Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1923)
x. 1 he Rev. Dr. Potter Denies That the Stage Is (tHopelessly and Incur- A ably Immoral” and Says Jesus i Himself Would I Condemn 1 Neither Our Plays Nor Movies Christ raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead, an incident more powerfully dramatic than stage or movie screen has ever kno^n By the Rev. Charles Francis Potter actor of the West Side Unitarian Church, N*w York A thrilling moment in the drama from the Russian, “He Who Gets Slapped,” one of the many plays which the Rev. Dr. Potter thinks churchgoers could see with profit The un married mother t in "If i Winter Comes,” a play with what the Rev. Dr. Potter calls a “big modem spiritual message” Calling the twelve apostles, another instance of Jesus’ “great appreciation of dramatic values." CCANADIAN revivalist, Dr. T. T. Shields, preaching in New York, recently spoke of the theater in very condemnatory terms. He is quoted as saying that most theaters pander to the lust in man and that the theater, as an institution, tends to the destruction of man. He urged his hearers to pledge themselves not to attend the theater, and all but a dozen of his congregation rose to their feet. He went further and said that he considered the theater "hopelessly and incurably immoral.” I wish to exarrtine this not uncommon point of view, and I feel myself called, as a Christian minis ter, to take the opposite point of view. I believe that Christians should attend the theater. The first reason why I believe Chris tians should attend the theater is to improve the theater. Everybody knows that there is much in the theater that is bad, just as there are very objection able things in every human institution, including the Church, but that is no rea son for staying away from the theater. Even Dr. Shields would agree, I think, that "eyegatc” is just as moral as "ear gate” for entering into truth. The per ception of truth by one sense is just as moral, of itself, as by another. Dr. Shields would agree, I think, that it is the things which the eyes see and the ears hear on the stage which are not moral. Then Dr. Shields's real quarrel is not with the stage but with its present message. The vehicle is not immoral—it is non-moral. You cannot punish the wagon which conveys con traband whisky. The very obvious thing te do with the stage is to elevate its message rather than abolish the institu tion. And the way to elevate it is not for good people to stay away, but for them to attend, criticizo and demand better plays. The second reason why Christians should attend the theater is to improve themselves. The drama is a great means of education and no one can afford to neglect it in the development of his personality. The drama is very vivid in its portrayal of truth. A play is a section of life lifted out of the ignored procession of everyday things and dis played for examination and reflection. If the drama is really high-class, artistically conceived and developed, it depicts life—real life. The people in the audience see themselves on the stage. The lessons which lie all around us, neglected because of our preoccupation with our own affairs, become very plain when we sit in a darkened room and seo them acted upon the stage. The dramu is progressive, contem porary, up to date. The great drama gUL.* = tists are the prophets of to day, often far ahead of the religious prophets, and they usually have a better sense of real moral values. That is because the dramatist lives closer to the people than the average minister. Much prophecy that we miss in the churches we can find in the theater. The educative value of the drama is recognized by every worth-while school to-day. We know that it is very broad ening and eye-opening. It tends to de velop the cosmopolitan or world point of view. That is because the theater is the enemy of provincial isms of all sorts. Many Christians are very pro vincial and should attend the theater as a pleasant medicine for their own cure. I rather suspect that those who rose in a wave of re ligious fervor and promised Dr. Shields to quit attend ing theaters are of the sort who seldom attend, anyway, and especially need the message of the modern drama. Any one who i responded to such an f appeal to prejudice and l ignorance certainly is in need of expanding ■< his narrow, provincial mind. Better for such a one than a prayer meet ing or an evangelical orgy of renunciation—a ticket to a Theater. Guild production like “He Who Get* Slapped.” The third reason why Christians should attend the theater, paradoxical as it may seem, is to improve tho Church. 1 have two reasons* for making this assertion: In the ^first place, I am firmly convinced that the Chtlrch needs to learn what the world thinks about it. It would reduce the size of some ministers’ hatbands who are nc customed to standing three feet above contradiction and hearing only the admiring murmurs of “Aunt Sail/’ after the sermon it they could attend some of the ^ plays now running in New York City and get the reaction of a great and intelligent modern audience when the Church is mentioned. I wish I could take the whole congregation that pledged themselves not to attend the theater to see “Anathema," or "If Winter Comes,’’ or "The Fool.” They would soo nothing obscene or offensive and would get * big modern spiritual message. It is significant that all three of these plays criticise the Church severely. The Church may rail against the theater, but —***—*aw ni t the theater is now with far more telling force pointing out tho faults of tho Church. And let Dr. Shields and his friends never forget that what the thea ter is criticizing tho Church for is its lack of social morality and its departure from real religion! From another viewpoint, also, tho Church would be Improved if its mem bers utlonded'tho theater, for they wv>uld then become inspired to have plays in the Church. A young lady quietly suggested to I)r. Shields that dancing, card playing and theatricals should be brought to the Church and given in the right spirit and in the right way in the Church. Dr. Shields, however, shook his head with ministerial reproof. "That would only bo converting the Church into an amuse ment place,” ho said. But what Is the Church for? Shall the Church degenerate merely into peo ple who do nothing but listen to minis ters who do nothing but tell them what not to do? The Church is, ns 1 take It, for the development of human personality, both individual and social, and the drama is a legitimate instrument for that pur pose. My own church has piuys—Little Theater plays- in the social hall, pre sented by young people and old people; and pageants on thejnilplt platform. In the church school sometimes whole ses sions are given to dramatir-ing a Bible story, and I think it helps to develop tho personality of the proplo and to improve the Church. I am sure it educates the minister. People forget the faljacy of the "ex ample” argument. Dr. Shields says it is the act of a good Christian to give up aj! worldly amusements in order that his neighbor niag profit by this example. Ho is following literally Paul's famous statement: “If meat cause my brother to offend, then I will eat no meat while the world standeth.” The “example" idea may have had great force in Paul's day and in Paul's surroundings, and even to-day your neighhor may be somewhat influenced by your actions if you live in a small town, but how many city apartment dwellers know whether or not their neighbors go to the theater, and how much would it influence them one way or the other if tlwy did know? This "example* argument is very fa miliar to me- 1 was brought up on it. There is n still more conscientious form of it. They used to tell me not only not to do questionable things which might not harm me, but which might harm the other fellow, but also to ab stain from any thing which might look evil, even if it were not. I remember I wanted to go to see “Ben-Hur." The Church people admitted that the play was not so bad, because it dealt with Bible times, but if I went my action would be misinterpreted by a weaker brother, who would say: "Charlie Potter went to the theater. He i* a church member; so I can go.” And he would go to a bad play and his soul would be damned. He would not discriminate, so 1 must ab stain. It did not seem to occur to my religious advisers that the proper meth od is to teach discrimination rather than abstinence. Why not apply the “example” argu ment to books? Read no books on theol ogy. because some fiction is bad. Why, take even the Bible iteelf; there is more obscenity in some parts of the Bible than in any New York play now running. Shall I refrain from read ing the Sermon on the Mount because some passages in the Old Testament are obscene? It all comes down to the question of prohibition versus character in religion. The old idea was to k«*p people good by secular laws. The new idea is to develop character by giving the individual the opportunity of choice. The Christian life is not a negative thing. It consists not in abstinence, asceticism or monasticism, but in an active life of good deeds. Jesus himself >aid: “I came that men might have life and have it more abundantly." We have had too much of negative Christianity, of Christianity too much concerned with the “other world.” of Christianity which frowns on the life of the day. Jesus was not that sort. He went into ail the amusements of his day. We can not dodge the fact that He was a wine maker at a merry wedding. His ene mies charged that He went around with publicans and sinner*. Of course. He did not go to the morles, but l!e would have gone had there been any. Furthermore, Jesus staged dramas. His recorded words indicate great appre ciation of dramatic values, and his ac tions at the time of the driving out of the money changers, at the triumphal entry and on numerous other occasions were highly dramatic. The Spiritual call of to-day is not to cramp and confine our live*, but rather to expand them, and many modern play* are quite csaential to the development of a well-rounded positive, healthful per sonality.