Inspirational Church Versus Institutional Church
The association of organized religion with the economic interests of the present day is a great deal better than the combination of the priest and the politician, but it partakes of the same fallacy, and in the end must fall into the same pit. On the face of it, nothing could be more commendable than the entrance of the church into all the interests of men. Will it not purify politics? Will it not better the ways of business? The answer is the plain fact that it does not. Of religion there can not possibly be too much anywhere, but the organized phases of religion are another thing. The function of the church is to teach men to be religious; it is to set hearts open, and direct men’s ideals thitherward. It is to be in the community as the leaven is in the bread. When the bread tastes of the leaven, it is spoiled; when the church appears too prominently in the work of reformation, the success of the whole matter is endangered. This is the trouble with the institutional church. What is really wanted is an inspirational church.—The Churchman.