Radio and Religion

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 13, 23 November 1928, Page 29

Radio and Religion

Breaking Down Barriers of Intolerance

ADIO, it is claimed, is one of the greatest forces for breaking down the barriers of intolerance, and of bringing one person to see the views of another. In this respect, the opin-

ion of two well-known American authorities are of considerable value. Dr. Ralph W. Sockman, in praising the work of radio in sending the fundamentals of religion to the ends of the earth, represents the views of progressive clergymen who see in broadcasting a useful instrument. | "The voices of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews dre mingled on the air to-day, and the receiving set is no respector of narrowing labels. Some of the most appreciative communications have come to me from Jewish listeners," he says. ,

To this, Mr. M. H. Aylesworth, president of the National Broadcasting Company, adds: "There are many who contend, and with no small measure of justice, that radio’s most praiseworthy service has been in the field of religion. "In this sphere, we aim always to sow the seeds of tolerance, for radio knows no caste, no creed, no sect. "Tf we can ineuleate in the minds of men of different creeds a better understanding of each other’s religious beliefs, we may truly face the future quite unafraid. "Much as I would like to shun the mantle of prophet, I eannot refrain from expressing the belief that the day is near when we shall have what I am pleased to term a ‘radio clergyman.’ His creed is of no import; but his views shall be of the broad views of tolerance, and he shall represent the hest of religious thought which the experience of 20 centuries has to offer. "This ‘radio clergyman’ will devote his entire time and efforts to ministering to the spiritual needs .of the vast radio family, and his shall be the greatest con-~ gregation the world has ever known. "There is but one thing that we demand of the religious message that goes on the air, and that is that it be non-denominational and non-sectarian in appeal." Myr. Aylesworth continued, "Be our broadcaster rabbi, priest, or minister, we ask him only that he in-

terpret the religious experience in broadest terms so that the individual listener, whoever he may be, may be brought to a fuller and finer realisation of his duty to his own church and to his fellow men.".