DRAMA
and
the
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
From Ellen
White’s Time Until the Late 1940's
After
the death of Mrs. White, and until the mid to late forties, the church
leadership contended for the Biblical standards received from the pioneers of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. From their published writings, it is clear
that they were deeply convicted and opposed to any kind of drama used in the
Sabbath School, divine service, or our educational institutions. The counsel
on drama before and shortly after the death of Ellen White centered about the
live theater, later called the legitimate theater to differentiate it from the
moving-picture.
Prior
to 1903, when Edwin Porter’s The Great Train Robbery revolutionized
the motion picture industry, early films were made in theater settings, many
being a record of a stage drama. This
production was probably the beginning of the art of editing, or changing
scenes around, in a motion picture. In
1915, D. W. Griffith released The Birth of a Nation.
It was almost three hours long and had fully orchestrated background
music, which was played by the theater orchestra.
As the industry grew, movie
houses proliferated. The
projector could be run every two to three hours, required no cast or props at
the movie house, and this type of “entertainment” became easily accessible
and affordable to the general public. Adventists were not immune to watching
the “silent drama.” Nevertheless, the leadership of the church continued
to sound warnings concerning the live theater and the “silver screen.”
Parenthetically,
those who were youths or adults in the forties through the early eighties,
well remember the musical team that provided the music for the Voice of
Prophecy. Brad Braley played the
organ, Olive Braley played the piano, and Del Delker and the Kings Heralds
sang. The quality and character of the music was above reproach.
Brad
was a silent movie organ “entertainer,” as well as an organ repairman. He
was called to install an organ at Southern Missionary College (now called
Southern Adventist University). There he met Olive Rogers, a music teacher at
the college. A romance developed from that meeting and
in time Brad chose to become a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and
married Olive. Many readers will remember the beautiful music Olive and Brad
played as they accompanied Elder H.M.S. Richards, Del Delker, and the King’s
Heralds on the summer camp meeting circuit, General Conference Sessions,
as well as from their musical recordings.
After
Brad became a Christian, he gave up playing for the “silver screen”
because he realized the movie industry creations were not compatible with a
Christian’s profession. Brad
and Olive shared with me that after H. M. S. Richards death, the new Voice of
Prophecy team wanted them to put more “beat” in the music. They both
refused to comply with this request, sensing the direction worldly music could
take our church.
While
this is not an exhaustive study of the leadership’s warnings during these
years, sent to the Seventh-day Adventist membership by way of the Review,
these messages were consistent and forthright.
1926
- A Warning Against Moving-Pictures and Other Theaters:
Some
eleven years after the death of Ellen White, the Review sounded a clear
warning to the church membership concerning the “silver screen.” The
Autumn Council, held in Des Moines, Iowa, passed a resolution. In the February
11, 1926 issue, Elder Wilcox shared the Autumn Council resolution and gave the
following counsel:
By
every means in his power, Satan is endeavoring to turn the inhabitants of
earth away from God. His wiles are varied, his snares are manifold. He cares
not what means he employs so long as it accomplishes his deadly purpose. The
strife for supremacy, the love of social life and position, the lure of gold,
the struggle for competence, the ambition for education, the appeal of
pleasure, —these and many other means are employed by the great deceiver to
lead men to forget God, and permit their time and energy to become so
engrossed and enthralled as to lead to their final destruction at last.
Against
some of these great evils the Autumn Council, held recently in Des Moines,
Iowa, sounded definite warning to our brethren and sisters. The following
resolution was passed regarding moving pictures and commercialized amusements:
Recognizing
the need of lifting up a standard against every influence that threatens the
life and well-being of the church; and,
Whereas,
The moving-picture or other theaters are becoming more and more a menace to
morality and destructive of spirituality, in many cases leading to a false and
lowered standard of life; therefore,
Resolved,
That this Council declares its emphatic disapproval of attending
moving-picture theaters and other questionable places of amusement, and calls
upon our workers, church officers, and lay members, young and old, to refrain
from this evil practice.
Realizing
that we are living in the last days, when men are “lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God,”
Resolved,
That we warn our people against the spirit of this pleasure-loving age, and
the commercialized amusements so prevalent.
We
call the attention of our readers to the report of a sermon by Elder M. E.
Kern in this number of the Review
(February 11, 1926). This sermon
was delivered before the students of the Washington Missionary College and the
nurses of the Washington Sanitarium at a recent Sabbath morning service.
Brother
Kern deals specifically with the character of the moving-picture theater, and
the great influence which this form of amusement exerts in the world. It is
not necessary to reiterate his statements in this article. We are in hearty
accord with his conclusions, and we commend the reading of his sermon to old
and young.
Sad
it is that there needs to be sounded in the columns of our church paper a
warning against these great evils. And yet we must believe, from the letters
which come to us from different parts of the field, that there are a number of
our dear brethren and sisters who are succumbing to these unholy influences.
Unfortunately, those thus affected do not belong alone to the younger class of
our church membership. Some of our older brethren and sisters have so lost out
of their hearts the true spirit of this message, have so lost out of their
lives the consciousness of Christ’s presence, that they have become
frequenters of these questionable places of amusement. And still more sad is
it to learn that occasionally there is found a Seventh-day Adventist preacher
who belongs to the class who frequent the movies.
For
the full text of the Wilcox article see Appendix 9
1926
- M. E. Kern’s
Sermon to Students at Washington Missionary College and the Nurses of
Washington Sanitarium:
In
a sermon to the school and sanitarium, just referred to by Elder Wilcox, Elder
M. E. Kern clearly outlined the dangers of the legitimate theater and the
secular movie industry. This was a well reasoned and informative discourse.
The following are portions of M. E. Kern’s discourse, “The
Theater,” printed in the Review of February 11, 1926.
For the full article, see Appendix 10.
One
of the most prevalent forms of commercialized amusements today is the theater. Through the invention of the moving-picture projector,
theatrical performances have been made available to all the little towns as
well as the large cities...
What
of the theater? For over twenty-four centuries it has been in existence. What
is its record? The testimony of history is that the theater has always been a
menace to morals. “The great
classic writers, Plato, and Aristotle, and Avid and Juvenal, and Tacitus, and
others wrote strongly against it, —not merely against its incidental evils
and abuses, but against its influence and tendency as an institution.”
Solon, the great lawmaker of Greece, denounced the profession as “tending by
its simulation of false character, and by its expression of sentiment not
genuine or sincere, to corrupt the integrity of human dealings.” The
historian Schaff says that the Roman theater became the “nursery of vice,”
and Macaulay tells us that from the time the theaters were opened in England
they became “seminaries of vice.”
The
movie is the modern theater for the masses, and it has all the faults of its
predecessors, and more. A writer
quoted in the Literary Digest of May 14, 1921, in an article on the
“The Nation-Wide Battle Over Movie Purification,” said:
We
do not know that the morals of the movies are any worse than the morals of the
stage. But mischievous movies do more harm, for they reach more
people, and especially more children who are impressionable and imitative...
Mrs.
Ellen O’Grady, formerly New York City deputy police commissioner, told the
New York Legislation in a hearing on a proposed motion-picture regulation law:
I
know from my own experience that the greater part of juvenile delinquence is
due to the evil influence of motion pictures.
I would cite you case after case of boys and girls gone wrong because
of films...
It
seems to me, dear friends, that our only safe course is to “enter not into
the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.” Prov. 4:14, 15. And we should pray, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity.” Ps. 119:37.
Last
of all, allow me to call your attention to the fact that the actor’s
profession is unnatural and radically wrong.
It is an unworthy profession. Solomon’s
condemnation was right:
The
very terms ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘playing a part on the stage’ are identical
in their earlier significance. ‘Hypocrite’
is, in both its Greek and Latin forms, a designation of an actor in the
theater...
There
was a theater in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus.
Do you think Jesus or His disciples attended it?
When Herod introduced this theater, it was denounced by Josephus, a
Jewish writer, as a corrupter of morals. You cannot imagine Jesus patronizing
it, can you? Can you imagine Him
attending movies if He were on earth today? —pp. 1-4.
1928
- J. E. Fulton in the Review:
J.
E. Fulton, a pioneer missionary to Fiji and president of the Pacific Union
Conference at the time, vocalized his concerns in an article entitled “The
Dangers of the Religious Drama” in the Review on December 6, 1928.
The complete article will be found in Appendix 11.
The principle outlined in this article is as follows:
...have
not our children and some of our older folk been prepared for attendance at
the theatrical plays by the introduction into our churches and Sabbath schools
of plays that are dramatic in character?
Let us keep all semblance of this out of our assemblies.
All exhibitions of display of a worldly nature, such as drama or
theatrical performances, should be kept out of our religious exercises. —p.
2.
1928
- J. A Stevens Shares Quotes From an Article in the Sunday School Times:
Stevens
quotes from this article and shares the concepts outlined by the writer with
the Review readers. For a complete reading of this informative article,
please turn to Appendix 12.
It
is heartening in this day of lowering standards to find the editorial backbone
necessary for giving an unequivocal answer to the above question that heads a
fine article in the Sunday School Times. So many churches have tried to
compete with the theaters by staging spectacular attractions, that it is not
altogether surprising to find the theaters simulating the church by an
endeavor to put on semisacred plays. A letter to the editor of the Times
called forth the comment that may be read with profit by every Seventh-day
Adventist. —p. 1.
1933
- The Battle Creek Tabernacle Church:
While
pastor of the Battle Creek Tabernacle Church, Elder Carlyle B. Haynes noted
that theatrics, make-believe, and acting were making inroads into the
Tabernacle Church. He was deeply concerned by these events.
In a sermon delivered the later part of 1933 and reproduced in the Review
on March 1, 1934, he stated:
For
myself I have come to the place where I can be silent no longer.
I want it known by every
one that I deplore the laxity that leads to this abandonment of our church
standards .... I propose to introduce into the next meeting of the executive
board of the Tabernacle the following resolution, and press its adoption.
—p. 2. (For the full resolution unanimously adopted by the Tabernacle
Executive Board on January 8, 1934, see
Appendix 13.)
1934
- Francis Wilcox,
Editor of the Review, Shares Leadership Concerns About Drama in Three
Editorials:
The
Seventh-day Adventist Church and institution leadership and conscientious
members were alert to the fact that dramatic theatrical productions were being
conducted, and movies shown in some of our churches and schools. The issue was
addressed to the church through Elder Francis Wilcox, editor of the Review,
through three very informative appeals published in the January 25, February
1, and February 8, 1934 issues entitled “The Religious Drama.” (For the
full articles, see Appendices 14-16.) There is no doubt as to the stand
our Seventh-day Adventist leadership and the majority of the membership took
toward drama. To them it was not a preference, but a conviction, an unchangeable standard. Elder Wilcox was
receiving letters from the field from concerned members. Following are a few
selected quotations from these articles:
Some
of our brethren and sisters are becoming ensnared with the spirit of worldly
pleasure, and it is of this danger that I wish to sound a warning in this
article. Of the evils attending the theater and the moving picture show,
perhaps I need say little, although some of our membership are attending such
gatherings. But there are others, while they would not attend some of these
more objectionable forms of pleasure, felt free to attend gatherings of the
same sort in character, if not of the same degree of harmfulness.
Some who would refuse to go to the drama as enacted in a theater, feel
free to go to a drama enacted in some church or hall.
If the drama has a historical background or a religious setting, this
affords ample excuse for attendance at such an entertainment. And when plays
of this character are patronized in outside churches, the logical step is to
seek to bring them into our own churches and into our own institutions.
This is done on the plea that such historical pageants or religious
dramas are educational or teach good moral lessons.
If
I were the only one concerned over such entertainments which are urging their
way into some of our schools and churches, I would feel to question my own
judgment, but I am glad from my correspondence to learn that there are others
who sense deeply the influence of these entertainments which are finding place
in some of the gatherings of our people....
I
believe that serious consideration should be given to this question,
particularly by our church officers and by our conference and institutional
leaders. The introduction into our schools and churches of pageants and plays
and the dramatization of various incidents, even though they may be historical
and educational, has a tendency to break down in the minds of many the
objections to theater going.¼
—Review, January 25, 1934.
In
sounding this warning, I have in mind no church or institution.
We have been warned
against worldly entertainments in the quotation I have given in this article,
and the warnings would not have been sounded had the danger not existed.
You who read these words know to what extent this danger confronts your
own church, your own institution. —Review, February 1, 1934.
It
is unfortunate indeed for us to bring into our own churches and institution
plays or dramas of any character which would simulate in any degree agencies
or methods that have been used through the centuries by the enemy of all
righteousness for the promotion of his evil work.
I recognize that some of the religious plays today have little if any
suggestion of evil, and these forms of entertainment employed in our own
churches or institutions may of themselves alone be comparatively harmless:
but the danger is that they constitute the first step in a path which
ultimately leads downward toward the world and away from God. They constitute
a departure from the spirit of simplicity which has characterized this
movement through the years...
We
can never save our youth and children by arranging programs in our
institutions or churches which make constant appeal to their love of
entertainment. Indeed, where this
appeal is continually made to their natures, they will lose interest in the
solemn, sober realties of Christian service.
They will tire of the meeting for prayer, of the preaching of the
gospel, of the study of the Sabbath school lesson.
We
do well to consider this principle in the commendable efforts we put forth for
the salvations of our youth and children in every department of the church.
We must recognize that character transformation can be wrought only by
the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching of the gospel of salvation, the study of
the word of God, prayer and consecrated effort. It is perfectly proper to give an interesting and attractive
setting to every service of the church, but the Seventh-day Adventist Church
can never be saved by ritualism or literary programs. These under some circumstances may be helps, but they are
lame helps at best. —Review, February 8, 1934. (Emphasis supplied)
1935
- The Autumn Council
Recommends Disfellowshiping Movie and Theater goers:
We
appeal to our ministers, our workers, our people
everywhere, to keep their feet in the “old paths,” and not to
remove the “ancient landmarks” of this message.
In
cases where members of the churches hold bridge or similar card parties in
their homes, or frequent such gatherings in other places; or have dances in
their homes or attend them elsewhere; or frequent shows in theaters or movie
houses, we recommend that faithful labor be put forth to reclaim such
individuals from the errors of their way; but if this proves unsuccessful,
that they be dismissed from church membership. —Review,
December 5, 1935.
If
this recommendation were followed today, many members of the Seventh-day
Adventist church who persist in attending motion picture theaters or purchase
and rent videos to play dramatic productions on their VCR’s, would no
longer be members in the Adventist church.
1937
- Committee on
Visual Education’s Report to the General Conference on March 10, 1937:
It
is apparent that 1937 was a pivotal year for the church to reiterate its stand
on drama. Some time before the 1937 editorials of March 18, March 25,
April 1, April 8, and April 15 that appeared in the Review, the church
had appointed a visual education committee to study visual education. These
five articulate and convincing articles are found in Appendices 17-21.
Following are a few quotations from these articles:
The
plea is sometimes made that we must provide for our young people entertainment
of this character or they will go to the world to secure it.
This argument, in my estimation, falls of its
own weight. Instead of
holding our youth back from the world by dramatic plays, we are creating in
them an appetite for these things, which they will seek elsewhere. —Review,
March 18, 1937.
From
one of our readers who is anxious to know the right comes this inquiry.
“There
are a few questions I should like to ask you.
I am asking them in a humble attempt to get right and to do what is
right in the sight of God. First, just what is right in regard to
Seventh‑day Adventists’ attending pictures? I am sixty years old, and
have been brought up in this message. I have always been told it was wrong to
attend theaters, moving pictures, and other worldly amusements. But
now I am told that while it may not be best, it is not a sin, so one
can attend if he desires. I cannot understand that sort of reasoning. Will you
make this plain to me?
“Another
question: If I know men and women
who are attending the movies, can I conscientiously vote them into office in
the church? I am a Sabbath school superintendent here, and there are some who
might be good teachers, but every member knows that they attend the movies,
and I have not felt free to put them in the position of teachers. Am I too old‑fashioned, and should I let down on the
beliefs that I have been holding for a long time? I do not want to be
fanatical, but I do want to do what is right.”
What
answer would you give to these inquiries? Do you think that in standing
against our people’s attending theaters and the movies, this reader is too
old‑fashioned? Do you think that times have changed, and that what was
sinful twenty years ago is right today?
The
apostle John gave this instruction to the church in his day:
‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world. The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever.’ 1 John 2:15-17.
Do
you think this instruction was applicable to the apostolic church, but is not
applicable to the remnant church? I cannot so regard it. The
eternal truth of God remains unchanged, and what was written aforetime
was written for our instruction today. I believe that the old‑time
standard of the Seventh-day Adventist Church should be upheld, even
though some in the church have lowered that standard into the dust.
And
what would you reply in answer to the question as to whether men and women who
attend theaters and the movies should occupy official positions in the church?
Should they be appointed as Sabbath school teachers? In my judgment this would
be most inconsistent. The men and women who occupy positions of leadership in
the church of Christ should represent in their lives the principles of the
gospel message. Standing as the representatives of the church, they should
represent the principles of the church.
Indeed, rather than being made leaders, such church members should
rather become subjects of missionary labor on the part of those who recognize
the influence for evil which these misguided ones are exerting. This was the
recommendation of the Autumn Council of 1935 at Louisville, Kentucky...
—Review, March 25, 1937.
These
are quotations from only two of the articles. The reader would do well to
review each of these articles before reading further.
The
General Conference Committee of March 10, 1937, approved the visual education
committee’s findings and they were published in The General Conference
Bulletin on Movies. See
Appendix 19 for the complete adoption report. Following are the
recommendations for acceptable and unacceptable films:
1.
Acceptable Films
a.
Industrial Pictures.—Pictures
showing processes of manufacture,
lumbering, mining. oil production, public utilities. transportation, commerce,
transmission of news and information, etc.
b.
Scenic.—Pictures of national or other parks, natural scenery,
mountain climbing, exploration, and the like.
c.
Travelogues.—Pictures
of other countries, their national habits, customs, and life (excluding scenes
that may have a corrupting influence).
d.
Nature and Wild Life.—Pictures of the Forest Service, and animal
life in various States and nations. The life development of insects, plants,
fishes, birds, and animals (excluding those which emphasize cruelty).
e.
Art and Archeology.—(Excluding
films that portray indecent and corrupt art.)
f.
Newsreels and Current History.—(Excluding
films which are contrary to our recognized standards.)
g.
Educational Films.—Films
which impart information and teach truth in any branch of learning.
h.
Pictures of Places.—Those
associated with historical incidents.
i.
Our denominational work and activities.
2.
Unacceptable Films
a.
Films portraying Christ and inspired men.
b.
Pictures portraying romantic love‑making.
c.
Films portraying scenes which are contrary to Seventh-day
Adventist standards and ideals, such as popularized
dancing, card playing, gambling, drinking, etc.
d.
Films portraying crime or glorifying criminals.
e.
Films portraying scenes of violence or cruelty, such as prize fighting.
f.
Films which lower esteem for the sanctity of marriage by portraying
family disruptions, or ridiculing home life and home relationships.
g.
Films portraying scenes of night life, drinking, carousing, gaiety,
revelry, rowdiness.
h.
Films portraying scenes of smoking as a social activity. (Pictures
portraying processes of manufacture, for example, in which the operator might
happen to be smoking, might not be included in this category because the
attention of the observer is centered upon the process rather than upon the
smoking as a desirable activity.)
i.
Films which by ridicule, suggestive insinuation, or
crude comedy, lower in the estimation of the observer, religion or the
ministry, or the dignity of human personality,
or law‑enforcing agencies.
j.
Films of a scientific or historical character which blend
misrepresentation of facts with the actual.
k.
Popularized historical films which distort facts of history and pervert
truth, or which present scenes of cruelty and bloodshed. —Review,
April 18, 1940.
Please
refer again to these guidelines as you read the 1950 revision, the 1963 White
paper (Appendix 22) and the 1974 Guidelines for the Use of
Dramatization Among Seventh-day Adventists (Appendix 29).
Along with council given to the Seventh-day Adventist
church membership by its leaders and stated in The General Conference Bulletin
on Movies, leaders of other denominations were voicing their concerns on
how the movie industry was making inroads into the Christian church. One such
leader was A. W. Tozer in his
book, The Menace of the
Religious Movie. For
selections from this book, please turn to Appendix 3 (The complete book
has been reprinted by the Mennonite Rod and Staff Publishing House and is
still in print).
Everything
written about the religious movie can be applied to dramatic religious
television and video programing. In
reality, while the theme may be based on a Biblical truth or an actual event,
the final product is often pretense and hypocrisy.
When any portion of a dramatic production is fictitious, the viewer may
not be able to discern truth from fiction.
Again, let us be reminded of the Apostle Paul’s counsel, “Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things.” —Phil. 4:8.(Emphasis
supplied.)
1940
- The Review Reiterates the Warning Against Theater going:
We
live in a sensational age. Love
of the theatrical and the dramatic has increased with the years.
Playhouses exist on every side, and the throngs of theater goers and
those attending them. Movies are being constantly augmented.
Naturally, these attractions make an appeal to the young.
We
can never furnish in our institutions substitutes of the same character,
hoping to be able to hold our own young people.
Indeed, we must be very careful lest the substitutes we provide create
a love for the very things we are seeking to guard against.
Years ago the messenger of the Lord recognized this danger, and gave
the following very definite counsel: (Quotation is three paragraphs from Testimonies,
Vol. IV, pp. 577, 578.) —Review, April 4, 1940.
1945
- Elder F. M. Wilcox
Continues to Hold up the Standards:
As
our churches and educational institutions continued to let down the barriers
to theatrical productions, Elder Wilcox again shared with the members of the
church the Seventh-day Adventist’s historic view concerning drama. —Review,
October 18, 1945:
Worldly
methods, such as dramatic exhibitions, and religious plays and pageants, are
being employed in some of our churches and institutions. All this is wrong.
From
the Mid-40's Until Now
Until
the advent of the “silver screen,” theater attendance by Seventh-day
Adventists was infrequent. Most
Adventists in the 20's and 30's shunned
movie houses. By the late 30's and early 40's, the demand for
“acceptable” films for church socials and school functions increased. Some
of these films had been shown in local movie houses some years previously.
But
when theatrical performances became accessible through television in the late
40's and early fifties, the theater was brought into the parlors of Adventist
homes. Concerned and awake Adventist parents viewed Hollywood productions with
suspicion. They saw what dramatic television productions really
were—mediocrity at best, and sex, violence, and an attack on Christian
values at its worst. Most of the beneficial values of television, as with the
rented movies used by our churches and educational institutions, were
outweighed by their dangers. The risk/benefit ratio was too costly and those
concerned parents chose not to have a television in their homes.
At
first, many sincere Seventh-day Adventist Christians abhorred Hollywood
productions and later television programing, but gradually they beheld, and
finely embraced. As early as the mid 30's,
some leadership in our academies, colleges, and some churches either
forgot or ignored the counsel concerning drama given by our prophet and church
leadership. But by the late 40's and 50's feature films became the
drawing power for certain student events in our schools and at church socials.
Some
parents, who had carefully protected their children at home from fiction and
drama, saw their children’s minds corrupted by Hollywood productions in our
own churches and schools. With the introduction of VCR’s and videos, video
games, and now the world wide web, Seventh-day Adventist youth have become
inundated with drama and the entertainment world.
The
careful observer who watched the movie industry grow and observed the
introduction of television and videos into our American culture, can trace the
Adventist Church’s gradual acceptance of drama into the infrastructure of
its homes, churches and schools from the mid-forties onward.
1946
- Southeastern California Conference Struggles to Hold the Line:
Many
leaders attempted to hold to the counsel established by our pioneers and
reiterated by the Spring and Autumn Counsels of 1934, 1937 and 1938, but it
became exceedingly more difficult. John
Hancock was appointed the youth director of the Southeastern California
Conference in 1946. In his paper entitled “Is Dramatization Wrong?” (see
Appendix 25) presented to the Committee on Guidelines for Sports and Drama
on January 28-31, 1974, he said:
I
was a freshman in college when the Autumn Council of 1934 took an action that
recommended that in Sabbath school programs “no attempt be made to present
plays or pageants. That representations that require elaborate costuming, or
the dramatizing of the lives of Bible characters or religious incidents, be
avoided.” The action further recommended that “the utmost simplicity
distinguish the representation of an exercise or a dialogue, or the taking of
character parts in mission incidents or scenes.”
Again
in 1935 and 1938 Autumn Council actions were taken appealing “to our
ministers, our workers, our people everywhere, to keep their feet in the
‘old paths’ and not to remove the ‘ancient landmarks’ of this
message.” Included in this appeal was a call to labor faithfully for members
who were holding bridge parties and similar card parties in their homes and
who were frequenting theaters or movie houses, recommending that if such
persons did not turn from the error of their ways, they be dismissed from
church membership...
I
can well remember the difficulties we faced as leaders interpreting some of
these things. In 1946 I became a youth director in Southeastern California
Conference. There was a continual hassle over Saturday night films churches
and schools were getting from motion picture rental agencies. The Pacific
Union Conference set up a film-review commission, trying to make up a list of
“approved” films for the Adventist’s own legion of decency, but there
was disagreement even among the appointed reviewers as to what was right and
what was wrong. John Hancock, “Is Dramatization Wrong.” —pp. 2-4.
1947
- The 1934 Autumn
Council Guidelines Are Reiterated:
The
1934 Autumn Council recommendations concerning plays and pageants was
republished in a Sabbath School Department pamphlet in 1947.
We
recommend:
1.
That superintendents and leaders of divisions plan their programs and
all their work in such a way as to instill into our Sabbath schools everywhere
a deeper spirit of reverence for the house of God and His holy Word.
2.
That in Programs no attempt be made to present plays or pageants. That
representations that require elaborate costuming, or the dramatizing of the
lives of Bible characters or religious incidents, be avoided.
3.
That the utmost simplicity distinguish the representation of an
exercise or a dialogue, ...in
mission incidents or scenes. —Sabbath School Department [pamphlet],
1947 [Quoted in “Drama? Truthfull? or Pretentious?” David J. Lee, p. 12.]
1950
- Faith for Today:
The
entry of the Seventh-day Adventist church into television began on “ --- a
drizzly day in early April, 1950. I
was the pastor of a thriving church in downtown Brooklyn, New York, and had
been away from my church making hospital calls,” writes Elder William Fagal,
Sr. and Mrs. Virginia Fagal in their book This Is Our Story, p. 5. He
continues:
Returning
early in the afternoon, I was greeted by my secretary with the news that I was
wanted immediately at the Hotel Victoria in the Times Square area of New York.
Some of the leading officials from our Washington, D.C., church headquarters
were there, and they had been calling about every ten minutes (or so she said)
wondering why she had not succeeded in getting the message to me.
---Surveying
the faces before me I noticed that the president of the General Conference,
the highest official of the church, was present, together with the secretary
and the treasure. Besides these, the group included the head of the Radio
Department and two or three others.
---The
church, they informed me, would like to “experiment” with television.
A committee had been appointed to investigate the possibilities, and
the group of men before me had come from Washington to New York to finalize on
arrangements.
That
morning they had been at the American Broadcasting Company network offices and
had signed a contract to begin a half-hour weekly telecast on Sunday night,
May 21. All they now lacked was a program and an individual upon whom to place
responsibility for it. They told
me I was the man they wanted to create the program and put it on the air.
I would have about six weeks to prepare before the zero hour on the
evening of May 21. Ibid., p. 5 & 6.
The
rest is history. Elder Fagal met
with the ABC officials. “--- I
listened carefully to some concrete suggestions they made. The directors assigned to our program summed up their counsel
very simply in the words ‘Don’t preach.”
“---Use the techniques of drama to tell a true-to-life
story,” they told him. Ibid. p. 19 & 20. And thus the basis was
established for the first Faith for Today programs.
“And so we decided to try a 12- to 15-minute story approach, followed
with a five-minute sermonette to reinforce certain points.” Ibid., p. 20 (emphasis suppled)
Elder
Fagal’s use of drama by Faith for Today was an “outrage” to some
Adventist. He describes it as follows:
Faith
For Today’s story format — originally chosen as a means of reaching the
unchurched a well as the youth audience — was at first a real bone of
contention. The fact that in our
early days the 15-minute sketch was followed by a five-minute sermonette —
with music and a commercial for the Bible correspondence course — did little
to assuage the sense of outrage of some. Ibid., p. 46.
In
1955, it was decided to film the programs instead of having live
presentations. Elder Fagal writes, “We immediately faced the fact that our
dedicated amateurs would not be adequate in a professional film situation.
In fact, it would be impossible for most of them to take time from
their daytime jobs for all-day filming sessions.
So we faced the necessity of hiring professionals who were accustomed
to performing in front of the camera to illustrate the stories effectively.”
Ibid., p. 98.
In
1972, the fully-developed drama series Westbook Hospital was established, to
be followed in 1975 by the first one-hour dramatic film on the life and
martyrdom of John Huss, and shortly after that the
television special “The Harvest”.
In
a personal communication on April 4, 1999, with Dan Matthews, then director of
Faith for Today, it was learned
that near the end of the “Westbrook Hospital” series (in the early
eighties), each program was costing Faith for Today around $80,000 to
produce. The cost became
prohibitive and the dramatic series was ended. The “Life Style Magazine”
replaced the dramatic productions. During
our conversation, Elder Matthews made a significant statement.
He said, “I believe if Christ were living now, he would use drama.”
After researching this material, this writer strongly disagrees.
As
you read sections 1961 and 1974, keep in mind the expanding use of
drama used by Faith for Today from 1950 thru 1975.
Unfortunately, Elder Fagal’s book contains no information to enlighten
the reader on the reasons used to justify the use of dramatic productions in
light of the church’s previous stand on drama.
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