Protestant churches and their attitude to public issues in Queensland 1919-1939

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is the Protestant churches in Queensland between the years 1919-1939. By Protestant it is meant non-Anglican as well as non-Roman Catholic and non-Orthodox churches. The Queensland Council of Churches basically represents what is meant by 'Protestant churches'. The Queensland Council of Churches involved the Methodist, Congregation, Presbyterian, Baptist, Salvation Army, Churches of Christ, churches. When the name of a denomination is just being used, such as 'Methodist Church', it will always refer to the denominational Church in Queensland. (i.e. 'Methodist Church in Queensland') unless otherwise specified. When the word 'churches' is used, it will refer to the scope of this thesis (unless otherwise specified), to the non-Anglican Protestant churches in Queensland during the interwar period. There maybe, however cases when what is true for the usage of 'churches' is also true for the Anglican Church in Queensland during this period but the scope of this thesis will remain confinded to the smaller Protestant churches (i.e. Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist etc). The writer of this thesis will work with the assumption that the 'churches' were closely related in their thinking on the issues involved in this thesis. Therefore an example from one denomination will generally represent the attitudes of other denominations unless otherwise specified. The main assumption made in this work is that the reports of committees in the different Church Conferences, Assemblies, Unions are authoritive statements of the churches' concerned. Thus a committee's report is taken to speak for it's Church as a whole, though at times there are exceptions to this rule. Therefore, if it is stated that the Presbyterian Church or Assembly has taken a certain action, or made a certain comment, that action or comment may be based on the recommendation of one of the Presbyterian Assembly Committees. The word 'Conference', 'Assembly', 'Union' used alone will always refer to the Queensland Methodist Conference, the Presbyterian Queensland General Assembly and the Baptist Union of Queensland unless otherwise specified. Editorials and main articles in Church newspapers will also be taken as presenting the views of the churches concerned.