Education: In Atlanta

On Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, a band of thoughtful men filed into the Forsyth Theatre in Atlanta, Ga. They were pious men; they had been to church that morning. Deep on their fronts engraven sat public care; in their eyes flickered determination. When all had reached their places, one arose and, assisted by a large chorus, caused the proscenium to reverberate with the swelling notes of “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Sa-aints of the Lo-ord”, with “Ro-ock of A-ages” and old-time hymns. The odor of sanctity had settled strongly upon that lay temple by the time Atlanta’s legal luminary, Lawyer Thomas E. Scott, cleared his throat and solemnly introduced the first speaker on the program.

This speaker was Mayor Walter A. Sims of Atlanta, who, with fitting reference to the late William Jennings Bryan, straightway declared the satisfaction it gave him to welcome to his city any movement that had for its object “the fostering of the religious beliefs of our fathers.” When he had done, an Indianian, Mr. Roscoe Carpenter of Indianapolis, was conducted to the rostrum, where he soon pronounced the purpose for which the company was gathered.

“We are here,” said Mr. Roscoe Carpenter, “to begin an organization to bring the people back to the honesty, simplicity and religion of our fathers. . . . The things we call modernism, modern education and evolution are all bound up in one package and we must deal with the three as one. It is the theory of evolution which has swept the country that is causing the very foundations of liberty, morals and Christianity to totter. . . . We must control the medium which controls the people, whether it be the newspaper, motion picture or what, and we must rebuild in the minds of our children the religion of our fathers. . . . We are not going to grapple with science, but we are going to work with it. True science can go hand in hand with the Bible and we do not plan any fight against it.

“I have searched the country from coast to coast and from north to south, but I was able to find only one man who has the power to build into one great, master organization the forces to fight the evils which are seeking to promulgate a theory which will destroy our Government and Christianity, and that man is Edward Young Clarke of Atlanta!”

It was a very affecting speech. The impressive applause came only after a more impressive hush. Then Edward Young Clarke of Atlanta spoke. He announced that the plans for the “master organization” would be ready to submit to the directors of the movement very soon, and that the first unit of the society would be in Atlanta. “After conferring with organizers in all parts of the country,” declared Mr. Clarke, “I am convinced that this will be a master organization, and I have been assured that I am working on the right lines for such an organization.”

He predicted that the effects of this serious Sunday gathering of thoughtful men would be felt for many, many generations to come; and that the establishment of headquarters in Atlanta, would mean something very significant to that city. He announced that when his plans had been ratified, a debate on evolution would be held in At-lanta’s great public auditorium as the first step toward organizing the first unit of the master organization.

“The schoolroom,” he explained, “is no place to expound an experimental theory. No one would tolerate a teacher who told his pupils that two and two are three. We know that two and two are four. Similarly, we know that the theory of evolution is false, that its doctrines are unproven, that its teachings can play havoc with the young minds of our innocent children.”

Plans were then outlined calling for:

Local organizations in every town and city of the U. S., and bureaus in Canada, England and Australia, all controlled from Atlanta. Two major divisions, educational and recreational: 1) At Indianapolis, the educational centre, where among other things 12 cinema films would be made, portraying the life of Jesus Christ for distribution throughout the world. 2) At Jacksonville, Fla., the recreational centre, where among other things homes would be built for antievolutionists grown aged and infirm in the onslaught; quarters would be provided for younger combatants to rest, study, play.

Resolutions were then passed:

That “organized forces” are seeking to tear down the banners of the righteous; that now is the time for “relentless and ceaseless” warfare against all those seeking “to bring about” a materialistic philosophy.

That patrons of education should use every effort to make “unpopular, unprofitable and impossible” the teaching of evolution.

That those present “bitterly resented” the effort of those seeking “to make mankind part of the lower order of animals,” and declared unreservedly their faith and belief in mankind as a distinct creation of God, separate and apart from all other creations and representing “His highest and best creative work.”