Religious Fun by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 13.

Religious Fun

By Editor

“People must have some enjoyment” has come to be almost a byword in religious circles. The minister that can pose well as a humorist is sure to draw a crowd, and this aptitude is not unfrequently held up as a commendable qualification of a revivalist. Again we find religious men, sometimes ministers, making a specialty of giving amusing entertainments in churches, and they are nearly always well patronized. In a Christian Endeavor paper of recent date we note a prominent announcement of a certain “popular and versatile impersonator”—“the funniest man alive.” In theatrical parlance he would be called a “comedian,” but that would not do for a religious funny man. The most notable features of the announcement are that “All the Endeavor societies are engaging him,” and that “He is indorsed by the most prominent Endeavor workers of the state.” Perhaps strict justice to all Endeavorers would require us to mention that the state referred to is Wisconsin. This item is not intended as a thrust at the Christian Endeavor Society per se; but that organization now comes to the front as the active representative of all evangelicism, and therefore we are enabled, from the example here set forth, to form some idea of the superficial character of the religion which is so loudly clamoring for religious reform through the medium of political bodies.