Changing Protestants

Again last week came news of the altering attitude of Protestantism toward altered lay conceptions of the marital relation. Episcopalians and Presbyterians issued advisory reports on Divorce and Birth Control, respectively.

Divorce. A commission appointed six years ago by the Protestant Episcopal Church to consider divorce published a revised "Canon 43--of Matrimony" which will be recommended to the Church's general convention in Denver, Col. next September. Chief points of difference between old Canon 43 and the tentative new one are: The new one lifts the only ground for divorce the Episcopal Church recognizes--adultery; it permits, by inference, divorced persons to partake of all the church rites and sacraments--Holy Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion--and permits them to be married a second time by an Episcopal clergyman, though not in the Church nor with the prayer-book service. Second marriage, at present sanctioned only for the innocent party in a divorce for adultery, would be in the discretion of a Bishop or an ecclesiastical court which the new Canon proposes to establish. Also administered by Bishop or court would be annulment--the only means by which the Church would allow a marriage to be dissolved--on nine grounds: 1) Lack of free consent; 2) Failure of either party to have reached the age of puberty; 3) Impotence of either party; 4) Mental deficiency of either party sufficient to prevent the exercise of intelligent choice; 5) Insanity of either party; 6) Consanguinity (whole or half blood); 7) Misrepresented or mistaken identity; 8) Venereal disease; 9) Bigamy.

Said the Commission: "In making this statement nothing new is added to the present law of the Church. . . . The present Canon 43 and the Marriage Service of the Church both assume that marriage may be declared null and void. . . . The door for remarriage of divorced persons is by no means thrown wide open. . . . The Commission . . . considers this proposed canon as only tentative, and desires to give it the widest possible publicity for the purpose of invoking discussion and criticism. . . ." Birth Control-- As did the Lambeth Conference (Anglican, Episcopal) last year and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America last month, so last week did the Special Commission on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. report its approval of Birth Control. To incorporate this approval in the Confession of Faith would require polling the 295 U. S. Presbyteries. The Special Commission urges the Church's General Assembly, which meets this month in Pittsburgh, to have a committee consider the wisdom of taking such a poll next year. Of the two methods of Birth Control-- continence and contraception--the second was approved by 22 of the 28 Federal Councillors last month. The Presbyterian Special Commissioners contented themselves with saying: "When this method is adopted ... it should only be in fidelity to the highest spiritual ideals of the Christian home." As to divorce, the Presbyterians maintained their traditional stand: adultery and wilful, irremediable desertions are the only permissible grounds, and "the innocent party is justified in remarriage on a Christian basis."

*New competitors for Christian missionaries in Japan are the young girls now admitted to the Shingon priesthood, powerful Buddhist sect.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.