Methodist Conference Rejects Modern Amusements
Delegates vote to uphold strict bans on dancing, card playing, and theater-going, keeping the church’s moral discipline intact.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Columbia River conference of the Methodist Episcopal church has officially put itself on record as opposed to any modification of Methodist rules governing 'the amusement question.' The delegates to the upcoming 1904 general conference in Los Angeles have been instructed to vote against any proposal to strike out Paragraph 248 of the book of discipline, which restricts dancing, card playing, and theater-going. The resolution, introduced by ministers Walton Skipworth, Robert Warner, William Park, and F. R. Spaulding, was adopted with enthusiasm and without a dissenting vote, despite whispers that a small minority of ministers privately favored modernization.
“In short language it means that this conference is opposed to card playing, theater going and dancing, and does not want the rules of the church changed.”
This internal church struggle illustrates the cultural front of the era's 'amusement question.' It highlights how religious institutions in Walla Walla exerted significant influence over the social lives of residents before the societal shifts of the 1920s.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.