Ministers' Sons

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jul 11, 1912

Governor Wilson, the son of a minister, was asked recently: "Why does the world so generally charge that ministers' sons go wrong?" In his short, epigrammatic way, he replied, "Because they do not know the facts." In support of this statement, a newspaper says that "Who's Who" discloses the fact that one name in every twelve is that of a minister's son; and of these there are eighteen times as many famous clergymen's sons as there are famous sons of any other professional men. Out of the men who have made their mark in English history, 1,270 were sons of clergymen,—more than twice as many as the sons of lawyers, and four times as many as the sons of doctors. Every eighth member of the French Academy of Science was a clergyman's son, and every sixth in the English Academy of Science had a clergyman as father.

This paper states that one chief reason why the world has reached the conclusion that ministers' sons go wrong more frequently than the sons of other professional men is because the fall of a minister's son attracts wide attention and is remembered, while that of another man's son is given no special notoriety. "Another minister gone wrong" is a familiar word when a clergyman betrays his high calling. Who says it of a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher? What mischievous conclusions are reached because people do not know the facts?—The Lutheran.