Note and Comment

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 14, 1903

The Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, the Brooklyn clergyman, recently advocated the formation in this country of a religious trust, his views being also favored by the Rev. Charles F. Patterson, of New York City. The latter is quoted by the New York Times as saying:—

“We can’t expect all men to agree to a single set of dogmas and opinions, but all the Christian churches can without prejudice to their existing creeds and ideas unite in an American religion, a religion that conforms to the principles and spirit of the American republic and the American people. It must be democratic and hospitable, so broad as to open the doors for the admission of all believers in God, regardless of their attitude toward obscure theological distinctions and non-essential dogmas. When that time comes, there will be a union of forces, and the church will say: ‘Come in, atheist, doubter, believer, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Buddhist, laborer, employer, ignorant or cultured, of whatever estate or belief.’”

A religious trust, however, like other trusts, will not only take in some, but will shut others out. In religion there is always a minority which is more objectionable to the majority than is the case in matters of secular business.