4 Y c4t~M irhanEiy MORMONS EXPAND-OLD IDEA: Vol. VI, No. 4 Church Wealth Sunday, November 15, 1959 CHURCH WEALTH By James Bow Page Two AREA OF ACADEMIC CONCERN By Thomas Turner Page Three "DARK AMIDST THE BLAZE" By Deborah Bacon Page Four FROM ADAM TO ANIMALS By Peter Dawson - Page Five. ENCOUNTERING SECULAR THOUGHT By Timothy Swanson Page Seven TIMELrSS DOCTRINES By Patrick Chester PgeEight_ INCREDIRLE NIMBER OF SECTSi - By Philip Munck _ Page Nine IDENTITY WIT!'OUT INCONVENIENCE I y JAMES BOW, By Charles Kozoll- RELIGI ON O '-INBELIEF By John McNecs ___ ZEN BUDDHIZA4 TRAVELS. By Stephanie Roumell COMBINING BIBLES By George -Cornell GOD. HOMF AND COUNTRY. By Arnold Someroff Page Ten Page Eleven Page Thirteen Page Fourteen Page Fifteen MAGAZINE EDITOR-Joan Kaatz PHOTOS: Cover: John Alley, Photographic Services; Page Three: Daily; Page Four: Ensian-Dave Giltrow; Page Five: upper right -Daily--James Richman, left-The Darwin Reader; Page Six: left-Daily-James Richman, right--Doily--Selma Sawaya; Page Seven: Ensin-Dave Giltrow; Page Eight: upper right-'New York State Dept. of Commerce, others-Daily-Sema Sawaya; Page Nine: upper right-Ensian-Dave Giltrow, right--Daily-Selma Sawayo, left---John Alley, Photographic Services; Page Ten: bot- tom left-Hillel, others-Daily-Selma Sawaya; Page Twelve: Associated Press; Page Fifteen: left-Daily-Selma Sawaya, right --John Alley, Photographic Services. - - -U IN THE CENTER of Salt Lake City, Utah, a bronze Brigham Young stands on a concrete pedes- tal, his hand outstretched. The Mormon leader faces the Zion National Bank; behind him are the Temple and Tabernacle, reminders of his spiritual leader- ship. This diabolical juxtaposition. has led to the following local jingle: "Brigham Young stands on his perch, his hand toward the bank and his back to the church." A wealth of worldly goods is not proof of spiritual poverty and the Mormons have no qualms about their financial success. In fact, the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints, the Mormons' of- ficial title, claims to be the second richest church in the United States, outdone only by the Roman Catholic faith. In Salt Lake City two hotels, a" department store, abank and large tracts of land are Mormon owned. The church also controls a radio and television 'station and has interests in two newspapers. For needy members, the Mor- mon church maintains warehouses of food and clothing and even runs several small industries to succor the unemployed. Businesses, property, wise investments and a rigorous system of tithes have made the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints secularly suc- cessful. MORMONS their' wealth guarantees charity, assures that none of their brethren need starve. The variety and extent of Mormon interests is unusual but ,not unique. Many other denomina- tions own property and maintain charities and missions. And church wealth is by no means new in history. The Roman Catholic Church suffered no finan- cial loss during the Holy Roman Empire or the explorations in America. Russian Orthodox ledgers showed a more of profits during czars. The wealth than fair share the reign of the of American churches seems minor compared to the assets of General Motors. But, unlike industrial holdings, church property is tax-exempt and competes with secular businesses. In a caustic booklet, Exempting the Churches, James. F. Morton, Jr. writes: "The millions of dollars which are thus given back to the churches do not come out of, the air, but out of the pockets of tax- paying citizens. It. is the worst form of taxation without repre- sentation.... "The absolute and perpetual separation of church and state is among the most imperative re- quirements of the democratic prin- ciple." CHARLES W. ELIOT, nine- teenth - century president of. Harvard University, argued that American churches, like public and private schools, are a national service. Religious institutions should be exempted from taxa- tion, he said, because they are like state roads; both may be used at any time by the public but not everyone can benefit from them. In the automobile age Eliot's -analogy is less valid, but one can easily substitute national parks for state roads. Yellowstone and Grand Canyon are supported by public funds, though certainly not every American has the oppor- tunity to see these parks. Eliot defended tax exemptions for church buildings. He didn't comment on church property which is maintained for profit. Church-owned hotels and banks compete with other businesses forced to pay property taxes. The supposed government sub- sidy of church businesses, criti- cized by Morton, is nevertheless the exception rather than the rule. Much of the church property is not profit-making. Tax - exempt church property may offer evidence to disprove the American tradition of separation of church -and state. But for many churches, exist- ing precariously on donations from congregations, property taxes would defy the first lines of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... ." GOD, HOME and country are probably the three mostarous- ing words in any language. Their meaning and form have changed 4 great deal through the various historical epochs. In the remote past God was found on a. moun- tain, the home was a cave, and the country was contained within a radius of a few hundred yards. Today the development of mod- ern society has sophisticated these concepts into the organized :. church, the house in suburbia, and the "guardian of the west." It is difficult to separate God, that is religion, from the domain of the other two concepts. Reli-' gion' is based on the home to a large extent and it must; also have an area to exist in which is the nation. Because of these connec- tions any attempt to deal with re- ligion must also encompass the home and the country. Every year after the various American religious denominations have their conventions, statistics are released that indicate more and more people are attending congregational services. These stia- tistics suggest that Amnerica is be- coming more religious in its spin- tual- life. Driving through any city or town, one sees the spires of newly constructed churches rising everywhere. Millions upon mil- lions of people enter into these holy buildings every weekend. T[OGAUGE the effect of this ac- tivity, however, one must find out what happens when these mil- lions leave church and come home. Along with the increasing church attendance there is increasing ju- venile delinquency, i n c r e a s i n g adult delinquency, an increasing divorce rate, an increasing num- ,ber of illegitimate children. Al- most all the ten commandments are being increasingly broken. How can any rationalization be made of this contradiction be- tween increasing church attend- ance and increasing unsocial be-- By ARNOLD SAMEROFF To Gauge Religi Revising The Triangle of God, Home andCo individual work at his specialized task all day. Then, for entertain- ment at night, each family mem- ber associates with his own peers. The family of today comes to- gether only at meal times and possibly in front of the television set. The moral fiber of the individ- ual which was formerly beaten into him by his father, who re- ceived the same treatment from his father, must be introduced in a new way to accommodate this new society. Organized religion - has taken it upon itself to fulfill this need. The Bible is the word of the Lord. The Bible says do good, be gentle, don't lie, die for what is right; therefore, if you believe in the Lord you will obey his word. ' This is not enough however, so a . promise of future reward and/or $' future punishment is given. The good soul will live evermore and the sinner will suffer. This was an easily acceptable concept when man lived in a feud- .a al hierarchy without hope of im- proving his lot. But with our new conditions anyone can grow up to be President, so why wait to re- cannot accomplish ceive those future rewards. social framework. THIS IS essentially the problem THEN what can1 of modern American society reason for the- with the greatest standard, of liv- the contradiction ing in the world. A primary aim of ing attendance at every individual Is to improve his tions? This again is manner of living. Our fear of a social environment system such as Communism and The move to su The Church fulfills many new /I F, -_________,___ I ____ ____ ____ ____ '. 11 P/ 4,t ) # -e in SLACK MAGIC" SThe Role of Religion Religion's place, and function in the modern world is highly debatable. The traditional values and doctrines as- sociated with it are increasingly questioned by today's so. ciety. To ascertain its role is an impossible task, and yet attempting it is a highly interesting one. . . Acting upon these assumptions, The Daily herein en- deavors to give its readers a somewhat intellecutal and inevitably subjective approach toward what religion may mean and how it might be developing in the modern world. The writers are from many different backgrounds and their opinions reflect this. The individuals writing on Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism are each members of the faith in question. The rest are mostly Protestants. None declare their essay as having any definite truth; but rather, they are attempting to put their personal ideas into written form. this in today's be termed the other half of - the increas- these institu- s a result of the . suburbia is one r our patriotism are not based as ri ictnm tri!Inrc.r4 fine, all wool onnel A t~ James Bow is associate city editor of The Daily. He is a graduating senior in the lit- erary college, majoring - in journalism. This past summer he worked on a newspaper in Salt Lake City, Utah.- I 11. ---" i I hand-picked seams define the 1-o-n-g, lean look, .. . buttons and double-buckled belt add a bold, brassy fouch. Pretty fine- figuring in grey, vamel and olive. for coldAnn Arbor winters... .''.".. %' it'J. V S 1 t. AAT } ' tida .tv ISM~ Loden Coats in 1W L. Z GREY, BLACK, and GREEN featuring Charity that's tax-deductible * ZIP-ON HOOD . ZIPPER FASTENING, ; Ii * ALL WOOL havior? The only explanation available is that those who attend chui'ch do not necessarily accept the moral basis of religion. If this is true, then why do people go to zhurch? To answer this an exam- ination of the other two aspects of the original triad, home and country, must be;made. From the old patriarchal f am- ily organization, man has ad- vanced a long way. There has been a great separation in the close- knit family groups that arrived from the "old country" in the 1900's. Education of the young, which was formerly the domain of the family, has been c-o n t i n u a lly usurped in an increasing amount by the need for a more complex education. The family can no longer fulfill this function. The school-system begins to work al- most as soon as the child thinks and it-continues working into adulthood. THE FORMER family roles of supplying recreation and social life and of being the working unit of society has also passed away. Modern society requires that each Arnold Sameroff is a Daily staff writer. He is a junior in' the literary college and trans- ferred here this year from Clark University in Massachu. much on a desire to defend de- mocracy as on an attempt to pre- serve the benefits received from it --the homes, the cars, and the television set. Life is basically not a striving for particular ideals but rather a struggle for personal comfort. In light of this it is much easi- er to explain the original contra- diction between religion and in- creasing delinquency. -When a person is not in a position to at- tain the bright material wonders of the world in accepted ways, he resorts to unaccepted ways. This is easier when even the accepted ways are really unacceptable. How can one equate the brotherhood of man with the competition of the business world, the charity of the heart with philanthropy that is tax-deductible; the golden - rule with the struggle to reach the tope This equating is not possible. The church's role is to help mold American moral character, but, it away from the congested city con- ditions of people living on top of people to the wide open areas sur- rounding the private home. Often the block doesn't contain enough people to form a gang or even a bridge club. This new need for a social cen- ter is being fulfilled by the church. From the -temple for self-evalua- tion, the church became the neighborhood center for social gatherings. The boy scouts who meet in the basement grow to be the men in the golf club, Along with the economic prosperity big- ger status symbols evolve and new churches rise everywhere. Orthodox religions have man- aged somewhat to fight these modern tendencies by maintaining the old methods of promising re- wards and punishments. But even these groups are being undercut by the reform movements. The rabbis are shaving their beards and in 'a few years it might be- come a common occurrence to see a nun in normal clothing. THE TENDENCY of religion is away from the moral bases of religion. This will continue until there is more possibility of utiliz- ing religious principles in the real life situation. The original triumvirate of God, home and country has been nar- rowed in this modern age to Just one - country, or more explicitly, the society in which we live. And one wonders how long that con- cept will last. Solutions are not.easily derived, and It's not certain whether 'a change is desired. People . are es- sentially ^happy. There are more suicides and more divorces, but few seem to demand a change. It will be interesting to see what new paths the future has to offer. C . , -'. A 3500 $14.95 pair $2750 Richly furred ensemb The jacket with ranch min: with low-in-back scoop. Red, camel, green or shop: mon.-sat. 9:30 to 5:30 Collin 4 SPORTSHOP l,,owver level 1S SIX-FOOT SHETLAND SCARVES '3.98 I Complete stock of BIBLES, PRAYERBOOKS and MISSAS at i TICE & WREN Clo-he3 or Men 530 SO. FOREST AVE. just off corner So. Univ. 0j opSik Camus'Theatre. Custom-er Parking rear of store. 1107 SOUTH UNIVERSITY - ACROSS FROM ANN ARBOR BANK STORE HOURS: 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. I I