Religion: Fosdick

William J. Bryan and a slight majority of the governing body of the Presbyterian Church know how Jesus Christ was born. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick and many leading Presbyterian ministers do not know. The difference is typical of all differences between Christian ” Conservatives ” and Christian “Liberals.”

At the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church Dr. Bryan lost his fight to keep evolution out of the schools, but won his fight to condemn sermons delivered by Dr. Fosdick (a Baptist) in a New York Presbyterian Church.

The anti-Fosdick resolution adopted by the Assembly provides that if Dr. Fosdick continues to preach, he shall conform to the following doctrines:

1) The men who wrote the Bible made no mistakes because the Holy Spirit guided them.

2) Jesus Christ was born of Mary, a Virgin.

3) He went to His death “to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile us to God.”

4) He rose from the dead with the same physical body with which He died, and He is now sitting on the right hand of His Father, making intercession.

5) He worked miracles.

All of these doctrines, votes the Assembly, are ” essential.”

Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, a leading Presbyterian of New York, sharing Dr. Fosdick’s views, declares that none of the aforementioned doctrines are essential.

Dr. Coffin’s attitude:

1) The Bible is not without error. It is the Word of God only in so far as it accords with the Word made flesh in Christ.

2) “I do not know how our Lord was born, and I certainly refuse to teach the Virgin birth as essential doctrine.”

3) Christ died for our sins, but no single interpretation of the Cross is adequate.

4) Death did not conquer Christ, but the Scriptures do not teach a physical resurrection.

5) Jesus did not consider faith in His miracles essential.

Dr. Coffin teaches that loyalty to Christ is the one essential.

In agreement with Dr. Coffin are Kev. William P. Merrill, of the Brick Presbyterian Church, and Rev. John Kelman of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Thus, the four leading Presbyterian Churches of New York City are absolutely opposed to the reactionary theology which the General Assembly would like to force upon them.

An analysis of the Presbyterian Church indicates that it is divided into two groups: the ultraconservatives and the “tolerants.” The “tolerants” include both conservatives and liberals, who, while differing in their views, do not believe that their differences justify a refusal to work together for greater common purposes.

One subtle point remains to be recorded: the Presbyterian Church, by condemning Dr. Fosdick, took its stand on old conservative theology; but previously, by rejection of Bryan’s anti-evolution program, it also took its stand in favor of modern science.