# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1938_S250
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

250 Publication Matters

Young People’s Literature Board may be able to serve Synod still
more than it has in the past. We recommend therefore that it be
continued and asked to function in the same capacity as in the past.

More and more our Board is serving not only members of our
own synod but also outsiders, and more and more manuscripts are
being submitted to us for examination by non-Lutheran writers.
We are genuinely glad thus to serve ever larger circles of Christians
who desire for their young people a literature that is truly Chris-
tian. Unfortunately we do not know from what sources to obtain
such Christian and wholesome books. Of the numerous manu-
scripts submitted to us practically all contain some features which
render them undesirable for dissemination in our circles, and even
Christian publishing houses that boast of the thoroughly Christian
character of their publications often permit books to go out which
cannot be read by young people without harm to their souls. We
find in all this a problem that is hard to solve, and yet, more than
in the past, our pastors, teachers, and parents must supervise and
guide the reading of our young people. We are living in godless
times, when evolutionism, Modernism, and atheism find many de-
fenders among authors of note, and the devastating influence of
their unsound writings is something that ought to fill every friend
of the Christian faith and purity with anxiety. The whole matter
ought to be studied and discussed throughout our Synod to the
end that we may guard our youth against the venom endangering
them in vicious books. We hope that this vexing question may
be squarely brought to the attention of our Synod.

The chairman of your Board will be in attendance at the con-
vention and will be glad to give further information and receive
suggestions.

As in the past, we again submit a number of recommendations:

1. That the Young People’s Literature Board continue to serve
Synod as in the past, doing all that is in its power to foster the cause
of good reading-matter and its spread in our Church;

2. That Concordia Publishing House receive the thanks of
Synod for its fine cooperation in the work of your Board;

3. That our pastors, teachers, and laymen be encouraged to
support the work by ordering such books as Concordia Publishing
House offers for sale;

4. That still more than in the past Lutheran authors of the
Synodical Conference be encouraged to submit manuscripts of value
and interest to your Board in order that in the course of time we
may have our own Christian writers to give us the stories we desire
and to compete with godless authors, whose literary products are
unfit for use in our schools and homes;