Cv^V (j (j~CL STATISTICAL COMMITTEE ON THE WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK 105 East 22d Street, New York Preliminary Statement as to the Origin and Purpose of the Committee. Recognizing that the war lias placed upon the churches the duty of the most thorough self- examination, the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, acting in cooperation with the General War-Time Commission of. the Churches, has requested a group of repre- sentative men to constitute a Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, the purpose of which is “to consider the state of religion as affected by the war, with special reference to the duty and the opportunity of the churches, and to prepare its findings for submission to the churches.” The Committee, while created through the initiative of these two bodies, has been given entire freedom to act according to its own judgment, and is empowered to add to its number. As at present constituted, it con- sists of the following persons: Bishop J. W. Bashford Mrs. Fred S. Bennett Professor William Adams Brown Mr. George W. Coleman Miss Mabel Cratty President W. H. P. Faunce Professor Harry Emerson Fosdick Rev. Samuel G. Inman Professor Charles M. Jacobs President Henry Churchill King Bishop Walter R. Lambuth Bishop Francis J. McConnell Rev. Charles S. Macfarland President Win. Douglas Mackenzie Dean Shailer Mathews Dr. John R. Mott President E. Y. Mullins Rev. Frank Mason North The Very Rev. Howard C. Robbins Dr. Robert E. Speer Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes Rev. James I. Vance Professor Henry B. Washburn President Henry Churchill King has been elected Chairman of the Committee, and Pro- fessor William Adams Brown, Vice-Chairman. The propriety of such an inquiry as the Com- mittee proposes needs no defense. In every department of human experience it is recognized that the war must make great changes, and that the most careful preparation is needed in order that the transition from the old to the new may be wisely made. Religion is no exception. The church, like the nation, faces new duties and new responsibilities and, if she is to meet them suc- cessfully, must base her action upon a solid foundation of knowledge. This fact has been recognized by our fellow Christians in Great Britain. No less than nine different committees and commissions have been at work upon various phases of the religious and moral situation. Five have been appointed by the Church of England; two by the Presby- terian churches of Scotland; two are of an inter- den minoational character. Of the two interdenominational commissions one deals chiefly with moral problems; the other with the effects of the war upon religion. The field of the latter inquiry has been primarily the army, and much valuable material has been collected bearing upon the attitude of the men toward religion, the changes which the war has made, and especially the attitude of the men to the organized church. The commissions appointed by the Church of England and the Presbyterian churches deal with special topics, such as the Church and the industrial situation, evangelism, religious edu- cation, worship, ecclesiastical government, and the like. It will doubtless be found wise in this country for the different churches to appoint special committees to make similar detailed studies of various aspects of the war problem. The aim of the present committee is to attempt a bird’s-eye view of the situation as a whole. Four main lines of inquiry suggest themselves as of chief importance: (1) What effect has the war had upon the personal religious experience? How far has it reinforced, how far altered, the existing type of religious thought and life? (2) What effect has the war had upon the organized Christian Church? What changes, if any, are called for in its spirit and activities? (3) What effect in particular has the war had upon the thought of men about Christianity? What changes, if any, are called for in doctrinal statements or proportional emphases? (4) Finally, what effect has the war had upon the duty of the Church to the social life of the time? What reconstruction is called for in our political, economic and social life? In approaching these questions it is the primary purpose of the committee to secure accurate knowledge of the facts. If we invite suggestions as to possible changes, it is only as these grow naturally out of the facts, and seem necessary to conserve the lessons they have taught. For information to guide us in our inquiry we turn first to the army and navy. Our soldiers and sailors feel the shock of war in its most acute and unrelieved form. They realize most keenly the contrast between things as they were and the new situation into which the war has plunged us. From their ranks must come the leaders in the tasks of reconstruction which must follow after the war. Upon them therefore we must rely for our most trustworthy information as to the effect of the war upon religion. At the same time we must remember that they are not the only persons whom the war affects. Conditions in the army are abnormal and tend to produce a standardized experience which, unless controlled from other sources, is not a safe guide for sweeping generalization. Other wit- nesses also must be heard if we are to gain a complete picture of the effect of war upon re- ligion. The members of the home churches, the fathers and mothers who are facing new experiences of bereavement, the workers in our munition factories, women entering new fields and assuming new responsibilities; onlookers in foreign countries; Christian converts on the mission field; earnest men and women of the ethnic faiths — all these we must take into ac- count if we are to understand the significance of the experience through which we are passing. It is our hope to draw on all these sources of information. The committee includes men and women who are in touch with representatives of each of the groups above mentioned; but in the nature of the case, for adequate evidence, we must depend largely upon the voluntary assist- ance of persons who feel the importance of our study sufficiently to be willing to help us by their time, their counsel and their sympathetic inter- est. For the assistance of such generous helpers we have prepared a questionnaire covering the four main lines of inquiry already referred to. The topics have been chosen not as covering the ground, but as suggesting the kind of in- quiries in which the committee is interested, and on which it will be glad to have light. It is desired that the correspondents treat the questionnaire with great freedom, altering or supplementing the questions in any way they prefer. We particularly hope that they will deal at length with such aspects of the inquiry as interest them most deeply, or any others not touched upon in the printed statement, that seem to them germane to the purpose of the inquiry. It is hardly necessary to say that no one will be quoted by name and no information given that will lead to recognition except with the express permission of the individual in question. For the special use of those who are closely in touch with the situation in the army and navy we have printed also the questions used by the English committee for this purpose, covering three main lines of inquiry: (1) What are the men in the army and navy thinking about religion, morality and society? (2) What changes has the war made in their moral and religious outlook and character? (3) What do they think of the churches and of their own relation to them? In behalf of the Committee Henry Churchill King, Chairman William Adams Brown, Vice-Chairman 105 East 22d Street, New York 16 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/committeeonwarreOOcomm