Judge, 1913-02-22 · page 12 of 24
Judge — February 22, 1913 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page addresses the early 20th-century "church problem"—declining public interest in organized religion. The three floor plans show architectural solutions: reconfiguring church spaces to include modern amenities like a YWCA, lecture halls, and social gathering areas alongside traditional worship space. The accompanying photograph (right) shows an ornate church building, likely contrasting old architectural grandeur with modern needs. The satire critiques that churches faced a crisis of relevance. Rather than addressing spiritual or theological issues, Judge suggests the solution involves modernizing facilities and adding secular recreational activities. The cartoon implies churches were responding to declining attendance by becoming social centers rather than addressing deeper religious disengagement. This reflects tensions between traditional religion and modernization in the Progressive Era, when churches competed with secular entertainment and social institutions for public attention.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Junce suggests in the above cartoon a possible solution of the problem that confronts the modem church throughout the land. A condition in the church that may lead to absolute tion unless a remedy is provided has been debated in recent reli- gious conventions by clergy and laity, and the friends of practical Christianity are casting about for means to correct what seems to be the chief trouble, a lack of interest on the part of the public SOLUTION OF TH nembers themselves, # >and there bar tt many church ve taken place in the life of worldly divers nany of thet Jable—that co stion, here shown by tried to meet the conditic have ignored the chang people and the ever innocent and com attention. Juoct comicbooks.com