Flowers of Freethought (Second Series)Foote, G. W. (George William)
Religion
Flowers of Freethought (Second Series)
Foote, G. W. (George William)
Free thought
A leading London newspaper, the _Daily Chronicle_, has recently opened
it columns to a discussion of the question, "Is Christianity Played
Out?" Mr. Robert Buchanan thinks that it is, and we are of the same
opinion. But in a certain sense Christianity is _not_ played out. To
use a common expression, "there's money in it." That is incontestable.
Despite the "poverty" of the "lower clergy," for whom so many appeals
are made, the clerical business beats all others, if we compare the
amount of investment with the size of the dividend. Relatively speaking,
the profits are magnificent. There are curates with only a workman's
wages, and of course they merit our deepest sympathy. It is quite
shocking to think that a disciple of the "_poor_ Carpenter of Nazareth"
has to subsist, and support his ten children, on such a miserable
pittance. It is a calamity which calls for tears of blood. But, on the
other hand, there are Archbishops with princely incomes, Bishops with
lordly revenues, Deans and Canons with fine salaries and snug quarters;
and between the two extremes of the fat bishop and the lean curate is a
long line of gradations, in which, if we strike an average, the result
is very far from despicable. It may be added that while the leading
Nonconformist ministers, at least in England, do not rival the great
Church dignitaries in the matter of income, they often run up to a
thousand a year and sometimes over it. Taking the average of their
incomes, we have no hesitation in saying it is beyond what they would
earn in the ordinary labor market. Still, so far as they are not paid
by the State, as the Church clergy _are_, we have no personal reason for
complaint. This is a free country--especially for Christians; and if
the lay disciples of the poor Carpenter like to pay his professional
apostles a fancy price for their work, it is no concern of ours from a
business point of view. Nevertheless, as the said apostles are _public_
men, who set up as other people's _teachers_, we have a right to express
an opinion as to the consistency between their preaching and their
practice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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