allows for
relaxation, and then for an hour the question goes to the house, and
free discussion takes place under the direction of the leader of the
meeting. Sometimes series of this sort are supplied by churches or
other social organizations; in that case many of the speakers are
clergymen, and in some forums the topics are connected with religious
or strictly moral interests; but even then the discussion is on the
broad plane of the common concerns of humanity, and there is a zest to
the occasion that the ordinary religious gathering does not inspire.
The second plan is modelled after the old-fashioned town meeting that
was transplanted from the mother country to New England, and has
spread to other parts of the United States. It is a gathering of all
who wish to discuss freely some question that interests them all, and
it is more strictly co-operative than the first plan, for there is no
one speaker to contribute the main part of the debate, but each may
make his own contribution, and by the power of his own persuasion win
for his argument the decision of the meeting. Besides stimulating the
interest of those who take part, such a debate is a most effective
educator of the public mind in matters of social weal.

READING REFERENCES

HENDERSON: _Social Elements_, pages 228-253.

KING: _Social Aspects of Education_, pages 65-97, 264-290.

WARD: _The Social Center_, pages 212-251.

WOLFE: _The Lodging House Problem_, pages 109-114.

_Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association,
1905_, pages 644-650, "Music as a Factor in Culture."

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE CHURCH

301. =The Place of the Church in the Urban Community.=--In the city,
as in the country, the religious instinct expresses itself socially
through the institution of the church or synagogue. Spiritual force
cannot be confined within the limits of a single institution; religion
is a dynamic that permeates the life of society; yet in this age of
specialization, and especially in a country like the United States,
where religion is a voluntary affair, not to be entangled with the
school or the State, religion has naturally exerted its influence most
directly through the church. Charity and settlement workers are
inspired by a religion that makes humanitarianism a part of its creed,
and a large majority of them are church members, but as a rule they do
not attempt to introduce any religious forms or exercises into t