Why Men Avoid Church.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 363, 23 April 1903, Page 5

Why Men Avoid Church.

PLENTY OF SUGGESTION. ' "hat are the reasons why men dcn't go to church ?" This question has been submitted to its members by the League of the Kingdom, a body of churchmen and nonconformists, of which the Rev W F Cobb, D.D., Rector of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, London, is president. Out of twenty replies received, some boldly suggest that until and unless the Church recognises frankly that her methods are unsuitable many more profitable ways of spending Sunday can be found than public worship affords. Sunday concerts supply better musis ; Sunday lectures better food for the mind ; and books or museums are more inspiring than sermons.

None of the correspondents complain of the length of the sermon, but many condemn it as too often ignorant, trivial, vague, or insincere, or void of a proper sense of proportion, or rendered ineffectual by intellectual timidity or torpor. A very considerable number of men are kept away because the clergy do not (as they think) voice the Christian conscience of the day in such matters as war, capitalism, and social questions generally. In country parishes, especially, the autocratic conduct of the parson has been a fertile cause of disunion. Reasons for which men themselves are responsible far outweigh all others in number and importance. Amongst these the worship of Mammon; inexcusable ignorance; self-indulgence, especially in drink and immorality; practical materialism, dislike of authority; unjustified contempt of religious people and laziness are cited as leading to an indifference to religion, sometimes growing into opposition and narrow hatred. The exhaustion brought on by the strain of work under modern industrial conditions, and the consequent need of repose or of fresh air on Sundays, is assigned as a further cause.