Religion: Forward, Laymen

The first 100% layman ever to head the Federal Council of Churches (TIME, Dec. 16), Cincinnati Lawyer Charles P. Taft, looked like a fine new broom—and the cluttered house of U. S. Protestantism is thick with ancient ecclesiastical dust. The situation suggested a lot of house-cleaning ideas to sharp-tongued Magazine Writer Stanley High. Wrote angry Presbyterian High in this week's Christian Century:

The most hopeful fact about Mr. Taft by all odds is that he is not a clergyman. Therein, I think, is his unique and prophetic opportunity. . . .

I am pretty...

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