Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1947

40 MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THEshould consider himself first of all an editor and critic. The committeealso believes that some inconsequential matters have beenover-emphasized in criticism. It is a serious matter to wrongly discredita brother minister, or to disturb a church over unimportantcontentions.It is the judgment of your committee that in these days of anabundance of good material, it is not necessary for the editor to printfrom any pen, frontispieces or articles of questionable quality orsource. If such material is used in the Witness, it should be accompaniedby editorial caution.For lack of time the committee could not examine each articlewhich has been criticized. However, a fair sampling of documentedmaterial was carefully studied by the committee. We submit examplesof our analysis herewith, as shown in the syllabus of materialspresented for inspection, to indicate the method by which we havereached our conclusions:Sample I. Name of article: "Democracy", page 2 as of CovenanterWitness, August 21, 1940. Committee's analysis: "Ill-advisedfor the Covenanter Witness. Fails to place Christ above Plato andDante. Does not clarify social issues and seems to conform to themodem trend to discredit creed."Sample II. Name of article: "A Church Editor's Creed", page 5as of Covenanter Witness, July 9, 1941. Committee's analysis:"Criticism not without foundation but over-emphasized."Sample III. Name of article: "The God of Justice and Mercy",page 8 as of Witness, July 9, 1941. Committee's analysis: 'Editor'sbrief comment only partially safeguards against fuU acceptance ofan article which does not wholly conform to our standards. Theauthor's religious beliefs are known to the committee. We believe thecriticism made is well founded."Sample IV. Name of article: "My Church", page 14 as of Witness,October 20, 1943. Committee's analysis: "Criticism over-emphasized."Sample V. Name of article: "What is worship?", page 17, as ofWitness, November 17, 1943. Committee's analysis: "Too vaguelysentimental to satisfy the more basic ideas of worship held by Covenanters.Does not merit space in the Witness."Sample VI. Name of article: "The Theology of Social Regeneration",page 65 as of Witness, November 12, 1944. Committee'sanalysis: "Of so little value to the church as a whole that the seriesof articles does not merit the space given to them. Criticisms justified."This completes the sample of the method used by your committeein attempting to arrive at a just conclusion of this matter.As to a policy for the future we make the following suggestions:1. That the Board of Publication advise the editor more closelyin the material published. They are responsible with the editor forthe character of the paper sent into the homes of our people, and intohomes outside the church who judge our beliefs by our official periodical.2. We commend the editor for refusing to let the paper become