Says Ministers Are Falsifiers

Rev. Irving McCann Asserts Preachers Would Lose Pulpits if They Spoke Truth.

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 3 -- Ministers of the gospel are the greatest falsifiers in the world today.

They would lose their jobs if they told the truth.

There are a thousand ministers in St. Louis that want Billy Sunday to come here to tell the people the truth, something which they refuse to tell.

This was the declaration of the Rev. Irving Goff McCann, pastor of the Old Orchard Congregationalist church, at a luncheon of the Advertising club in the American hotel.

Speaking of the emblem of "Truth," as adopted by the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, he said:

"The ministry needs a sort of service bureau to compel pastors to tell the truth. It would be a wonderful thing if we could find some method by which the clergy was forced to speak the truth."

"I don't hesitate to say today, with all respect to the ministry, because my father, grandfather and several other members of my family were preachers, there is not one minister in ten in the pulpit who is telling the truth as he sees it. Day after day and month after month ministers stand in the pulpit and preach things that deal with the past age and are afraid to tell the truth, because if they did they would lose their charge in less than a month.

"They think they have to falsify to hold their jobs. St. Louis needs Billy Sunday to come here and tell the people the truth. Statisticians have figured that by the Billy Sunday method it costs $3.50 to save a soul, and via the Salvation Army it costs $1.50. But I wish we could find some method that would compel every minister to tell the truth."

--Des Moines Register, Nov. 4, 1917

Comment: The article makes his point well enough that ministers are not telling the truth. But it doesn't carry through and say what truth he is talking about. According to him, Billy Sunday tells the truth and St. Louis needs him. But if it's two bucks cheaper to save souls the Salvation Army method, why not get them instead? This Irving Goff McCann is apparently the author of the book With The National Guard on the Border. Our National Military Problem. Looking around on Google and AbeBooks, he was Captain Irving Goff McCann, Chaplain of the First Infantry Illinois National Guard.