DEFENSE FOR THE CRITICS

That university undergraduates and high school students are extremely critical and even impatient of the ministry has been well illustrated by the replies received to a questionnaire recently broadcasted by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Two of the main questions asked were "What do you think of ministers in general?" and "How can the ministry become more efficient?" Among the most illuminating responses were remarks to the effect that "there are too many men in the ministry who are narrow minded and unprogressive"; that ministers "are not meeting present day problems with present day thinking"; and finally, that "the sentimental rather than the practical side of Christianity is being emphasized."

Much of this caustic comment can of course be ascribed to the reasonably immature state of development at which most of those replying have arrived. It is one of the prerogatives of youth to find fault with what fills the immediate horizon, and to ridicule all that has been found valuable in the past. Only by some such inscrutable order of things can progress be made and the world kept from complete stagnation. A system of this sort is not injurious, moreover, because young reformers are as a rule mercifully preserved from a sight of their own more or less awkward figures.

At the same time, the present wave of disbelief and somewhat defiant agnosticism may possibly be due to something besides mental growing pains. To say that present day conditions are a bit out of the ordinary and therefore explanatory of much, is undoubtedly a sickening truism; but like most painfully obvious remarks it is also true, and is something which short sighted critics who are of the elder generation could remember to advantage when flaying their juniors for non-conformity. The church does well which recognizes this abnormality and which goes to those most concerned for suggestions on how best to handle it. If more religious bodies could realize that young men are not at all interested in doctrinal disputes and theological discussions, but are very deeply interested in questions of practical everyday ethics, a great deal of the intellectual friction which occurs between the two generations might be eliminated.