Book Burning

Regular readers of this blog will know that Bruce contacted the Watchtower Society for certain information and documentation. The Office of Public Information replied to one request and this is now shared below.

The Proclaimers book on page 642 describes how the books of C T Russell were publicly burned in parts of the United States. Quoting from part of one paragraph:

“Many of the clergy used their pulpits to denounce Russell’s writings. They commanded their flocks not to accept literature distributed by the Bible Students. A number of them sought to induce public officials to put a stop to this work. In some places in the United States – among them, Tampa, Florida; Rock Island, Illinois; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Scranton, Pennsylvania – they supervised public burning of books written by Russell.”

Bruce asked for supporting evidence for this book burning, and scans of four items were sent.

The first, and familiar to many readers already, was this page from J F Rutherford’s Great Battle in Ecclesiastical Heavens, which reproduced the charred remains of one copy of the Divine Plan of the Ages.

The caption ‘Rescued from the Flames of the Destroyer’ lists the places where public burnings had taken place up to 1915. This is the list reproduced in the Proclaimers book.

Such events made the newspapers. The Harrisburgh Telegraph (PA) for January 23, 1915, reported on a proposed public burning of books in front of the United Brethren Church.  With an ecumenical touch some books of Christian Science were to be added to the same bonfire. However, the paper did announce that “the books most bitterly condemned by Evangelist Hillis were Russell’s ‘Millinial (sic) Dawn’ and the publications of the ‘Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.’”

The next year, the Hopkinsville Kentuckian for August 19, 1916, reported on a similar event.

The longest newspaper account was from 1919. The Alexandria Gazette (Virginia) for December 5, 1919, gave quite a favourable review of Russell’s work, noting that they “abound in quotations from holy writ.” It suggested that most of the protestors had probably not actually read them. The book burning was part of a revivalist drive at a Primitive Methodist Church. The books were dumped on a street corner, doused in kerosene, and the paper painted an entertaining picture of two hundred “religionists” (their words) dancing around the flames while singing hymns.

The newspaper story ended with the paragraph:

“Pastor Russell’s books have given an impetus to Bible study. This fact alone should save them from the bonfire.”