Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

cause."not."government"same"show."paper."Vineyard GleaningsSix of 10 Americans Now Belong to ChurchesNearly three million people were added to church membership rolls in the United States during the past year. Thelatest count shows that church membership climbed to 97,-482,611 in 1954, a new record. A total of more than 60 percent of all Americans, or six out of every ten persons, nowclaim to be members of some religious body.Church membership today, percentage wise, far exceeds that of the mid-19th century,when Americans werepopularly supposed to be more religious-minded than theyare today.Furthermore, Americans are donating more money thanever for religious purposes. There are more churches thanever. Sabbath school membership is at an all-time high.These statistics are from the Yearbook of American Churches for 1956 released early in September by the NationalCouncil of Churches.In the past year Roman Catholics have gained 2.9 percent and Protestant churches 2.3 per cent. The relativestrength of Protestant and Catholic groups has remained"virtually thefor more than 50 years, the yearbooksays. Protestants now number 57,124,142; Roman Catholics,32,403,332; Jews, 5,500,000; Eastern Orthodox, 2,024,319;Old Catholics and Polish National Catholics, 367,918; andBuddhists 63,000.A breakdown of the Protestant total shows that 18 million are Baptist and 11 million are Methodists.Dr. Benson Y. Landis, Yearbook editor, pointed out thatno one factor can be said to be responsible for the unprecedented degree of religious interest. "The awesome destructive power of atomic energy may have something to dowith it," he said. "But beyond ascribing membership increases to such known factors as unusually high birthrates,accelerated evangelism programs and shifting populationtrends from the cities to the suburbs, it is difficult to pointto theDr. Savage, President of NAE, Sends Strong Red ChinaProtest to PresidentPresident Eisenhower has been made aware of evangelical negative sentiment relative to the U.S. recognitionof Red China and its admission into the United Nations. Theinformation was contained in a letter written to the ChiefExecutive by Dr. Henry H. Savage, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and delivered in person byClyde W. Taylor, NAE Secretary of Affairs.Prior to delivering the strongly-worded protest, Dr.Taylor stated that the NAE president put the sentiment ofevangelicals on record in such a manner because "severalprominent Protestant churchmen have made various statements on this subject which have appeared to represent theProtestant viewpoint, although we are sure that their statements doIn his letter, Dr. Savage advised the President that "recognition of Chinese Communisteternal blot on our nationalaggressors"would be anconscience."He also pointed outthat the Protestant leaders he referred to had convenientlyoverlooked the fact that they represented only "the smaller segment which has submitted itself to the communistwhile the evangelicals "stand with the largersegment . . . who have rejected Communism."U.S. Editor Raps Religious Curb in Russia194There is not now and never has been religious freedomin the USSR since the beginning of the Communist regime.This charge was made by L. Zabko-Potapovich, editor of theUkrainian Baptist Magazine, at the ninth annual conventionof Ukrainian Baptists meeting in Philadelphia.Editor Potapcvich scoffed at the recent Soviet exchangeof clergymen with the West and said that in reality religiousfreedom in the USSR "is only onHe charged thatworship services shown to the visiting preachers were"nothing but aThe editor, referring to the report that there are now520,000 Baptists in the Soviet Union, claims that there werethree times as many Baptists there in 1918, six times asmany in the 20's, but that most of them were "shot, sent toSiberia or died in the great famine of the 30's in theUkraine."Furthermore, according to Editor Potapovich, the520,000 Baptists are found mostly in the places of exile Siberia, Kazakhstan and othersgrad and Kiev.and not in Moscow, Lenin"It is true that religious freedom is demonstrated totourists and to Baptist leaders from the United States ofAmerica by showing them Baptist worship services in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev," the editor said."It is nothing but a show. Yet even these shows speak tous. In Moscow in a congregation of 1000, there were onlyolder men and older women. There were no young people.There are no Bibles, no hymnbooks. There are no SabbathSchools. There are no conferences.The editor said that during the Baptist World Congressin London this year the delegates from the Soviet Unionrepeated stereotyped sentences of religious freedom in theUSSR. Yetat the press conference, he said, they had toadmit that they do not have even one theological school inthe whole country."In London, the Soviet delegates were not free, forwherever they went they were followed byspecial agents.You could never see one of them alone, but always in groups."The same delegates proudly declared that there arenow 520,000 Baptists in the Soviet Union. In the year 1918there were 1,000,000 Baptists in the Ukraine alone, and in(Continued on page 196)THE COVENANTER WITNESSIssued each Wednesday by the Publication Board of theREFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHOF NORTH AMERICAat 129 West 6th Street, Newton, Kansas orthrough its editorial office at 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka Kanwito promote Bible Standards ofDoctrine, Worship and LifeFor individuals, churches and nationsOpinions expressed in our columns are those of the individual writer*;not necessarily the views of the Covenanter Church or of the Editor.Dr. Raymond Taggart, D.D., Editor1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka KansasContributing EditorBFrank E. Allen, D.D.Prof. William H. RussellWalter McCarroll. D.D.Remo I. Robb. D.D.Departmental EditorsRev. John O. EdgarMrs. J. O. EdgarMrs. Ross LatimerSubscription rates: 12.50 per year; Overseas, J3.00 ; Single Copiet10 cents.British Isles.E- B" LyOTE- B-A-. Limavady, >.'. Ireland. Agent for tlitEntered as second ciass matter a; the Post Office in Newton, Eanwnder the Act of Marcn 3, 1576.Address communications to the Topeka office.COVENANTER WITNESS