Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1901 — Bowling and the Church. [ARTICLE]

Bowling and the Church.

A Congregational minister at Stillman Valley, 111., has resigned his pulpit because part of his ongregation strenuously objected to his taking part in bowling tournaments. Before presenting his resignation, it is said the minister threatened to knock down one of the pillars of his church who had called to remonstrate with him. At any rate the pastor has departed, leaving behind him a disrupted congregation. In most controversies of this kind between a shepherd and a portion of his flock there are two distinct sides, one of which is frequently lost sight of. It is the popular tendency to express great sympathy for the minister as a man whose personal liberty has been interfered with and to denounce the action of the objectors in the church as bigoted and narrow. Whether such comments are at all justified depends entirely upon the facts in each particular case. It is easily conceivable, for instance, that a minister might devote so much time to bowling, in itself one of the most healthful and innocent of recreations, as to interfere seriously-with his pastoral duties. It is quite possible that the example of the pastor might have had a bad influnce in leading young men to patronize bowling alleys which are connected with saloons, though he himself played elsewhere. Under such circumstances, and under others as easily conceivable, the trustees of the church would certainly J>e justified in holding a serious conference with their pastor. Under what circumstances the' minister would be justified in threatening to chastise those who called on such an errand is not so easily understood. Bowling, like every other amusement, may be easily abused. What In the case of a layman is a perfectly reasonable indulgence in the game might be unreasonable in the case of a clergyman. Especially ought a minister to be careful how he allows a question involving

only his personal amusements and recreations to interfere with the welfare of the church which It Is his highest duty to serve.