous profits derived by
gambling syndicates, have long recognized church bingo
as the financial bulwark of the Catholic church's parochial
school system. Bingo is said to have more devotes than all
other games of chance. The "nickles and dimes," which the
Catholic clergy dismiss as inconsequential, annually roll up
into hundreds of millions of dollars to produce one of the
nation's largest gambling enterprises
either in or out of
the church. Even when church games are run as the Catho
lics say,
"honestly,"
the gambling
odds are as high as 70
to 30 against a player being given a fair chance for his
money. The "bingo
addict"
is a type of player in whom greed
and avarice are stimulated to a similar kind of enslavement
as that of the hopeless alcoholic.
Cleanup of Comics
In the city of Des Moines, Iowa, forty-five druggists
have pledged to clear their drugstore racks of all objection
able comic books. They are asking
drive.
No Lynchings
others to join in the
No lynchings have been reported in 1954. There were
none reported in 1952 and 1953, and so this year there was
no report along this line by
Tuskegee Institute which has
reported the lynchings for many years in the past. It is
to be hoped that lynchings are a thing of the past. In the
years past such countries as India and some in Africa have
made unfavorable propaganda of the lynchings in the U.S.A.
The Quakers, at a cost of $4,000, in order to counteract such
propaganda, sent a white housewife accompanied by a Negro
young woman who works in a Philadelphia settlement house
on a "journey of friendship" around the world. They spent
periods as guests in eleven different countries as a part of
such a mission. How many instances of friction due to race
prejudice might be eliminated if men would remember that
God has created all nations of one blood to dwell on all the
face of the earth.
Selling Pork in Israel
A case against the selling
of Pork in Israeli was car
ried to the Supreme Court which ruled that municipal au
thorities may not ban the sale of pork by ordinance so long
as there is no national law against its sale. It is expected
that the question of the sale of pork will be raised in the
Israeli Parliament.
The Fourth Health Problem
Alcoholism has been authoritatively declared to be the
No. 4 heaith problem in the United States. This comes from
66
the Keeley Institute, of Dwight, II]., which has made an ef
fort to cure alcoholics for the last 75 years. Reports given
out by United States Health inform us that alcohol addiction
is 10 per cent more prevalent than tuberculosis, 50 per cent
more prevalent than cancer, and 225 per cent more prevalent
than poliomyelitis.
Released Time Education
The Board of Education of New York City reported that
2,285 more public school pupils attended released-time re
ligious education classes in December than in the same
month last year.
Mission Airplane
Some Baptist churches in the Carolinas, and one in
Texas, have presented a light airplane to the Southern Bap
tist Foreign Mission Board. The plane which cost approxi
mately $5,000 will be placed at the disposal of Mr. John S.
Oliver, missionary to the State of Piaui, Brazil. This will
make five planes which the Board now has to cover long
and difficult distances of travel in the interior of Brazil.
U. S. Men in Spain
There were many of us who protested against the U. S.
granting large sums to aid Spain in the form of establishing
military bases there so long as Spain is under a dictator and
radical Catholic control. Before long, if plans are carried out,
there will be a large number of U. S. citizens employed by
the U. S. military authorities in Spain and there will be mil
itary
and air units assigned to that country. But listen! A
report from Madrid states that United States and Spanish
military leaders have granted the Roman Catholic Church
the right to sanction or forbid marriages between United
States citizens of mixed religions in Spain. It means that
if a Protestant from the U. S. desires to marry
a girl in
Spain he will have to become a Catholic or submit to the
Catholic rules of marriage with a Protestant, namely, that
all the children must be brought up in the Catholic faith. It
is feared that many young men will live in concubinage ra
ther than accept the Catholic rules. This violates the
American view of the separation of church and state and
interferes with the liberty
of service personnel who are
helping in Spain. Very recently a friend was telling this
writer that a chaplain of his denomination had helped to
enlighten 75 young women in Italy in the Protestant faith
after servicemen had married girls of Italy. This would
be prohibited in Spain. Christians should write to their con
gressmen protesting against the Spanish ruling.
N. A. E. Headquarters
The headquarters office of the National Association of
Evangelicals has been moved from Chicago to Wheaton, Illi
nois. The Midwest Regional office of the NAE will remain in
Chicago in order to serve the greater Chicago area.
Revision of Scofield Bible
A committee of scholars has begun work on a revised
edition of the Scofield reference Bible. The chairman of th s
committee is Dr. E. Schuyler English who said after the
(Contonued on page 74)
COVENANTER WITNESS