Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

ule.'Glimpses of the Religious WorldFrank E. Allen. D. D.The Fabulous Clare Booth LuceThe current issue of Woman's Home Companion publishes an article with the above title about Mrs. Luce, ambassador to Italy, and wife of Henry Luce. Mrs. Luce wasborn of poor parents in New York City but as a girlwas considered beautiful, did some acting, got into society,and married a rich bachelor, George Brokaw, whose wealthwas estimated at from 30 to 50 million dollars. They livedand traveled in luxury, had many servants, did not haveto think about the cost of anything they wanted, but hewas an alcoholic. He drank more and more until he wasin a daze most of the time and hardly knew what he wasdoing. She was very unhappy regardless of all their money.To say a rich husband is a confirmed alcoholic is something like saying Naaman was a great man with his master,but he was a leper. Mrs. Luce divorced Mr. Brokaw gettinga cash settlement of $425,000.Liquor AdvertisementsThis article glamorizes Mrs. Luce tremendously, but ifshe has half the intelligence, wisdom and beauty that sheis said to have, she should use her glamorous influence topersuade her husband to cease glamorizing liquor in theadvertisements in his magazines, as Life, Time and Fortune,and thus leading other girls and boys'into the habit ofdrinking whiskey and other intoxicants resulting in ruinedlives and broken homes. The love of money is the rootof all kinds of evil, the Bible tells us, and the fabuloussums garnered from liquor advertisements seem to blindthe conscience of this "fabulous" woman and her husband.Freedom of ReligionFurthermore, if Mrs. Luce believed in freedom of speechand press, as she pretends to do, she could make an effortto see that American Protestant ministers and churchesare freed from persecution in Italy. A part of her dutyas ambassador is to see that citizens of her country arefully protected.Judgments re Church PropertyErnest Gordon, writing in the Sunday School Times, says:"Southern Baptists are awakening to 'the implications ofJudge Paul, of North Carolina, whose decision gave thechurch property to the minority of the congregation. "Dr.Bulman of Mecklenburg, N.C., is rallying the Baptist pastors in protest, and this is appropriate, for it will be remembered that, in 1775, men in Mecklenburg took the leadin the fight for national independence. He adjured Baptist ministers therefore 'to lead in a fight today for preserving the independence of ourattorney says, "both courts 'utterlychurches.' "A Baptistoverlooked the fundamental usage, practice and custom of Baptist churches,namely, majority"The Wisconsin Supreme Court has unanimously ruled infavor of the majority of a Baptist church as over against asmall minority which claimed the property when the majorityvoted to leave the American Baptist Convention andaffiliate with the Conservative Baptist354Association."Presbyterians Lose PropertyThere is a news item in Presbyterian Life which tellsof the action of a circuit judge in Clearwater, Fla., whoruled that the Central Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg had a right to withdraw from the Presbyterian Churchin the U.S. The pastor, Dr. E. R. Barnard, who had beenpastor of the church for thirty years, was deposed by thepresbytery on the ground that he was trying to dividethe church. Dr. Barnard had notified the presbytery severalmonths earlier that the church wished to become independent. His charge was "modernism" in the denominationwhen the leaders of the chlrch planned for a merger withthe Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church, its affiliation with the National Council ofChurches, and its endorsement of the Revised StandardVersion of the Bible. The writer of this item says, "A decision which may have far-reaching effects within thePresbyterian family of Churches was made last month byFla."a circuit judge in Clearwater,It becomes clear from these opposingrulings of judgesof courts in different states that it is very important thatpresbyteries and congregations make sure that their property is legally held by the presbytery for the denomination.Tragedy in the Near EastReports came over the air yesterday of severe riots inNicosia, Cyprus, and recently of fighting on the borderbetween Egypt and Israel. An eyewitness writing recently inthe London Daily Mirror says: "I arrived in Istanbul to ascene I can honestly say was worse than anything I sawin the blitz." The toll of human lives was not so greatbut the damage to property was greater. He saw mensweeping upendless mountains of broken glass. Goods inmany stores was destroyed and thrown into the street.An old woman was battered to death in her bed, a priestwas dragged from bed, the hair torn from his head, andhis beard literally torn from his chin. Another old Greekpriest was burned alive in a house belonging to the churchwhere he lived. Another 75-year-old priest was strippedentirely of clothing, tied behind a car, and dragged throughthe streets. Lists had been made out for the rioters toattack certain houses or stores and leave others alone. AllGreek-owned stores in Istanbul were systematically wrecked and looted. The same applied to a number of Jewishand Armenian stores. Conservative estimates placematerial damage alone at tens of millions of dollars.Seventy-eight out of eighty Christian Orthodox churchesin Istanbul were attacked, looted or burned. In Izmir, thebulding of the Greek Consulate, the Greek Pavillion at theInternational Fair in that city, and the Greek orthodoxchurch were burned.A Doctor SpeaksThe National Voice quotes Dr. J. P. Price, of Florence,S. C, as saying at a meeting of the American MedicalAssociation in Miami Fla., that: "It is my sincere beliefthat the greatest need of our country today and of ourprofession is a spiritual rebirth, a return to God and Hiseternal principles ... He cites the laxness of morals inour national government in recent years, the hold whichorganized vice has on legislative and sociallife, dishonestyand corruption in state and local governments, increase intheCOVENANTER WITNESS