Posted on 08/17/2014 6:56:28 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
SOCIALISM INFECTING THE CLERGY
THREE hundred of the clergy of this country are declared to be allied with the Socialist movement by open profession, while many more are secretly in sympathy with the cause, but hesitate for prudential reasons to make an open avowal. Only a few years ago, it is stated, Socialist principles seemed to be confined to a small number of Unitarian preachers, "who, being radical in theology, readily became radical in sociology likewise." But now, we read in a statement issued by the Christian Socialist Fellowship, "not only do the Unitarians smell of the malady, but Episcopalians by the score, and numerous Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Disciples, Lutherans, Congregationalists, Universalists, and even Roman Catholics have become infected with the Socialist microbe and stricken with the disease." An active propaganda is contemplated by the ministers who have recently formed in New York what is to be known as the Ministers' Socialist Conference, which will hold closed sessions in order to avoid misrepresentation by the press. At a meeting held on April 29 a declaration of principles was adopted, and, as given to the press by the secretary, Rev. John D. Long, pastor of the Park Side Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, embodies the following purposes:
"The United States Government according to the Constitution is a government of, by, and for the people. We go a step further and say that the people should also own the means of production and distribution. We realize that this can not be brought about suddenly, but everything is tending that way. The post-office system, the water supply, the public-school system, and several other things now run by the Government are applied Socialism. We believe that a republic is one step from a monarchy to Socialism, and by evolution helped by education Socialism is bound to come. It may, we believe, take a generation to establish Socialism in place of the present forms of government, as the people will gradually have to overcome long-cherished prejudices before they are prepared for the new order of things."Meantime the evolution is going on. We believe that the trustification of lines of business is collective ownership for the benefit of the corporations and will be followed by collective ownership for the benefit of the people. The Ministers' Socialist Conference does not concern itself with election campaigns or the nomination of Socialist candidates, but takes up Socialism in the broad sense as the coming order of things, which it can help to hasten by educating the people to the realization that Socialism is the highest form of social and industrial development. Socialism will not come in the form of a sudden revolution, but will come naturally and logically. We believe in living up to our obligations as citizens under the present form of govemment until Socialism takes its place."
A convention will be held in New York from June 1 to June 3, so it is announced, to make the organization a national one. Dr. Long, in speaking on an earlier occasion to a representative of The Sun, said of the motives behind this movement :
"The clergymen who have affiliated with the new organization have come to the conclusion that Christianity will not work under a competitive commercial system and that the inauguration of Socialism is necessary for civilized human beings. We regard Socialism as the economic expression of the Christian life and believe that it is now the duty of the Church to step in and advocate Christian Socialism in the United States. H. H. Rogers in a recent magazine article said that business is war; and if business is war and if, as another man said, war is hell, then business and the competitive system must also be hell. Several of the trustees of the largest corporations are also behind the new movement, but their relations to us are of the most confidential nature and they have enjoined me from mentioning their names."
From statements made by Dr. Long we gather the following historical account of the larger organization, whose membership includes laymen as well as ministers. Considerable attention has recently been attracted to the meetings of the New York branch of this body which have occurred on Sunday evenings at the Church of the Ascension. The publicity gained by these Socialistic discussions finally proved distasteful to the vestry, and last week it was voted to eliminate this subject from future church meetings. Dr. Long thus presents the facts :
"The formation of the National Christian Socialist Fellowship dates from a conference held in Louisville, Ky., two years ago. One year since, a much larger conference was held in Chicago, and this year, May 28 to 31, a national conference is to be held in New York City."The movement at its beginning established a paper called The Christian Socialist, which is published in Chicago by a couple of preachers, Rev. E. E. Carr and Rev. J. O. Bentall. . . . . . .
"The object of the Christian Socialist Fellowship is declared to be 'To permeate churches, denominations, and other religious institutions with the social message of Jesus; to show that Socialism is the economic expression of the Christian life; to end the class struggle by establishing industrial democracy, and to hasten the reign of justice and brotherhood upon earth.'
"It is asserted that the movement is not political, yet it is admitted that it is through political action that its principles are to become operative, and it is not denied that those most active in pushing the propaganda are also active members of the Socialist party."
First published in 1908, this writing is in the public domain.
Infecting? The clergy of all stripes have been dying of it for years. When you have never had to make anything, meet a payroll or otherwise produce, socialism comes easy to you.
The mainstream Methodist Church is one that I cannot attend anymore. My minister, on the Sunday after 9/11/01, declared that ‘the cause of the attack was poverty and world hunger. Can’t we just share so that everyone has enough’. I never went back.
I have met some socialist pastors and have noted an incredible naivete and misunderstanding of the true nature of socialism among that crowd.
Southern Baptist is our second largest denomination, and their clergy is about as conservative as it gets, with at least 80% of them voting republican.
Compare that to the atheists and non-religious individuals who are about 80% and more to the left, and then you can look at clergy of different denominations, that fall in between.
useful idiot clergy ping
I hope you stood up, and marched your family out of the church that day. Methodists used to be just Baptists that can read... but now... it seems the United Methodist Church is embracing all sorts of faggotry.
Socialism = death.
You never went back, good; but many are trapped in such churches by recalcitrant family members.
Southern Baptists in many congregations, however, have dropped the old hymns and embraced “modern” choruses. This will add to the falling away from Scripture too, as the hymns inspire everything wholesome in a church.
The Louisiana Secretary of State has a voter portal in which once can find the party affiliation of any voter living in the state: living people only, not deceased ones. One must also need the zip code or the month and year of birth. Check out some of the Baptist pastors you know and see about their voting affiliation. I also seem to recall that for years Billy Graham was a NC Democrat, but he may not be now.
There is an irony here in that to a great extent, socialism is a form of Judeo-Christian heresy.
It exists as a method of the oldest of sins, vanity, which has plagued mankind since its beginnings, in the form of men trying to pretend they “are like God”.
Socialism in a nutshell begins with the Book of Genesis, in which socialists put “mankind” in the place of God throughout; yet in a corrupted form, they keep the myth.
For them, the Garden of Eden becomes The State of Nature, from which mankind was ejected for embracing the knowledge of good and evil. So, one precept of socialism is that good and evil must be ‘normalized’, made equal, so they cease to exist as such. When this happens, socialists theorize, mankind can return to Eden, or The State of Nature.
This is pretty much the basis of radical environmentalism as well, that mankind must give up on civilization to return to nature, that our current state is unnatural and must be stopped.
The real hazard is that true clergy, Catholic, Orthodox, conservative Protestant, and Jewish, need to realize that socialism *is* heresy, in its deepest manifestation, because it rejects God, it shuns God, and it despises God.
But, as a twisted parody of Judeo-Christianity, it often seems on the surface to embrace the same goals as religion, so the temptation is ecumenism. But ecumenism cannot happen with evil, and religion is corrupted in the effort.
A pragmatic approach, that “It does not matter who gives bread to the poor, as long as they are fed”, ignores that religion gives the faith, and the bread, and the water; but socialism *promises* the bread and the water, but only delivers liquor, narcotics and perversion, at the demand that faith and righteousness be discarded.
So look on clergy that embrace socialism as either being ignorant of the truth, or worse, that they have embraced the axiom of socialism, and now despise God.
I already have the Southern Baptist data, for instance in 2008 80% of SB pastors were committed to voting republican, 4% were going third party, and 15% were not sure how they were going to vote.
I called that ‘least 80% of them voting republican’ they appear to be every bit as republican voting as the Southern Baptist members, who also vote at least 80% republican.
Many Southerners are registered Democrats but vote Republican. They will even tell you they are Democrats even though they do not vote as Democrats and share none of the Party’s ideas. The reason is family. Their daddy and their grandaddies were Democrats going back generations so they remain Democrats, although often in name only.
Remember Republicans were reviled in the South from at least Lincoln onward and Roosevelt was seen as the savior of the Great Depression.
My own grandmother would say she was a proud Democrat and when asked why would launch into near worship for Roosevelt. Nothing could change her mind. He hung the moon for her and many of my grandparents’ and my parents’ generations.
When one studies the Bible as a whole, focusing on foundational principles rather than on verses taken out of context, it is much more supportive of an economic system respecting private property and the work ethic (see especially Isaiah 65:21-22 and Jeremiah 32:43-44)."Thou shalt not steal" is the clearest declaration of the right of private property in the Old Testament.And, private ownership and stewardship of property is assumed to be the proper state of affairs throughout the Bible (Deuteronomy 8; Ruth 2; Isaiah 65:21-22; Jeremiah 32:43-44; Micah 4:1-4; Luke 12:13-15; Acts 5:1-4; Ephesians 4:28).
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