Hypocrisy of Many Church Members Revealed by Pastor, May 9, 1924

Rev. Carter Ashton Jenkins Jr., pastor of Calvery Baptist church of Richmond, Va., preached to a vast audience in the city auditorium Sunday afternoon and gave some of his experiences and observations in visiting dens of iniquity under a disguise. His subject or text was “Shall We Fiddle While Rome Burns” and from the reports he gave his audience some pretty straight facts. He found 47 places that were selling liquor to the people at their will daily. He said also that 90 per cent of the patrons of the blind tigers were church members. This is an awful charge to lay at the door of church members and so many of them deacons of their churches. Mr. Jenkins said only one preacher in the city had expressed any sympathy to him in his efforts to break up this kind of lawlessness. Are the preachers afraid to speak out against this class of their members, who patronize these dens of iniquity? If the churches fail to speak out against these things, to whom may we look for a leader to cry out against sin and its consequences.

From the editorial page of the Norlina Headlight, Friday, May 9, 1924, J.C. Hardy, editor and proprietor

A blind tiger was a speakeasy, a place that sold alcoholic beverages during Prohibition.