Section 30

20^th Century Christianity

The advance of Christianity was chiefly due to what in other aspects of life or that the latter could be ascribed to the former.

The gains of Christianity in the United States outstripped those in other phases of the nations life.

In the 1940s only 360,000 Indians were counted as Christians.

The shifts in population were a threat and a challenge to the churches.

Vigor of Roman Catholic Church

The stream of immigration to which it owed most of its growth was greatly reduced after 1914.

Even more marked was the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in material possessions.

Additional organizations were developed and old ones enlarged.

The growth in numbers, wealth, and participation in the world-wide missions fo their church enlarged Roman Catholics, especially the clergy.

Vigor of Christianity

In the generation after 1914, it was even more striking in the Protestantism of the country.

The proportionate gains of Protestantism varied from denomination to denomination.

Evangelism was accompanied by a prolific composition of hymns.

“Evolution” was obnoxious to the “fundamentalists,” for it seemed to them to deny the authority of the Scriptures.

Vigor on country and the world

The progressive mass conversion of the country Christianity was waning in its effect upon the country and its people.

Christians were by no means giving up the struggle to make their faith count in the nation and the world.

The chief organization the Red Cross had Christian origins.

Much was for prudential reasons, but much was stimulated by the Christian conscience.