Trends

Mosque and State. The Angora Assembly has decreed the separation of mosque and state, and so the Caliph, successor to Mohammed and Haroun al Raschid, will no longer have any temporal power, such as his predecessors had. It was feared that the Moslems in India would object to this sudden move, but a congress of Moslem religious teachers in Calcutta has wired approval to Mustapha Kemal Pasha, calling him the " Renovator of the Caliphate," and accepting the new status of the Caliph. The present Caliph's " holy beard" has just reached the length required for sultans, and was blessed with appropriate ceremonies last week.

England. More than 500 clergymen of the Church of England, including many canons, have pledged their support to the Labor Party. For a long time the Church has felt keenly the reproach that the working classes were being alienated from it because they found no friends among the clergy. A congratulatory address was sent to Ramsey Macdonald and the Labor M. P.'s which said : " We shall support actively in whatever ways are open to us the effort you will assuredly make for the spiritual and economic emancipation of the people."

Indianapolis. William Jennings Bryan has been officially appointed a delegate to the Presbyterian General Assembly. He may withdraw from the race for Moderator, because in the 133 conventions which the Church has held, only one layman has ever held this position. If Mr. Bryan withdraws, the conservatives will probably nominate Dr. Clarence Macartney, " father " of the now famous Philadelphia overture, in which the General Assembly was petitioned to remove Dr. Fosdick as special preacher at the First Church. The Assembly meets on May 17. It cannot try Dr. Fosdick for heresy, because he is a Baptist, and not subject to Presbyterian discipline. But it might force his removal.

The Saving Grace of humor is lacking in some very religious people, and thus absurd sects arise and flourish. Dr. Pollock, of Los Angeles, solemnly told radio fans last week that Zacharia 9:14 contains a prophecy of radio. (The passage reads: "And Jehovah shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning.") He even more solemnly declared that the millenium is not far off, because the automobile has fulfilled the prophecy of Nahum 2:4. ("The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways; the appearance of them is like torches, they run like lightnings.")

New York. According to figures from the office of the Presbytery of New York, there are 1,660 churches and synagogues in the city for 81 denominations: 1,948,000 Roman Catholics, 1,941,000 Protestants and 1,640,000 Jews.