A two-year survey to determine the extent of racial and religious bias and prejudice in Protestant church literature in this country has been launched by the Yale Divinity School, it was announced here today by Dean Liston Pope. He revealed that the school has received a grant from the American Jewish Committee for the research project.
In making his announcement Dean Pope stated it is his opinion that the survey can make “a very important contribution” to the battle against bias and prejudice in this country. “We have every reason to believe that the religious editors themselves will be glad to cooperate in making improvements, “he declared.
The Rev. Paul H. Vieth, Horace Bushnell Professor of Christian Nurture, who is chairman of a faculty administrative and advisory committee for the project, said that curriculum materials of most of the larger Protestant denominations will be studied as well as literature of some of the smaller denominations and the output of publishers of religious texts.
Findings of the survey will be gathered together in an over-all report, he asserted, and will be made available to church groups, religious educators, writers, publishers, and others interested in attacking bias in church teachings. The report also will eventually be published, he said.
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