Changes

Some questioned the permanence of Sunday's "conversions." Following the famous 1917 revival in New York, the Federal Council of Churches found that only 200 of the 68,000 were permanent converts.<ref name=nytobit/> In 1921, a commentator wrote:

Some questioned the permanence of Sunday's "conversions." Following the famous 1917 revival in New York, the Federal Council of Churches found that only 200 of the 68,000 were permanent converts.<ref name=nytobit/> In 1921, a commentator wrote:

:In spite of the thousands that have hit the sawdust trail, however, it is difficult to believe that more than a tiny proportion of his auditors are religiously affected by him. Very few give any signs of seriousness or "conversion." The great majority of those who hit the trail are merely people who want to shake his hand.... His audiences are curious to see him and hear him. He is a remarkable public entertainer, and much that he says has keen humor and verbal art and horse sense. But ... he leaves an impression of being at once violent and incommunicative, a salesman for Christianity but not a guide or friend.<ref>Hackett, Francis (1921), ''The Invisible Censor,''  B.W. Huebsch, Inc.; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ln1ixFuVoUsC&pg=PA23&ots=a2iRPCJG_X&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+shaking+shake+hand&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=hNWhl_TXHcL53rx0MTSo9CUmPHs#PPA30,M1 p. 30] (of reprint)</ref>

:In spite of the thousands that have hit the sawdust trail, however, it is difficult to believe that more than a tiny proportion of his auditors are religiously affected by him. Very few give any signs of seriousness or "conversion." The great majority of those who hit the trail are merely people who want to shake his hand.... His audiences are curious to see him and hear him. He is a remarkable public entertainer, and much that he says has keen humor and verbal art and horse sense. But ... he leaves an impression of being at once violent and incommunicative, a salesman for Christianity but not a guide or friend.<ref>Hackett, Francis (1921), ''The Invisible Censor,''  B.W. Huebsch, Inc.; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ln1ixFuVoUsC&pg=PA23&ots=a2iRPCJG_X&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+shaking+shake+hand&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=hNWhl_TXHcL53rx0MTSo9CUmPHs#PPA30,M1 p. 30] (of reprint)</ref>

Sunday's reply to such criticisms was "They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good."<ref name=montgomery/>

Sunday's reply to such criticisms was "They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good."<ref name=montgomery/> He felt that it was the local clergy's job to retain the people he converted: "If you are too lazy to take care of the baby after it is born, don't blame the doctor."<ref name=tnr>

Sunday was criticized by the liberal clergy of the day. Left-leaning Leon Milton Birkhead called Sunday's theology "a mediaeval belief that Christianity somehow is a fire-escape from a future hell." In 1916 Unitarian minister Joel H. Metcalf said "I cannot see how any cultivated person can be other than terribly revolted by the extreme sensationalism, the coarse jokes, the super-slang, the bawd characterizations, the ribald Billingsgate, and the dancing dervish contortions of the revivalist, where perspiration seems to be confused with inspiration."<ref>[http://personal.tmlp.com/richard/1916.htm Liberalism and the Modern Revival], sermon by Joel H. Metcalf, Winchester Star (Winchester, VA), December 8, 1916</ref>  

Sunday was criticized by the liberal clergy of the day. Left-leaning Leon Milton Birkhead called Sunday's theology "a mediaeval belief that Christianity somehow is a fire-escape from a future hell." In 1916 Unitarian minister Joel H. Metcalf said "I cannot see how any cultivated person can be other than terribly revolted by the extreme sensationalism, the coarse jokes, the super-slang, the bawd characterizations, the ribald Billingsgate, and the dancing dervish contortions of the revivalist, where perspiration seems to be confused with inspiration."<ref>[http://personal.tmlp.com/richard/1916.htm Liberalism and the Modern Revival], sermon by Joel H. Metcalf, Winchester Star (Winchester, VA), December 8, 1916</ref>