The Christian Theater: A Pittsburg Clergyman's Proposal
A METHODIST clergyman of Pittsburg, the Rev. G. W. Torbush, is quoted as favoring a “Christian theater.” He is reported as having recently said to his congregation:— “Judging from the enormous patronage plays like ‘Ben Hur’ draw, the public is eager to see and support plays of moral worth. The tendency of the stage is toward degeneracy, as the vast majority of playhouses are run to-day. I believe Christian men and women should endow Christian playhouses, where moral performances would do much toward destroying the influence of the immoral forces at work. The Christian theaters should be supported by the Church, and run even at a loss. As churchgoers are forsaking the church to attend showhouses, the evil should be met by giving human nature what it craves.” This clergyman seems to have forgotten the words of the apostle Paul, that the followers of Christ “are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” I Cor. 4:9. There is indeed a Christian theater,—a theater the stage of which is world-wide, upon which Christians are the actors before not only men, but angels. No need of any other theater for Christians; this one affords them all the acting they can desire, and the fullest opportunity to educate their fellow men in the moral life. The Christian who realizes not that he is on the stage as an actor in the great drama of righteousness against sin, to represent God before the world, and before angels and demons, does not realize what real Christianity means. There can be no drama more real, none more intense in its emotions, none more sublime or more tragic in its results, than the drama of the Christian life.