Is There Room for Religious Conviction in the Great Society?

VOL. 60, NO. 5 September-October 1965 25 CENTS

B dr:. ®7L m ms1 E IVI

Is there room for religious conviction in the Great Society?

By W. MELVIN ADAMS WILLIAM H. HACKETT Assignment: Washington

An interpretative report of church, state, and politics on Capitol Hill.

■ Is the Federal Government about to distortions, to elicit support for the embark on a program using the foreign mis- United States position on broad foreign sions machinery of the churches for the policy issues, et cetera. implementation of our country's foreign policy? Though there has been no overt step Apparently the questionnaire tabula- in this direction, one committee of Con- tion did not reveal much enthusiasm on the gress has already compiled a directory of part of groups questioned for commitment to nonprofit private organizations, includ- ideological objectives. Admitting this, ing many religious groups, that carry on the committee report says, "The tendency overseas operations; and it has made cer- for a substantial segment of the organiza- tain recommendations for closer ties be- tions responding to the subcommittee's tween these organizations and the Federal questionnaire is to contend that they are Government. not involved in global ideological confrontation, or that whatever political im- The directory is a part of House Re- pact attends upon their activity, this is port No. 368 and is entitled "Overseas Pro- strictly secondary to the purpose of their grams of Private Nonprofit American Organi- programs." zations." It is "Report No. 3 on Winning the Cold War: The U.S. Ideological Offen- ■ One hundred sixty-seven respond- sive." It was prepared by the subcommittee ents "indicated they thought the Govern- on International Organizations and Move- ment should provide financial support for ments of the Committee on Foreign Affairs privately sponsored and conducted under- of the House of Representatives. takings." Many others replied that while they did not seek financial support, they ■ In presenting the report to Congress, thought the Government could legitimately Rep. Thomas E. Morgan (Pa . ) , chairman of the assist them. The report adds that "149 indi- Foreign Affairs Committee, said that while cated their assent to governmental attempts the report may not necessarily reflect the to develop, in cooperation with representa- views of the membership of the Committee on tives of private American organizations, Foreign Affairs, it "is filed in the hope national positions with respect to par- that it will prove useful to Congress in its ticular problems or tasks as they might consideration of legislation." arise in specific countries."

The subcommittee, which is headed by Whether or not the Government attempts Rep. Dante B. Fascell (Fla.) , has been exam- to enlist religious and other groups in our ining the nature and scope of the ideologi- overseas ideological warfare, a note of cal challenge produced by the cold war and warning can be found for those groups that as a part of that undertook "to review and seek Government aid: There are strings. appraise the tools which the U.S. Govern- After observing that most of the organiza- ment uses to meet that challenge." This tions made reports available to the public latest phase, on which the current report but not to the Government, the report is based, is designed "to explore the con- states: tribution of private American citizens and organizations abroad to the advancement of "This is one area which requires at- U.S. foreign policy objectives." tention, for the Federal Government can hardly be expected to provide additional ■ Representatives of some 1,600 groups assistance to these private groups unless contacted were asked such questions as it is kept informed of their activities in what they are doing to combat Communist some systematic manner." VOL. 60, NO. 5 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1965

EDITOR Roland R. Hegstad

ASSOCIATE EDITORS 25 cents Washington Marvin E. Loewen a copy LIBERTPY D.C. W. Melvin Adams A MAGAZINE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

ART EDITOR Terence K. Martin LIBERTY: A Magazine of Religious Freedom is published bimonthly for the CIRCULATION MANAGER Religious Liberty Association of America by the Review and Herold Publishing Roy G. Camlobell Association, Washington, D.C. 20012. Second-class postage paid at Washington, D.C. Address editorial correspondence to 6840 Eastern Avenue NW., Washington, CONSULTING EDITORS D.C. 20012. LIBERTY is a member of the Associated Church Press. W. P. Bradley, Neal C. Wilson, M. V. Campbell, R. L. Odom, Cyril Miller, Theodore Carcich

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dr. Jean Nussbaum W. L. Emmerson ARTICLES Kenneth Holland

LEGAL ADVISER You, the Church, and Tax-Exempt Boardman Noland Wealth Martin A. Larson EDITORIAL SECRETARY Thelma Wellman Is There Room for Religious Conviction LAYOUT ARTIST in the Great Society? W. Melvin Adams Gert Busch

The Strange Case of the Missing Qualifications Roland R. Hegstad RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Sweden's Struggle for ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Religious Freedom H. 0. Olson Declaration of Principles

We believe in religious liberty, and hold that Catholicism and Liberty B. B. Beach this God-given right is exercised at its best when there is separation between church and state. We believe in civil government as divinely The Christian and Politics ordained to protect men in the enjoyment of their natural rights, and to rule in civil things; (Conclusion) Charles E. B. Cranfield and that in this realm it is entitled to the re- spectful and willing obedience of all. We believe in the individual's natural and inalienable right to freedom of conscience: to worship or not to worship; to profess, to practice, and to promulgate his religious beliefs, or FEATURES to change them according to his conscience or opinions, holding that these are the essence of religious liberty; but that in the exercise of this right he should respect the equivalent Assignment: Washington William H. Hackett rights of others. We believe that all legislation and other gov- From the Editor's Desk ernmental acts which unite church and state are subversive of human rights, potentially per- "Dear Sir" secuting in character, and opposed to the best interests of church and state; and therefore, that it is not within the province of human World Body Lists Essential Religious Liberty Requirements government to enact such legislation or per- form such acts. Voices in the Ecumenical Wind We believe it is our duty to use every lawful and honorable means to prevent the enactment of legislation which tends to unite church and Editorials: Sectarian School Expansion . . The Green state, and to oppose every movement toward Amendment such union, that all may enjoy the inestimable blessings of religious liberty. World News We believe that these liberties are embraced in the golden rule, which teaches that o man should do to others as he would have others The Launching Pad C. Mervyn Maxwell do to him.

THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA was organized in 1889 by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Dedicated to the preservation of religious freedom, the association advocates no political or economic theories. General secretary, Marvin E. Loewen; associate secretaries, W. Melvin Adams, Roland R. Hegstad. COPYRIGHT: The entire contents of this issue are copyrighted © 1965 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association. All rights reserved. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $1.25; one copy, 25 cents. Slightly higher in Canada. Subscription rates subject to change without notice. All subscriptions must be paid for in advance. Except for sample copies, papers are sent only on paid subscriptions. CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Please enclose address label from magazine or wrapper. Allow one month for address change. Write: Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C. 20012.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 3 from the editor's desk

OOKED at your tax bill lately? According to Dr. Martin A. Larson, who has spent several months researching tax-exempt property and business income in four American cities, your tax bill this year may be nearly double what it would be if it were not for tax-exempt properties, a growing percentage of which is owned by church organizations. Your stake in this problem is far more than dollars, says Dr. Larson. "The lesson of history is clear. Social, political and economic crises resulting from crushing taxation, intensified by the burden of an ever-increasing proportion of tax- free property, have been a factor in human misery, social upheavals, and violent revolutions over thousands of years." For what else he says, see "You, the Church, and Tax-Exempt Wealth," page 7. Call the Swedish embassy in Washington and you may hear the charming voice of Gunilla Kristensson, press assistant. She, a minister of the state church of Sweden, and others from that land have read "Sweden's Struggle for Religious Freedom" (see page 18) . Written by a long-time resident of Sweden, H. 0. Olson, an American citizen now retired in Glendale, Cal- ifornia, the article has hundreds of facts and dates that needed careful checking, even when recorded by a careful author, which Mr. Olson is. Most LIBERTY articles on conditions in other countries are /A5 5004 submitted to officials of those lands for checking and corn- 90 AWAY WI.% R10•NT- ment. We do not ask them to agree with the writers' conclu- -To-woRK LAWS sions—sometimes they emphatically disagree with conclusions EVERYONE ‘,.1% Lt- i3E WEARNCr A reached—but rather to point out any factual errors they may 1.1r110s urr find. After this is done, the articles go to LIBERTY'S copy editors, who earn their pay by dismaying not only the authors but the editor with the list of errors of commission and omis- sion they find. Quick now: which nation confers the Nobel Peace Prize? Sorry; Sweden confers awards for physics and chemistry, medicine or physiology, and literature (The World Almanac, 1965, p. 562 ), but the Norwegian Parliament bestows the Peace Prize, as all admirers of Dr. Martin Luther King should know. Mistakes still sneak by. Thus far we have found only one group that consistently finds them all—our readers! Bless your hearts, go to it!—but don't overlook our virtues, which we try to keep at least as paramount as our errors. See you on the letters' page, where those little ski which occasionally appear mean that we're letting you have your say as you said Used by permission: Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal it, but that we have caught your error! Before reading W. Melvin Adams' "Is There Room for Religious Con- viction in the Great Society?" (page 12) enjoy this cartoon from the Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal. Then try a LIBERTY Whodunit: "The Strange Case of the Missing Qualifications," p. 16. (P.S. The butler didn't do it; the New York Times did! )

4 LIBERTY, 1965 TO FLUORIDATE OR NOT TO FLUORIDATE

REAR ADMIRAL ALVIN I. MALSTROM, U.S.N. (Ret.) Bethesda, Maryland Sorry to say that I sympathize with the Texas subscriber when you label your publication LIBERTY and then deny ear me the liberty of having water delivered me as nearly pure as possible and as God made it. Owing to fluoridation I must go to the trouble and expense to secure drinking water. Fluoridated water makes me very ill. Did you know that they add acids to the water, for one thing, something else to protect the piping and then sodium fluoride to pro- and state, but I do not expect you to take up the cudgels in tect youngsters' teeth, and the last ruins the pipes worse than these areas as such. However, when invasions of medical free- the item preceding saves them? dom are also invasions of religious freedom, I feel that you My suggestion to you is that you study the subject of cannot properly pass by on the other side, much less lend aid fluoridation with an open mind and then, perhaps, you'll and comfort to the oppressors. realize how badly you have violated your own "Declaration of Principles." It happens to be my religion to eat food as WILLIAM J. SEYLER God prepared it. Experience with arthritis, which disappeared when God's natural laws were followed, further proved to Clearfiield, Pennsylvania me the wisdom of the natural way. Please cast my lot with the Texas reader against fluorida- LIBERTY'S I was going to quote pertinent extracts from tion. I am not in favor of thalidomide in the water for preg- "Declaration of Principles" but think all that is necessary nant women, artificial fluoride in the water for caries, or any is for you to reread them yourself and then consider how other form of dictatorship. Please cancel my subscription if far you have strayed afield in your stand on government you endorse anything like this. coercion in the matter of involuntary medication. If you can find irrefutable evidence that the addition of sodium [We stick to our own controversial field, religious liberty, fluoride to drinking water is of value to dental health, I'll giving our endorsement only to that freedom of choice our Lord accorded take it on myself to secure you another hundred subscrip- His creatures. A toast to our antifluoridation readers drunk in clear, sparkling fluoride-less spring water! tions to a true, I hope, LIBERTY. —En.) During the war I served a year in London where we learned through contacts in Russia that sodium fluoride because of its affinity for brain proteins was being used there to soften FAITHFUL TO THE SCRIPTURES the will of German prisoners to resist. It made the task of M. M. CYRIL brainwashing much easier. Lincoln, Nebraska Otherwise I think your magazine is doing a fine job and hope that it will not suffer too many cancellations because Dr. Jean Nussbaum began his otherwise fine report from of the editors accepting "authorities" instead of "proof." Geneva (May-June issue) with the sentence, "So long as Protestants remain faithful to the Scriptures, no union with F. B. EXNER, M.D. Rome will be possible." With the Tillichian Protestants removing divine inspira- Seattle, Washington tion from the Scriptures, and the demythologizing Protestants As chairman since 1946 of the Emergency Committee for removing divinity from Jesus Christ, and the New-Morality Religious Freedom that fought off the attempts by the Council Protestants removing the Divine Being from the Universe— of Churches to legalize released time in the State of Wash- is it perhaps possible that your distinguished correspondent's ington, I have long been familiar with your most excellent native French has betrayed him? publication and admired its uncompromising stand against [Dr. Nussbaum's native French never betrays him (n'est-ce Sunday blue laws and for complete separation of church and pas?), but sometimes the editors do. Dr. Nussbaum well state. Since 1952, however, when I tried unsuccessfully to recognizes that much of Protestantism has forgotten why point out to LIBERTY that fluoridation of public water supplies protest is part of its name. He would be the first to assert, is an unconstitutional invasion of the religious rights of moreover, that many Catholics are showing an increasing ap- Christian Scientists, as well as of the civil rights of everyone, preciation for Scripture.—ED.} I have had to wonder if it is not, again, a question of whose ox is being gored. CONFRONTATION IN GENEVA Your facetious remarks about fluoridation in your May- June issue have inspired me to try again to make you see that MILAN POSKOCIL forcing a Christian Scientist to take medication, or a Jehovah's Toronto, Canada Witness to accept a blood transfusion, is as important an invasion of religious rights as to force a Seventh-day Ad- I recently read "Confrontation in Geneva" by Jean Nuss- ventist to eat meat, a Jew to eat pork, a Hindu to eat beef, baum in the May-June issue of LIBERTY. It was an interesting a Mohammedan to drink liquor, or a Roman Catholic to eat article, but calumnies marred its effectiveness, i.e.: Roman meat on Friday. Catholics adore Mary, and unity will never occur if Protestants The separation of medicine and state, and of science and remain faithful to the Scriptures. What absurd nonsense! state should both be as complete as the separation of church All Catholics, and even Eastern Orthodox and Anglicans,

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 5 venerate Mary. The bulk of Canon Law, sermons, church school system, and since the majority society wants to main- dogmas, and Miracle Plays (which were enacted in Medieval tain its own system, it gives lip service to public schools, which Europe) are based on the Bible. Even the Mass, which is are in every sense Protestant schools. celebrated every day in all Catholic churches, commemorates Even a superficial glance at the "public school" structure God's real love for man and God's crucifixion and resurrection. suffices to bear out such a conclusion. The calendar follows Protestant observances of religious holidays; the prayers, baccalaureate services, religious programs for Christmas and DR. R. P. CARROLL, K.S.G. Easter; textbook prejudice; foods served in school cafeterias; church flags on auditorium stages; complete indifference to Laurel, Nebraska the needs of Sabbath observers whose Sabbath is not Sunday; the difficulty of non-Protestant children to secure "public As a member of the Catholic Church for sixty-seven years school" cooperation in holiday observances. Religious consid- I have never seen any Catholic dogma that says we are to eration that Protestant children receive as a matter of course "adore" the Blessed Virgin Mary. There never will be any is denied non-Protestant children, ad infinitum. either. God only is adored. Don't you think it pleases Our Supreme Court decisions will continue to be ignored as Lord when we ask His own Mother to intercede for us? * has the law of the land, because the great Protestant majority All of us have to become as little children to enter the is determined to use its position to maintain itself. Thus public kingdom of heaven. How many times as a child did you go funds maintain a system of schools that favors and supports a to your father for a request and his answer was what did religious system that oftentimes insists it is not religious. The your mother say? So often, too, your father would answer silly denial that Christmas is religious has irked sincere No, but by mother's help you got what you wanted. Maybe Christians. Yet by claiming that Christmas, along with count- she even had to plead for you. less other practices, is merely a "national holiday," the re- This is our Catholic doctrine in simple words. Mary does ligious observances go merrily on their way all over the "na- not answer our prayers. She hears our prayers. And if it is tional" schools. the will of her Divine Son, then we get our request. The situation will not change. The Protestant public schools are here to stay, and the minority groups will continue to 1. * No. Wrote the apostle Paul under divine inspiration: tolerate them as they have in the past. But let's face the facts. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, If the Protestant schools exist on public funds, why not give the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). Said Christ: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, the same support to the other religious groups? hallowed be thy name" (Matt. 6:9). "God was in Christ Now, everyone involved ought to continue the campaign, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). To hold but with the full understanding that the issue is not separa- that any human being—even Mary, to whom respect is due tion of church and state, but a sectarian battle to maintain as the Mother of Jesus—has to plead with the Father or the the status quo, namely, that the Protestant public schools have Son to answer our requests is a slap in the face of Divinity. a right to public funds, whereas all other groups do not have —En.) that right.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS OR PROTESTANT? USEFUL TO PASTOR DR. OSCAR FLEISHAKER Madison, Wisconsin WILBUR SIDDONS Baltimore, Maryland Perhaps another observation about tax funds for nonpublic schools may add a little more heat to the battle arena where I really appreciate receiving LIBERTY every other month. there has been so little light. . . . The real area of concern There is always much helpful information and material for has hardly been touched. me as a teaching pastor. Since I have been receiving LIBERTY In reality, the "public school" system in the U.S.A. is noth- each issue has been thoroughly read and filed for ready refer- ing more than a solidly entrenched Protestant parochial ence. Back copies have often been used several times each year.

- • r r r r-.°) Three men who spoke for religious conscience before the House Subcommittee on Education and Labor discuss their problems before the Taft Memorial. (See article on page 12.) They are, left to right, Guy Hershberger, of the Mennonites; James DeForest Murch, of the National Association of Evangelicals; and W. Melvin Adams, associate ilan rem .6 Apo., ••••••“ LAM secretary of the Seventh-day Adventists. The inscription on the memorial reads: "This memorial to Robert A. Taft presented by the people to the Congress of the United States stands as a tribute to the honesty, indomitable courage, and high principles of free government symbolized by his life."

PHOTO BY J. BYRON LOGAN

6 LIBERTY, 1965 F LAWS exempting church, and some other, business income are not revised, a church or combi- I nation of churches may within the next one hundred years own most of the commercial property in the United States. Church real-estate holdings already have attained impressive proportions and are creating very real problems for a number of municipalities, not to mention Martin A. Larson * individual taxpayers. In fact, your tax bill this year may be nearly double what it would be if it were not for tax-exempt properties, a growing percentage of which is owned by church organizations. Should the problem continue to grow at its present rate, the result may be social and political upheaval, and, ultimately, general expropriation of church properties. These are among the sobering conclusions I reached as the result of a study of tax-exempt property and the church, business income in the United States. During the summer and fall of 1964 I analyzed the tax records of Buffalo, Baltimore, Denver, and the Dis- anb trict of Columbia. I sought to discover (1) how much tax-exempt property exists in these cities; (2) what its ratio is to the taxable property; (3) who owns it; (4) tar-erempt what proportions are public and what private; (5) of the privately owned, how much is secular and how trocaltb much religious; and (6) how religious property is divided among the principal denominations. I found that it is impossible to compile a complete census of all exempt property in the United States, or A study of tax-exempt even of the portion that is privately owned. Most cities property and business income keep no records of such holdings—thus I could not include Nashville, Tennessee; El Paso, Texas; Tucson, in four major American Arizona; or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for they carry cities leads to some no evaluations or assessments. Nevertheless, I was able sobering conclusions. to obtain a fairly accurate approximation of such investments on the national level because the four cities I studied constitute a fairly accurate cross section of the nation.' By So far as I am aware, mine was the first attempt to MARTIN A. LARSON, Ph.D. determine by studying the actual records the quantity Phoenix, Arizona and categories of tax-exempt property in the United States. The Department of Commerce during each of

• Dr. Larson holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan ( 1923) and was for several years a professor of English Literature at Michigan State College and the University of Idaho. He is the author of numerous articles for magazines and the author of several books, including Milton and Servetus, a Theological Interpretation; The Modernity of Milton; The Religion of the Occident. His Church Wealth and Business Income ($3.95) is just off the presses of the Philosophical Library, 15 East 40th Street, New York 16, N.Y.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 7 emptions continue to increase at the present rate, the levy on the same home may within 25 years run $2,- 500 or more. By that time the 1100-room Statler- Hilton, which now pays annual taxes of $350,000," may have had to be demolished because of the tax burden. One church group now owns real estate in Buffalo assessed at $55 million, but with a cash value of between two and three hundred million, on which it pays not one penny of taxes. My research shows that within twenty-five years we can expect the total tax burden to fall upon only 50 per

EW I NG GALLOWAY cent of all property! Within fifty years only 40 per Buffalo, New York, where the ratio of cent of all property may be taxable. exempt to taxable property is 44.2 per cent. Even more crucial to church-state relations than tax- free real estate may be tax-exempt church business in- four years-1906, 1916, 1926, 1936—conducted an come. There are 46,000 •nonprofit foundations in the elaborate census of religious bodies and produced de- United States, with a combined income exceeding $16 tailed statistics of church wealth. These results, how- billion,' which enjoy tax-free status on condition that ever, were based upon information supplied by the reli- they convey their whole income to other tax-exempt gious groups themselves. Further, only parsonages and bodies. The bulk of this revenue finds its way into the church edifices were included, leaving unexamined such coffers of churches and church-related institutions categories of church wealth as hospitals, colleges, semi- where, protected from public scrutiny, it can be used naries, monasteries, retreats, retirement homes, ceme- for a multitude of commercial investments. teries, and commercial investments. This last category This situation is possible because our income-tax code alone has grown tremendously during the past decade or recognizes two main categories of nonprofit entities: (1) two. the secular, or nonsacerdotal; and (2) the sacerdotal. What do you have at stake in this issue? The former can receive various types of business income, Far more than dollars, as the lessons of history show. such as interest, dividends, rentals, royalties, and capital But because the nerve to our billfolds is generally, as gains, without the payment of Federal taxes. These in- someone has said, the most sensitive in our bodies, let's stitutions must, however, report all such revenue, and if look at dollars first. they engage in any kind of competitive business, they Thirty-five years ago the effect of exempted property must pay taxes on all net profits. Institutions in the sec- on your tax bill was scarcely large enough to be felt. ond category—churches, associations of churches, and But by 1960 the ratio of tax-exempt property to the sacerdotal religious orders—may engage in business of total increased 150 per cent!—from 12 per cent in any kind whatever without rendering themselves liable 1930 to 30 per cent in 1960.2 This means that all ad either to taxation or disclosure of their financial opera- valorem taxes are now levied on 70 per cent of existing tions.' property. If no one were exempt from property taxes, The American Jesuits alone among church groups the homeowner who now pays $500 would not pay own banking and industrial stocks with a market value more than $350. If his bill is $180, it could be reduced of billions and an annual income of hundreds of mil- to $125. The average American family would pay $140 lions of dollars, all of which is not only tax free but a year less in taxes. also immune from disclosure. This information is ob- How much of this amount is chargeable to church tained from two articles published by the influential exemptions? Of this $140, about $54 is due to exemp- German weekly Der Spiegel,' which reports also that tions granted to private property, 60 per cent of which the Vatican derives more cash revenue from the New is owned by churches.' In other words, approximately York archdiocese alone than from all the Roman Cath- $32. olics in Europe combined. If the trend continues, taxpayers may soon be bear- The Statistical Picture ing an intolerable burden, for as more and more prop- I do not have space here to summarize the statistics erty is exempt from taxes, the load upon homes and busi- from each of the four cities—Buffalo, Baltimore, Denver, nesses must be increased proportionately. In Buffalo, and the District of Columbia—I have analyzed. These where the ratio of exempt to taxable property is 44.2 may be found in my book Church Wealth and Business per cent the local property tax on a six-room middle- Income.* Here are the combined results: class home in a desirable neighborhood is about $1,200 • Philosophical Library, Inc., 15 East 40th St., New York 16, New York. a year. (The ratio in 1930 was 18.3.) If property ex- $3.95.

8 LIBERTY, 1965 Summaries for the Four Cities" lic Church, with 17,445 parishes and less than 44 mil- Total assessments $10,109,164,079 lion claimed members," including children and all those Omitting District of Columbia Federal 8,627,282,843 who have fallen away, possessed real estate used for Total exempt, omitting District Federal 1,889,523,373 religious purposes valued at nearly $45 billion, an aver- Total private exempt 794,881,123 age of about $2.5 million for each congregation. Ratio to total 9.22% Jewish religious wealth in the United States is $7 billion, or about 9 per cent of the total; Protestant and Total religious property 468,494,827 miscellaneous religious property totals $28 billion, Ratio to total 5.46% about 35 per cent of all; Roman Catholic real estate Jewish religious property 41,323,573 holdings amount to $45 billion, 56 per cent of the total. % of all religious 8.82 In short, this one church alone is nearly 60 per cent Protestant religious property l 65,012,235 wealthier than all Protestant and miscellaneous denom- % of all religious 35.22 inations combined in the United States, a nation still Catholic religious property 262,159,019 considered predominantly Protestant! % of all religious 55.96 Since these totals cover 1.45 per cent of the national Catholic Growth population, and presumably also of its wealth, secular Though Catholics are still a minority in the United as well as religious, we can multiply the figures here States, their church has already achieved a preponder- given by 68 to obtain totals for the whole country. ance of wealth. According to tax records, Catholic hold- Estimate for All Property in the United States ings approach a dollar figure nearly double that of all Protestant groups combined! This dominance has been Assessed value of all $456 billion attained during the past three decades. As late as 1936 Assessed value of all exempt 135 billion The Census of Religious Bodies," published by the De- Ratio to all 28.5% partment of Commerce, showed the value of Catholic Assessed value of private exempt 54 billion parsonages and church edifices to be only one third of Ratio to all 11.8% that of the Protestants. The figures were: Catholic, These totals are probably underestimations of exempt $894,435,725; Protestant, $2,741,307,015. We should property, since they exclude all Federal holdings in remember, however, that hospitals, colleges, seminaries, Washington, D.C., and all communities have such monasteries, retreats, et cetera, were not counted, and wealth. If we were to include the normal proportion a much higher percentage of these would be Catholic of Federal real estate in the District, we would have a than Protestant. 31 or 32 per cent total of exempt property—an esti- The growth in value of Catholic real estate is re- mate almost identical to that given in Christianity To- vealed by Federal census figures. In 1850 Catholic day for October 13, 1961. holdings were $9,256,758; the figure for the Protestant Since the average assessment in our four cities does churches was $77,653,443." In 1890 the Methodists not exceed 40 per cent of its true cash, or market, value, alone, with $132,140,179, were more wealthy than the we multiply the preceding totals by 2.5 to obtain ap- Catholics, with $118,371,366. Total Protestant wealth proximate actual values as follow: that year was $551,504,498." Estimated True Values of American Real Estate Catholic membership figures show equally impressive gains. In 1785 Catholics in America numbered All $1,140 billion only 18,200, comprised only one half of one per cent All exempt 325 billion of the population and 1.5 per cent of all religious af- All privately owned exempt 135 billion filiates. In 1890 these percentages had grown to 10 Secular exempt 55 billion and 30.4, respectively; in 1936 to 16 and 36; in 1964 Religious exempt to 24 and 37. In less than 180 years Roman Catholics Jewish 7 billion have increased from a few thousand to nearly 45 mil- 28 billion Protestant, etc." lion." 45 billion Roman Catholic It can readily be seen that the growth of church Total religious exempt 80 billion businesses combined with their increased real estate Figures for Protestants and miscellaneous religious holdings threaten further to decrease the tax base avail- groups reveal that some 290,000 churches with 65 mil- able to many American communities. It was this spec- lion communicants" owned property worth $28 billion, ter, with all its potential for church-state conflict, that or about $95,000 for each congregation, including the led Bishop Eugene Carson Blake to see problems of share of each in any hospital, college, cemetery, et "such magnitude that their only solution will be the cetera, owned by the denomination. The Roman Catho- revolutionary expropriation of church properties.'

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 9 As Christianity Today observed, unless something is old edifices were repaired and new ones constructed done to prevent the growth of tax-exempt business in- at public expense. come, there is no reason why some church or combina- The church grew in wealth until it owned one third tion of churches should not someday own most of the of all the property in Europe, tax free. Wealth means commercial wealth in the United States." And should power, and for centuries civil magistrates were pup- that happen, it is not likely that our present social pets of ecclesiastics. structure would survive. The religious hegemony established under Constan- tine continued for more than one thousand years, dur- Clerics and Crises ing which European culture descended to the depths. With the Reformation came the inevitable violent The lesson of history is clear: Social, political, and reaction and a movement to place civil authority in economic crises resulting from crushing taxation, in- the hands of the state, independent of the church, and tensified by the burden of an ever-increasing propor- to confiscate the vast tax-free church properties, es- tion of tax-free property, have been a factor in human tates, and incomes. misery, social upheavals, and violent revolutions over Under Henry VIII, in England, all Vatican proper- thousands of years. ties, including churches, monasteries, nunneries, and In ancient Egypt, where the priesthood owned one estates were confiscated. Later the same was done in third of the most fertile lands and enjoyed their use to- Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. gether with the vast income from them, tax free, mil- In Scandinavia the economic and political revolution lions of toilers groaned under exorbitant taxation." was even more thorough; in Sweden, under Gustavus For centuries the Brahman caste of India enjoyed Vasa, Catholic properties were not simply seized, but even greater privileges and immunities. These finally with the exception of a few churches retained as na- brought on the great Buddhist revolution, and the end tional shrines, the very buildings were torn down, of special privilege and separation of the religious stone by stone, and the materials used in the construc- polity from the civil authority." tion of secular edifices." Beginning with the union of church and state under The French Revolution was primarily a movement Constantine, the basis was laid for a millennium of to confiscate the lands of the ecclesiastical lords and tragedy. Members of the clergy were placed on the that of their allies, the lay nobles, which constituted public payroll and exempt from all personal and col- the greater portion of the national wealth. A similar lective taxation. The church was empowered, not only dynamic was the motivating force in the Russian Revo- to receive gifts and legacies but also to appropriate all lution. Twice in Mexico, in 1857 and 1926, Catholic property of persons who died without direct heirs. Its properties have been confiscated. To this day, no

REVIEW PICTURES C. CILATY ARTIST

"THE LAST OF THE GIRONDISTS" — Victims of the "Terror" during the French Revolution, which was primarily a movement to confiscate the lands of the ecclesiastical lords and the lay nobles.

10 church organization is permitted to own any land or World Body Lists to operate a seminary within Mexico's borders.' Many historians see the enormous wealth of the Essential church in Spain as an important factor in precipitating Religious Liberty Requirements that country's civil war of 1936-1939.

Church-State Separated The development of an international standard of When our founding fathers established the Ameri- religious liberty that would not be subject to the can Constitution they did so against the backdrop of restrictions of existing national constitutions and European conflict and misery that had ravaged the laws was urged in a resolution adopted by the Ex- Continent for centuries. It was therefore resolved by ecutive committee of the Commission of the them that here church and state should be separate. Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) in annual This resolve, more than any other single factor in our session in New York City. The commission is an history, is responsible for our society, in which people agency of the World Council of Churches. of many creeds and nations can commingle on terms of The development of the international standard mutual trust. was one of seven "essential requirements" for re- It is heartening to see religious leaders taking alarm ligious liberty listed in the resolution by the eleven- at a problem that likely was not foreseen by many of member committee of church foreign-affairs ex- our forefathers, and doing so before the situation be- perts. These were: comes acute. Several churchmen have proposed reme- "1. While holding a distinctive Christian basis for dies ranging from taxation of all church properties, in- religious liberty, the civil freedom which Christians cluding sanctuaries, to taxing church business and claim for themselves must be guaranteed to all men buildings on a use formula," or like any private enter- everywhere, whatever their religion or belief. prise, for profit. "2. Religious liberty includes freedom to change The problem is, of course, not the churches' alone. one's religion or belief without consequent social, Tax-exemption laws extend to many secular institu- economic, and political disabilities. Implicit in this tions. But the churches enjoy unique privileges and are right is the right freely to maintain one's belief or becoming more and more involved every day. It is time disbelief without external coercion or disability. they face up to the facts of life and the grim lessons of "3. Religious liberty further includes freedom to history. **341 manifest religion or belief. Worship, teaching, practice, and observance are essential forms of religious manifestation, and any elaboration of the standards REFERENCES of religious liberty must expressly provide for them. I chose these cities because they are representative of the American culture and because complete tax records are available, including assessments "4. To every person there should be assured the for all exempt properties. 2 0. K. Armstrong, "Tax Churches on Business Profits?" Christianity right to manifest his religion or belief, whether alone Today, Oct. 13, 1961, p. 19. 3 Based on figures given later in this article, and on the assumption that or in community, and in public or private. American business and 50 million families pay approximately $7 billion in real estate taxes annually. ' These facts were uncovered by my own research. "5. Religious liberty also includes freedom to 5 Shown on the tax records of Buffalo, New York. Subcommittee Chairman's Report on Tax-Exempt Foundations, Dec. 31. maintain individual or collective bonds with religious 1962, Oct. 16, 1963, and March 20, 1964. Summary of Treasury Report, published in the Arizona Republic, Feb. communities or associations, the character of which 8, 1965, p. 17. transcends national boundaries. It also includes The whole question of tax-exempt organizations is treated in the In- ternal Revenue Code, sections 501 through 514. freedom to express opinions or convictions and to On April 31 and August 13, 1958. 10 All the statistics given under these summaries are taken from, or based impart information and ideas through any media upon, the actual tax records of the four cities in our research. " Under Protestants. etc., are included a number of miscellaneous de- and regardless of frontiers. nominations such as Swedenborgians, Buddhists, Divine Science, New Thought groups, Eastern Rite, and Polish National Catholics. " 1964 Yearbook of American Churches, p. 252. New York: National "6. The standard of religious liberty should be Council of Churches. international. The international standard should not ' The 1964 Official Catholic Directory, p. 1381. New York: P. J. Kenedv and Sons. be restrictively interpreted to make it conform to ex- " The 1936 Census of Religious Bodies, I, pp. 98-103. 5 The 1916 Census of Religious Bodies, I, p. 24. isting national constitutions and laws, but every ef- " The 1890 Abstract of the Census, p. 259. 11 The statistics given here are derived from the Catholic Directory for each fort should be made to cause national constitutions year covered; from the 1890 Abstract of the Census, p. 259; from the 1936 Census of Religious Bodies, I, pp. 98-103; and from the 1964 Yearbook of and laws to conform to the international standard. American Churches, p. 252. " Eugene Carson Blake, "Tax Exemption and the Churches," Christianity Today, Aug. 3, 1959, p. 7. "7. The exercise of religious freedom as well as .1° Ibid. that of other civil rights may be subject to such ',Genesis 47:22, 26, etc. 21 The Institutes of Vishnu, III, 26-27; V, 2-8; The Laws of Matsu, limitations as are determined by law solely in the VII, 133; The Institutes of Gautama, VIII, 13; etc. 22 See any standard objective history dealing with these periods and countries. interest of public order. Religious rights shall be 2° For a detailed discussion of what happened in Mexico between 1926 and 1928, see The Catholic Yearbook of 1928. available for all without discrimination on grounds " 0. K. Armstrong, "Tax Churches on Business Profits?" Christianity Today, Oct. 13, 1961, p. 23. of religion or belief."

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 11 h There loom for _Religious Conotectio)

NUMBER of religious groups whose mem- And ultimately a conscience clause, standing on its own, bers have conscientious scruples against join- will pass the House. A ing labor unions are asking whether there is Certainly members of the committees who heard room for religious conviction in the Great Society. On representatives of the several church groups which ap- Tuesday, June 8, I appeared before the House Special peared before them were not left in doubt concerning Subcommittee on Labor to present the Seventh-day Ad- the depth of religious conviction involved. The church ventist position. Representatives from the Plymouth spokesmen agreed to a conscience clause that would re- Brethren IV, the Mennonites, and the National Asso- quire their fellow church members to pay the equivalent ciation of Evangelicals also appeared on behalf of their of union dues to the United States Treasury, but which members who, because of religious convictions, cannot would deny them welfare and retirement benefits— join or financially support labor unions. hardly a proposition acceptable to freeloaders. The Again on Friday, June 25, I appeared before the theological basis for each group's position was remark- Senate Subcommittee on Labor. All the religious groups ably similar, but the practical application of these convictions was quite different. This diversity of application was referred to by several committee members as the By W. MELVIN ADAMS primary reason why it was impossible for Congress to write legislation that would properly protect each group. appearing before these committees were agreed that if However, as I shall show, the religious groups agreed to Section 14 ( b) of the Taft-Hartley Law is repealed, thus support a conscience clause that would protect the eliminating the right-to-work laws in nineteen States rights of all while leaving latitude for varying individ- without the addition of a conscience clause, their mem- ual convictions. bers would be greatly handicapped under the labor Most extreme of the positions advanced was that program of the Great Society. presented by Frederick N. Walker, speaking for the The day after the last witness was heard by the Plymouth Brethren IV: "We are not free to be mem- eleven members of the House Subcommittee on Labor, bers of . . . any group, any association, society, club, this committee recommended the repeal of Section 14 apart from the body of Christ," said Mr. Walker. He (b) by a six to three vote. The following day the full explained that members of his group do not join the House Committee on Education and Labor, under the American Medical Association, the American Bar Asso- chairmanship of Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, voted 31 to ciation, or even a parent-teacher association. 10 to eliminate existing right-to-work laws by repeal- Spokesman for the Mennonite Church, Guy F. ing Section 14 (b). Hershberger, emphasized that his people were neither Congresswoman Edith Green's (D.-Oreg.) attempt promanagement nor prolabor. "Many Mennonites . . . to amend the repeal legislation by attaching to it a sec- have conscientious scruples against membership in or- tion that would protect the religious convictions of all ganizations whether of management or labor which persons who cannot join or support labor unions was would make them responsible for . . . coercive pro- rebuffed by the committee. cedures." Subsequently, the repeal bill was considered by the Mr. Hershberger indicated that "the unrestricted Rules Committee and then, on July 28, debated on the payment of dues involves them in such responsibility." House floor. Asked whether voluntary arrangements with unions Taft-Hartley 14 ( b ) went down the drain, 221-203. would not be preferable to legislation, he replied that Mrs. Green's amendment to House Bill 77 (see page not all unions have seen their way clear to enter into 30) was ruled not germane, a parliamentary point of such negotiations." He said that this was the reason the order which both Mrs. Green and I had feared. How- Mennonites were pressing for legislation. Mr. Hersh- ever, debate revealed strong sentiment in favor of a berger felt that to force an individual to choose between conscience clause. I believe such a bill may succeed in his religious convictions and his job would be to violate the Senate, where, at press time, the battle centers. the free-exercise clause of the Constitution.

12 LIBERTY, 1965 (z the 67reat Ado?

Dr. James DeForest Murch, of the National Associa- tion of Evangelicals, called freedom of conscience "beyond the control of any dictator or tyrant." "The question before us," said Dr. Murch, "is not whether a man may follow the dictates of his conscience. He can and no one can stop him. The question is whether in this country he will be forced to suffer penal- ties, inabilities, and persecution if he does." He urged members of the House subcommittee to "distinguish between the rights of individuals and the privilege of an organization to disregard these rights." Primary consideration to individual rights would be, said Dr. Murch, in the interest of the "union and society as a whole." In my testimony before the House and Senate Sub- committees on Labor, I used most of my time to document the struggle of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to find a workable plan for its members that would be agreeable to labor unions and yet not violate the conscience of individual Adventists. In so doing I sought to answer the contention—con- tained in a letter sent to the subcommittee by the presi- dent of the AFL-CIO—that Congress should not attempt to write legislation to protect conscience; labor unions understand and sympathize with religious convictions, and would themselves be glad to work out voluntary agreements. Having worked as an Industrial Relations Director on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for almost seven years, I could do nothing else but seriously disagree with Mr. Meany's solution. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and a number of others have been trying to work this problem out by voluntary agreements for more than twenty years. And for more than twenty years organized labor as a whole has been in- sensitive to the convictions of the few people who cannot join or support their organizations; nor has labor

1. Frank Thompson (D.-N.J.), chairman of the Special Subcommit- tee on Labor. 2. Guy Hershberger, spokesman for the Mennonite Church. 3. James DeForest Murch, of the National Association of Evangelicals. 4. Frederick N. Walker (right), of the Plymouth Brethren IV, waits to testify. 5. LIBERTY legal counsel Boardman Noland (right) scores a point while W. Melvin Adams, who presented testimony for the Seventh-day Adventists, listens. 6. RLA regional directors Alger Johns (left), of Los Angeles, and Lloyd E. Biggs, of Portland, Oregon, exchange views. 7. Unidenti- fied. PHOTOS BY J. BYRON LOGAN

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER as a whole been willing to work out, voluntarily, a local labor unions are autonomous. He did not indicate satisfactory arrangement for these people. how the AFL-CIO was going to force these autonomous Attempts to resolve tension between its members locals to recognize religious convictions if they did not and organized labor were begun by the Seventh-day want to. Neither did Mr. Meany speak on behalf of such Adventist Church in the early 1940's. At that time organizations as the Teamsters International and other representatives of the church contacted 147 of the 160 independent labor unions. The very organization of international unions. The church offered a plan whereby labor unions in the United States makes it impossible members would pay an amount equal to dues either for Mr. Meany to guarantee the voluntary arrange- into the benevolent fund of labor unions or to charita- ments he favors. Certainly, based on past performance ble organizations outside the union organization. In no alone, it is unrealistic to expect that all these auton- case was the money to be used for strike activity. Some omous labor organizations will suddenly band together 10 per cent of the internationals agreed to this basic to protect people with religious convictions. approach. This arrangement with one tenth of the in- Mr. Meany has expressed consideration for these ternationals worked for almost ten years. During that convictions. This is appreciated. The churches involved time some two thousand locals signed a "Basis of Agree- wish that he were able to do what his letter indicates. ment" with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1960 Since voluntary agreements have failed, and the the Carpenters International and the Upholsterers In- somewhere-protection afforded by right-to-work laws in ternational unions reversed their position and rejected nineteen States is now threatened, I believe it is time the "Basis of Agreement." that the Government step in to guarantee the God- Individual members of the church began to write that given right every man has to make a living for himself their money was being spent for coercive purposes. and his family, one of those rights our forefathers called "unalienable." On behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church I CONCERNED as to what was happening to our recommended, to both the House and Senate subcom- working agreement with labor unions, I spent a year mittees concerned, the passage of the following amend- making a nationwide survey that took me into the offices ment to the Taft-Hartley law: of more than two hundred labor union officials. During PROVIDED: It shall be an unfair labor practice— that year I visited State, regional, and international head- (1) to require an individual, who has religious convic- quarters. At the very last, church officials went to the tions against joining or financially supporting labor organ- headquarters of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. izations, to join or financially support any labor organiza- There the message was the same as that which I had tion; provided such individual pay to the treasurer of the heard elsewhere: arrangements with religious organi- United States a sum equal to the initiation fees and periodic dues uniformly required as a condition of acquiring and re- zations were no longer feasible or practical. taining membership in the labor organization which is the I called the attention of the Senate Subcommittee representative of the employee as provided by Section 9(a), on Labor to a news item from the Washington Star unless said individual and said labor organization mutually of June 8, 1956, which stated that "the AFL has re- agree upon some other condition of employment. (2) to fine, or otherwise penalize, or threaten, or in fused to extend any blanket waiver from union mem- any way discriminate against any individual with religious bership to members of religious sects with scruples convictions which prevent him from joining or financially against belonging to the labor unions. The Old Ger- supporting labor organizations, for exercising, or attempting man Baptist Brethren, a small church, had asked exemp- to exercise, any legal or civil right guaranteed to any person tion on religious grounds. This church offered instead to by this Act, or by the Constitution or the laws of the United contribute to charity an amount of money equal to States, or law of any State or political subdivision thereof. union dues." Their plea was rejected by the AFL-CIO. I expressed concern also over Mr. Meany's ability to THE FIRST PART of this law would provide for pay- provide the protection he believes should be given to ment of the equivalent of dues to the Treasury of the those with "genuine individual religious scruples." U.S. Government. This clause would protect those whose To accomplish Mr. Meany's objective, each of the religious convictions will not allow them to have any 129 autonomous internationals making up the AFL-CIO dealings with labor unions, either in regard to mem- would have to take the problem of religious conviction bership or payment of dues. The needs of all religious back to their executive committees, or conventions. I groups appearing before the House and Senate subcom- reminded the committee that "Seventh-day Adventists mittees would be met by this provision. The last clause have been over this road before." Ninety per cent would permit voluntary agreements between labor and of the internationals that were contacted refused to religious groups—Mr. Meany's wish—provided such accommodate religious conviction. agreements are mutually acceptable to both the labor Mr. Meany did not mention in his letter that many union and the individual.

14 LIBERTY, 1965

Dag 's Life-

First I took a little dog food. Then a few dollars for dog- house improvements — nothing for salary, you understand. Before I could say Lap Dog they had a leash on me, and now my life's not my own. It's "Here, Boy," "There, Boy," "Go get the ball, Boy," all day long.

A. DEVANEY

Such an amendment would not provide financial ad- both provide for exemption of citizens with religious vantage for the religious objector over the regular mem- conviction from labor union membership and payment ber of a union. Neither would such an amendment of dues. Conscientious "objectors" face examination open the door for all individuals opposed to labor un- boards, which may exempt them; a sum equivalent to ions; with no financial advantage, for a sum the equal dues is then paid to the government. of dues would have to be paid—indeed, with loss of A bill (HR9619 ) that would establish a similar many benefits—few could be expected to use this law procedure was introduced into the House on July 2 by to escape the requirements of a union shop. Carlton R. Sickles of Maryland. Labor's demand of repeal of Taft-Hartley 14 (b) has This nation has carefully protected its minorities. been met in all States. Workers must now support la- When religious conviction will not allow them to par- bor unions with their dues. It is only proper that the ticipate in war, an alternate plan is provided for Government now provide laws to protect individuals conscientious objectors. If they are Seventh-day Advent- with religious convictions who cannot join or support ists or Jews and lose their job because of their refusal labor organizations. Our form of government provides to work on Saturday, their Sabbath, their unemploy- for majority rule in political issues; nevertheless, this na- ment compensation is guaranteed. If they are Jehovah's tion has set up safeguards beyond which neither public Witnesses and religious conviction prohibits them from officials nor labor union officials can go in overriding re- either saluting the flag or repeating the oath of alle- ligious convictions. Our forefathers drew the line at "un- giance, this nation protects their convictions. alienable rights"; these were not to be subject to majority Can it do less for those citizens who cannot join vote, for they were given by God. Voluntary agreements labor unions? Surely it is not the purpose of the Great are not sufficient safeguard for these. Society to create a new category of citizens to be min- The United States Government is not alone in having istered to under its antipoverty program. To find room to face this question of religious convictions versus com- in the Great Society for another category of minority pulsory union membership and dues. Australia and rights would be more in keeping with the nation's New Zealand, both of which have compulsory unionism, noblest traditions and highest ideals. ***

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 15 A LIBERTY WHODUNIT

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE !VI igging Qualifications

ID the National Council of Churches voice By ROLAND R. HEGSTAD unqualified "support for the Administration's proposal to repeal the clause of the Taft-Hart- ley Act that permits the states to her [sic) union shop contracts," as was implied by a report in the New York Times for Saturday, June 5? Far from it, as will be discovered by careful readers "Church Council Supports Labor in of answers given the Special House Subcommittee on Bid to Repeal Union Shop Ban" read Labor by National Council spokesman J. Edward Carothers, secretary of the Commission of the Church the headline in the New York Times. and Economic Life, and as should have been reported But a reading of answers given by by a careful chronicler of global events. There remains some doubt, after several rereadings an NCC spokesman before a House of Reverend Carothers' testimony, whether he himself Labor Subcommittee tells a different desired the qualifications to be reported. Qualifications aside, some representatives had diffi- story. culty determining even whether the Council was for or against repeal of Section 14 ( b ). Turning to the testimony: RALPH J. Scorr (D.-N.C.) : "Thank you for your statement. When I first read your statement this morn- "Union membership as a condition of continued em- ing I had some difficulty finding whether you were for ployment is not supported by this statement as a subject or against repeal of Section 14 (b). of collective bargaining unless the union concerned is "What is your position?" recognized by established processes as representative of REVEREND CAROTHERS: "The position is that the all employees in the bargaining unit." matter of union membership as a condition of employ- Stay with us: the fog lifts—though by the time it had, ment should be settled in the process of collective bar- the New York Times reporter must have turned in. gaining when it is protected by certain safeguards, which Reverend Carothers' answers to questions added quali- would imply, sir, that the elimination of 14(b) would fications made by the NCC General Board which, if be desired." they mean anything, would commit the council to op- Confusion stemmed from the following wording, pose repeal of 14(b) unless, among other conditions, which comprised the heart of the Council statement: the rights of workers having religious convictions "It is the opinion of the General Board of the Na- against joining unions are specifically safeguarded by tional Council of Churches that union membership as a law! basis of continuing employment should be neither re- Herewith follows a portion of the repartee between quired nor forbidden by law; the decision should be left Representative Robert P. Griffin (R.-Mich.), of Lan- to agreement by management and labor through the drum-Griffin bill fame, and Reverend Carothers, which, processes of collective bargaining. I trust, shall establish the contention just advanced.

16 LIBERTY, 1965 MR. GRIFFIN: "I am leading up to asking you the "Is your advocacy of the repeal of 14 (b) conditioned question as to whether or not you don't feel that some upon a legal protection of those people?" higher, stricter standards ought to be imposed by Con- REVEREND CAROTHERS: "Yes, sir; and we would like gress if we are going to permit unions to have com- to see it done in one of two ways: Either in the constitu- pulsory union agreements?" tions of the unions, where they will be subject to court REVEREND CAROTHERS (Reading from the "official enforcement, or by Federal statute. We believe it is position" of the General Board of the National Council) : that important." "'The following additional safeguards should also be It is on the basis of the above testimony that I would required under any circumstances where union mem- have written the Times lead thus: bership is established as one of the conditions of em- "The National Council of Churches will support the ployment,' that is, wherever there is a union shop con- Administration's proposal to repeal Taft-Hartley 14 (b) tract. . . . only if certain rights are protected by law. " 'Such protection should include such elements "This was made plain by a spokesman . . ." as: . . . Alas for the New York Times; its correspondent not " '4. Adequate protection for those individuals who, only missed these important qualifications but also ful- for reasons of religious belief, . . .' cannot participate filled the prediction concerning the Times coverage of in all conditions of membership.' " Reverend Carothers' testimony made in conclusion by Added Reverend Carothers: "There are some per- Mr. Griffin: sons who because of religious convictions just are not MR. GRIFFIN: "If the Chair will permit an observa- permitted to belong to the union. They have a compul- tion, it is going to be very interesting now to read in sion in their church that won't let them join a union. the New York Times and the other papers what it was "These are the things that we believe should be that the National Council of Churches said here this conditional before there is a union shop." morning. I will predict that they will report that the MR. GRIFFIN: "Before 14(b) National Council of Churches appeared here today and REVEREND CAROTHERS: "14(b) would be repealed testified in favor of the repeal of 14(b), and that there only on these conditions." will be very little in the paper, if anything, about the After Reverend Carothers had outlined the five qual- fact that your advocacy is conditioned on some very im- ifying points approved by the general board, Mr. Grif- portant conditions which did not come out in the testi- fin asked: mony, but which came out in questions and answers, ". . . Those are important conditions, aren't they?" and that in fact, you support the major provisions of REVEREND CAROTHERS: "I feel they are. I feel they my bill instead of H.R. 77. are fundamental." "I want that to be spread on the record, even if it is MR. GRIFFIN: "Fundamental?" not going to be apparent to the public when they read REVEREND CAROTHERS: "I do." their papers." MR. GRIFFIN: "And are they important enough that they should be protected in the law?" REVEREND CAROTHERS: "This was the opinion of the general board at the time this was adopted on Decem- ber 2, 1959." Right: MR. GRIFFIN: "That they should be incorporated in National Council the law." of Churches REVEREND CAROTHERS: "Yes, sir." spokesman J. Edward MR. GRIFFIN: "So your advocacy of the repeal of Sec- Carothers tion 14 (b) is conditioned upon adequate protection in the law of all of those conditions." Below: Inquisitor Robert REVEREND CAROTHERS: "Yes, sir. Our position with P. Griffin regard to whether or not there should be a union shop J. BYRON LOGAN agreement in collective bargaining has always been W. MELVIN ADAMS based upon the proposition that these safeguards should exist just about as we have stated them there." MR. GRIFFIN: "Now the law does not now, nor will it, if H.R. 77 is passed, protect a member of the Amish or the Mennonite or these other faiths to which you have referred, who have conscientious religious objec- tion to being members of the union.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 17 For two centuries Sweden's constitution called "unity in religion" the "strongest foundation for a lawful, harmonious, and enduring government." Unity did not, as it developed, prove to be the strongest foundation for religious freedom.

ffnicjcjh 107 Inci1012 Rnr,ACJE

By H. 0. OLSON

S WEDEN—home of the Nobel Prize and haven of through the centuries, the centralization of church affairs neutrality—is a portrait in religious solidarity. in Rome set the stage for Sweden's revolt against Ninety-nine per cent of the population is regis- Catholicism. tered as Lutheran—though 7 per cent are members of When the break with Rome occurred, in 1527, Lu- other churches. theranism, largely through the influence of the two For two centuries Sweden's constitution called "unity Petri brothers, who had studied in Wittenberg and had in religion" the "strongest foundation for a lawful, har- come under the influence of Luther, Melanchthon, and monious, and enduring government." Unity did not, as Andrea, took the place of Catholicism as the national it developed, prove to be the strongest foundation for religion. The doctrines of Martin Luther had been gain- religious freedom. ing popularity throughout Northern Europe, and soon Church and state have reigned jointly in Sweden after the king declared the country free from Roman since the early sixteenth century when King Gustavus rule, he installed Lutheranism as the official state re- Vasa usurped the power of the Roman Catholic Church ligion. Stringent laws were passed forbidding apostasy and took ecclesiastical affairs (and the church treasury) from the state church. into his own hands. King Vasa's concept of church-state cooperation is Seven centuries before King Vasa's bold act Sweden still predominant in Sweden. Many Swedes talk about demonstrated her desire for church-state unity. The the advisability of separation of church and state, but earliest Christian missionary efforts in Sweden were not mainly they are content to look to their king as head permitted until approval had been granted by the coun- of their church and to their government as the final try's legislative assembly. As Christianity developed authority for all matters both spiritual and temporal.

18 LIBERTY, 1965 held every nfth year, but may be convened by the Government when deemed necessary.' In Sweden, as elsewhere, government support of a state church has not produced religious vitality. The young generation questions, doubts, shrugs its shoulders, skips Sunday services, and neglects the church treasury. "The State Church? Sure, I've been baptized a Lutheran; I'll be married a Lutheran. But why should the Lu- theran Church expect more of me than the Baptist Church does of its members? And why should it hand me everything from Saturday night movies to a nurs- ing home when I'm old?" The doubts grow. Meanwhile, church leaders are re-examining statutes and traditions passed down by the church through the centuries. Realizing that separation of church and state would not necessarily be inimical to the interests of either, the hierarchy is for the first time talking about taking the church out of government and the government out of the church. In 1958 the Ministry of Educa- tion and Ecclesiastical Affairs appointed a committee to study the relationship of the state and the church. For six years the committee has been dredging through reports, interviewing churchmen, collecting PHOTOS BY NORDISK KONST facts, talking to the laity, discussing all sides of the Above: The Engelbrekt church, one of the most church-state issue. beautiful buildings in Whatever their decision, the old days of religious Stockholm. intolerance are not likely to be revived in this first Protestant nation. Left: The old Cathedral Curtailed Freedoms of Stockholm beside the king's palace: The causes that led to the establishment of laws against religious freedom in Sweden can be traced to the reign of Gustavus Vasa, the father of modern Swe- den. At the Diet in Vesteras, in the year 1527, the Swedes severed their connection with the Church of Rome and adopted the principles of Martin Luther. Statutes passed down from the years when the Lu- Thus the church of Sweden became the oldest Protes- theran Church was zealous to maintain the faithfulness tant episcopal state church in the world. The Bible was of its members, by law if need be, have been liberalized. translated into the Swedish language, and every means Ordinances providing for religious liberty have been employed to put the newborn Protestantism on a firm adopted, and religious intolerance has yielded to a con- basis. However, against the Papacy-backed machina- siderable measure of religious freedom. But the church tions of the court during the reign of King John III, still performs many functions that are handled in the Gustavus Vasa's son, and Queen Catherine, the young United States by the civil government. It records all Protestant church had a hard struggle to maintain it- births and deaths, all marriages and divorces. It also self. records transfer of residence. But emerge triumphant it did. With the help of the The Swedish Government still plays a large role in state, it determined to remain so. Said the constitutions regulating policies of the national church. It determines of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: "Unity how large each parish will be and how many clergymen in religion and in the true divine service is the strongest will serve in it. It also sets the pay rate for Lutheran foundation for a lawful, harmonious, and enduring gov- clergymen and regulates activities of the church's three ernment." This being the underlying principle of sub- main agencies: the Mission Board, the Board of Parish sequent legislation, it is no marvel that little religious Work, and the Mission to Seamen Board.' toleration can be traced in the Religious Edicts of 1655, Every decision made by the 100-member church par- 1663, 1667, and 1671.3 liament, the General Synod, is subject to ratification by These strictly forbade apostasy from the state church. the government. Meetings of the synod are generally Apostates were subject to exile, their property to con-

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 19 fiscation. The statute of 1663 stated that an apostate could be deprived of life. As a safeguard against apostasy, youth were denied the privilege of studying abroad, especially at universities where they might come under the influence of any of the many religious movements so prominent at this epoch of European history. Cen- sorship of the press was also established.

Gustavus Adolphus granted to nonconformists the privilege of residing in the kingdom and carry- ing on their secular business provided that they lived quietly, and did not endeavor to spread their doctrines or talk against the established church. They were permitted to conduct family worship in their homes, but not to invite anyone else, including their own ministers,' to these seasons of prayer. An exception to this rule was made in the case of foreign ambassadors, who were granted the privilege of bringing with them a clergyman who might wait upon them and administer the sacraments. This, however, could be done only in their private chapel, and no one but members of the household could attend.' Ambassadors often abused this privilege, letting those of their own nationality and religion attend the services. More stringent laws were passed, and those already on the statute books were better enforced. A Jesuit who members of the Reformed Church (Calvinists), as it was had resided in the house of the imperial envoy, Bas- necessary that the two Protestant churches should live serode, had, after the envoy's death, remained and pros- in amity with each other in order to combat the com- elyted, causing some to apostatize from the Lutheran mon enemy. Church. In 1671 he was sentenced to death, but ow- In the case of the Reformed, authorities in Sweden ing to the entreaties of the Spanish minister, the sen- at first merely refrained from enforcing the laws against tence was changed to exile." nonconformists. Later, by special edicts, privileges were Another law stipulated that when a foreigner was granted to them. As a result, by 1688 their growth per- engaged as a private tutor, he must be examined by a plexed the Consistorial Court.' When the king was ap- pastor, to ascertain whether he was sound in the faith. proached he counseled moderation in enforcing the law Further, it was required that all children of dissenters, in the case of the Reformed, so that Catholic potentates in order to gain citizenship, should be brought up in the would not be given an excuse to urge stringent meas- Lutheran faith. The king issued a proclamation in which ures against the Lutherans in their provinces!' How- he urged scrupulous observance of these requirements ever, Charles XI, in an edict of 1695, commanded that on the part of the clergy.' The charter given by Charles all tradesmen of other than the Lutheran faith should XI in 1672 forbade anyone not of the Lutheran faith leave the country within four months." to hold any civil office whatsoever.' The government of Holland now demanded that its Beginning with 1686 the Riksdag (Diet) began to subjects should enjoy the same religious rights in. Swe- legislate with respect to individual denominations, den as those of the Lutheran Confession did in Holland. granting to some privileges that were denied to others. A memorial to this effect was presented on March 14, 1696, by the plenipotentiary from the General States, A Crucial Time Von Heeckeren, and a resident by the name of Rumph." When the Edict of Nantes was repealed in France The memorial did not cause the government to take and Calvinists were persecuted by James II of England, any legislative steps, but greater moderation in favor a number of the most industrious and skilled citizens of the Reformed was shown in the enforcement of the of those countries migrated, and some settled in Sweden. law. In Stockholm the Dutch were privileged to meet With Protestantism now dangerously threatened by the for worship in the homes of the representatives from Papacy, governments even in the most exclusive Lu- their country. Members of the French-English Re- theran countries adopted a more pacific policy toward formed Church were permitted to hold services in the

20 LIBERTY, 1965 chapel of the English minister. This church was under charters should make no mention of this edict.' Their the protection of William III." request was complied with, and in the new constitution During the period termed the "Age of Liberty," of 1772 occurs again the oft-repeated statement: "Unity 1718-1772, Bishop Jesper Svedberg, the father of in religion and in the true divine service is the strong- Emanuel Swedenborg, began to urge greater freedom est foundation for a lawful, harmonious, and enduring for dissenters." The nobility argued that skilled crafts- government." men were being discouraged from taking up their residence in Sweden.' Religious Liberty for Dissenters One member of the Board of Trade referred to the In the Riksdag of 1778-1779 the Estates brought prosperity that had attended commerce and industry in before the king a resolution providing greater religious countries where religious liberty had been accorded, freedom for nonconformists. Motions to this effect had while, on the other hand, countries like France and been made both in the Nobility and in the Ecclesiastical Spain had suffered because of their intolerance toward Estate. In the latter Estate two members, Dean Andrew dissenters. Against the fear of religious disunity, he ar- Chydenius, a prominent author, and Dean Backerstrom gued that as long as people sleep in dense darkness, all had each presented memorials dealing with the ques- is quiet, but that they are in greater danger "when the tion. Hans Ramel had introduced the question among sun riseth and all begin to stir, and there appears to be the Nobility. general confusion, for then each one is able to care for Chydenius appears to have been the most able and himself." " ardent champion of the cause of liberty. His "Memorial The Council brought before the Board of Trade and Concerning Religious Liberty" is a powerful plea for the chancellery a resolution to grant the Reformed work- this inalienable right. The belief that constraint in re- men at the Alingsas factories, and other places, the ligious matters will uproot error, he held, was a thing of privilege of conducting religious services in their own the past. He pointed to the flourishing condition of homes, so long as no Lutheran was permitted to attend. countries where religious liberty was granted, naming This resolution was made the basis of the religious Prussia and the duchy of Toscana, and others. liberty granted on June 22, 1724, to the Calvinists at After long and heated discussions the resolution, with Alingsas." some modifications, passed the three Secular Estates. A new ordinance, the so-called Conventicle Placard, Discrimination against Jews was continued: They were was issued on January 12, 1726.18 According to its terms, not to be permitted to build synagogues except in Stock- parents were permitted to call together their children holm and two or three other cities where they might and servants for worship, but no other gatherings were be carefully guarded by the police. Monasteries were not to be tolerated. For the first transgression the leader to be built, nor were monks to be permitted within the would be fined 200 dlr.; for the second, 400 dlr. or kingdom. The laws against apostasy from the Lutheran two or three weeks, respectively, of imprisonment on faith were also retained.' water and bread. For a third offense he should suffer The king gave his sanction after one furthur limita- exile for two years. Other participants should be fined tion: No books written against the Lutheran faith 40 marks for the first, 80 marks for the second, and could be printed.' 160 marks for the third offense. The fines show a slight With this change, the resolution was accepted by the advance toward religious freedom when compared with Riksdag on January 26, 1779, a landmark date for re- the ordinance of 1694, which provided loss of position ligious liberty in Sweden. and banishment for life for similar offenses." At last, in the constitution of 1809, the clause "Unity In the Riksdag of 1726-1727 an amendment to per- in religion and in the true divine service is the strongest mit a visitor to stay for family worship, if he chanced foundation for a lawful, harmonious, and enduring gov- to call, passed the Nobility but was rejected by the other ernment" was omitted and the following guarantee three Estates.' On August 27, 1741, a royal edict as- given: "In matters of conscience the king shall con- sured to members of the Anglican and the Reformed strain no one nor permit any one to be constrained, but churches freedom of worship and also the privilege of protect each one in the free exercise of his religion, building and using their own churches in all coast cities, provided that he does not disturb the peace of the com- Karlskrona excepted. The ordinance was proclaimed munity nor cause public annoyances." abroad, both within and without the kingdom. Ministers It appears, however, that, like Louis XIV of France, of foreign courts were commanded to translate it into who haughtily exclaimed, "I am the State," so the the respective languages, that people might have knowl- state clergy considered themselves the "community" and edge of it. the "public," for they were always the judges of when When Adolphus Frederick, and likewise Gustavus the peace of the community had been disturbed and III, ascended the throne, the clergy urged that the new public annoyance caused. Their supersensitive and

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 21 1611; all charters from 1611 to 1800 are found in E. Hildebrand, The hypercritical minds seem to have been annoyed even Constitutions and Charters of Sweden. Ecclesiastical Law, chap. 1, par. 4, and edicts of aforementioned years. when a prayer meeting was quietly held in the most Her man Levin, Religionstvang och Religionsfrihet i Sverige [Religious Intolerance and Religious Liberty) 1686-1782, p. 7. secluded place; but when at their bidding many of 7 Religious Statute, 1667, par. 4; Ecclesiastical Law, chap. 1, par. 5. Charter of Charles XI, 1672, par. 2. Sweden's most loyal citizens were dragged before the Stockholm Cons. Rep., June 7 and Oct. 24, 1688. 1° L. A. Anjou, Svenska Kyrkans historia i Iran Uppsala Mote ar, 1593 courts and sentenced to banishment or torture, or were (History of the Swedish Church From the Uppsala Synod, 1593), pp. 442, 443; Cons. Rep., Oct. 22, 1690; Levin, op. cit., pp. 12-17. exposed to the fury of the mob, they enjoyed the great- 11 Puaux, Histoire de l'establissement des protestants francais en Suede ( Paris, 1891) , p. 72. est peace of mind. In dwelling upon this matter, Mr. 12 Found in Acts concerning the Reformed. (These and other Acts concerning religious sects are all found under the general title "Acta ecclesi- Rosenqvist, a member of the Commonalty, aptly said allied.") 13 Puaux, op. cit., p. 78. that it could not be the prayer meeting, but the com- " Eccl. Rep., Feb. 9, 1719. 15 Rep. of Nobility, Feb. 4, 1719. munity, that was offensive.' 26 Rep. of Council, Jan. 28 and Feb. 11, 1724. ', Levin, op. cit., pp. 50-52. Then, in the middle of the 1800's, a religious re- Stierman, op. cit., v. 1.C. G. Malstrom, Tracts Concerning History of the Eighteenth Century, vival swept Sweden, and with it came renewed perse- p. 152; Levin, op. cit., pp. 212-218; Cornelius, Textbook on History of Swedish Church, pp. 285, 286. cution. Some of Sweden's blackest hours were upon 22 The Diet was then composed of four Estates—the Nobility, the Clergy, the Ecclesiastical, the Commonalty and Peasantry. her. Eccl. Rep., June 4, 1752. 22 This is printed in pamphlet form, dated 1779. 1 Robert Murray, A Brief History of the Church of Sweden ( Stockholm• 22 Levin, op. cit., pp. 1401-146. The Society Pro Fide et Christianismo, 1961), P. 79. 24 The king's reply, January 25, is found in Acts of the Diet, 1779, No. 5. 2 Ibid., p. 80. 22 3 Stierman, Collection of Edicts, Letters and Statutes With Reference to Rep. of Commonalty, Nov. 9, 1859. Religion (Stockholm, 1744). Ecclesiastical Law, chap. 1, par. 5; Charter of Gustavus Adolphus, II, (To be concluded)

Voices in the Ecumenical Wind

Living Room Dialog to Be Introduced rian use of grape juice at Communion, or the Episco- palian adherence to the episcopal succession. Worcester, Mass.—Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Men and women, including a number of married Orthodox clergy have agreed to implement the so- couples, took part. There were 16 Catholics, 19 Epis- called Living Room Dialog and Evening of Christian copalians, and 15 Presbyterians. Friendship programs successfully tested in January. The "by invitation only" retreat was led by Dr. These will be combined into the "first officially en- Alfred T. Mollegen, a Mississippi-born professor of dorsed and permanently established program in the New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary nation for interfaith involvement of the Christian in Alexandria. laity." It was through special permission of Joseph Car- The program will bring together lay Christians in dinal Ritter, Archbishop of St. Louis, in accord with the home of a host couple, first for discussions and provisions of the Decree on Ecumenism, that the prayers for Christian unity and later for more ad- mass could be celebrated in what is actually a Prot- vanced discussions on division within the Christian estant chapel structure. community.

Bishops Warn Against Common Worship Protestants, Catholics in Unique Retreat Berlin—A joint statement issued by the German Ro- St. Louis—The first ecumenical retreat held here man Catholic hierarchy cautioned that Catholics under official auspices of three major religious may not engage in common worship services with groups took place when 49 lay people—about evenly non-Catholics. divided among Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and The bishops said nothing must be done that would Presbyterians—spent a weekend together. create the impression that a common Christian unity The group attended seven conferences led by an existed, thus creating confusion among Catholic be- Anglican seminary professor, ate six meals in com- lievers. mon, and attended two Anglican evening services, They also ruled out so-called ecumenical services, a communion service, and two Catholic masses— "such as those recently conducted in other countries all together as either participants or observers. and occasionally copied in Germany with great pub- Conference topics were not limited to spiritual licity through the press and television," because exercises but often turned to day-to-day subjects "they blur the borderline between permitted and de- such as cremation, interpretation of the Bible, the sirable joint prayer meetings and worship services Catholic regard for the virgin Mary, the Presbyte- proper."

22 LIBERTY, 1965 Is the Roman Catholic Church on the verge of softening its traditional "hard line" against religious liberty? Catholicism and Liberty

By B. B. BEACH

IBERTY is one of the words most pregnant with within its own ranks and restricts or at least constitutes meaning when consideration is given to the Sec- an ever-present threat to the liberty of nonmembers. L ond Vatican Council. Many see it as the funda- It is in order to meet these accusations, well enough sub- mental task of the council to proclaim liberty, religious stantiated by historical evidence, that the forward-look- liberty, within and without the Roman Church. ing members of the hierarchy insist that the council Ever since the opening of the council the schema that come out strongly in favor of religious liberty. more than any other has been anticipated by many non- To this point, production of a religious liberty docu- Catholic onlookers has been that of religious liberty. ment has been as painful as childbirth. The statement A good number of council fathers, led by members of prepared by the Secretariat for the Promotion of Chris- the American hierarchy, are determined to push a liberal tian Unity and introduced on November 19, 1963, by statement on religious liberty through the council's Bishop Emile Joseph de Smedt, of Bruges, Belgium, was fourth session this fall. Other prelates are equally deter- subjected to a conservative time bomb, which prevented mined to use the council and curia machinery to block a preliminary vote before the close of the third session. such a declaration. (See LIBERTY, March-April, 1965, page 20.) What ecumenism is to the Germans and Dutch, col- The Pope has promised that every effort will be made legiality to the French and Belgians, orthodoxy to the to have the religious liberty statement acted upon be- Spaniards and Holy Office, papal supremacy to the fore all other schemata during the fourth session. Know- Italians and curia, social justice to the Latin Americans, ing that there is many a slip between episcopal propos- religious liberty is to the North Americans. Cardinal als and final papal promulgation, we must await the Cushing went so far as to predict that the "council final council action to see what the outcome of these would fall on its face" if it failed to approve a statement back-room efforts will be. In fact, at this point we can- favorable to religious liberty. The old cardinal is prob- not affirm that a living and healthy "child" will be ably not very far off the mark. Bishop A. Jelmini, of born, though we hope so. The suffocating forces op- Switzerland, pointed out to the council that "without posed to religious liberty may yet cause the statement a firm stand on religious liberty there can be no ecu- currently under study to be stillborn. menism." The traditional view held by the non-Catholic camp is IN CONSIDERING THE QUESTION Of religious liberty that the Papacy is the enemy of freedom. To many non- let us first take a look at the situation within the ranks of Catholic onlookers it seems unmistakably clear that in the Roman Catholic Church itself. Here two kinds of Catholicism authority has been abused, exterior free- religious freedom, interior and exterior, come in ques- dom curtailed, and interior freedom inhibited. Even tion. The personal, internal freedom of a good con- many Roman Catholics consider their church to be a science is essential for true Christian maturity, which sort of "holy tyrant." allows for the fullest free response to God's love. This The number one accusation often is that Rome is a interior religious liberty must be supported by an ex- centralized, authoritarian, so-called infallible and impe- terior freedom from fear, from "spiritual" blackmail rial system of religious absolutism that crushes liberty and clerical pressure. A Roman Catholic writer, Rose-

SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 23 Predictions on the Religious Liberty Schema

1. It will assert, more strongly than in asserted, but qualifications couched in terms initial drafts, the position of the Roman of "guarding of public morality," "public Catholic Church as the one true repository of well-being," "due limits," et cetera, will sub- Christian doctrine. ject this right to the prejudice of the national 2. The right of the Catholic Church to a hierarchy. preferred position in the juridical system of a 7. The right of a parent to determine the state will be defended. faith of his child will be defended—with an 3. Governments will be called on not only eye toward the Communist nations. Canon law to permit the operation of Catholic schools will continue to bind Catholics marrying out but to support them. (Perhaps in terms of not of the faith. imposing an unequitable burden on Catholic 8. Publications that point out the fine parents.) print in the schema, as well as the ambigui- 4. The right to value the false and the true ties, will be accused of nit-picking and equally will be denied. bigotry. 5. History will be rewritten to assert that 9. Liberty will point out the fine print and the Roman Catholic Church has never con- ambiguities—while noting the practical ef- doned persecution or the forcing of the con- fect of the schema in such countries as Spain science. and Colombia. 6. The right to propagate one's faith will be 10. Liberty will be accused of . . .

mary Haughton, stated recently that though there is evi- literary masterpieces run great spiritual danger, for those dence of "human magnificence" among individual Cath- who "knowingly" read a condemned book incur the olics, it is a "known fact that Catholicism confines and severe penalty of automatic excommunication. enslaves the human spirit." The Holy Office is the modern inquisition. Its hair- She adds that "the coercion of consciences is not ex- raising procedures of secrecy and arbitrariness greatly ceptional," and "the only notion of obedience . . . ac- restrict the freedom of Catholic intellectuals, writers, quired from a Catholic education is one of sheep-like and theologians. Its impenetrable secrecy (its criteria for submission to authority."' judging are not known outside the congregation) makes There is every indication that a goodly number of it appear "as the most arbitrary tribunal in the civilized converts to Catholicism join this church because they world." want, consciously or unconsciously, to be relieved of the Even many Catholics acknowledge that Rome responsibility of interior freedom, for they are almost smothers freedom of action and initiative within her terrified by the concept of the primacy of the individual own ranks. Scientific as well as theological thinking has conscience. They are willing to abdicate personal com- been stifled and internal criticism silenced. One need mitment and interior freedom in favor of assent and not go back to Galileo for an example: in more recent obedience to the authoritarian but comforting power times the martyr's aura surrounds Teilhard de Chardin, of priest and church. whose religious-scientific writings were not allowed to The exterior religious liberty of the "faithful" seems be published during his lifetime. pressed into a standard matrix of routine obedience and "There are bishops who will not permit the most dis- unexamined belief. Censorship on the diocesan as well tinguished theologians to give lectures in their diocese. as papal level certainly is part and parcel of the au- And there are religious Orders which do not scruple to thoritarian power exercised by the Catholic Church silence their members," says Roman Catholic author over its members. The Index of Prohibited Books was H. P. R. Finberg.1 last published in 1948. Some books have been banned On good authority it is reported that Cardinal Anto- simply because they are "offensive to pious ears," and as nuitti of the Roman curia, prior to the opening of the a Roman Catholic historian says, "The ears of the pious third session of Vatican II, instructed superiors of Catho- are sometimes of asinine length." lic universities and seminaries to prohibit their students The list of authors whose works have been prohib- attending lectures given by council experts, presumably ited reads like a historical, philosophical, literary, or in order to avoid exposure to controversial theological scientific hall of fame. Catholics who read any of these doctrines.

24 LIBERTY, 1965 religious liberty for heretics) and hypothesis (religious E VIDENCE FOR THESE RESTRICTIONS of religious liberty can be tolerated provisionally where the com- liberty within Roman Catholic ranks is overwhelming. mon good makes it advisable). The thesis usually has Repressive machinery has been used and the "dissonant been applied where Catholics have a solid majority, voice silenced" (and this is once again a well-known while the hypothesis has been permitted to operate Catholic layman and writer speaking) "by means of where Catholics are in the minority or lack the temporal excommunications, sanctions, secret deletions, clerical power to prosecute their religious opponents. oaths, and circulated lists of suspect persons." This two-faced theory puts a considerable strain on Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who launched monarchical Catholic theologians and apologists by requiring them and authoritarian episcopacy in the second century, re- to operate in two separate worlds, so to speak, the often putedly said that if the church told him that what abstract world of thesis, principle, and theory and the seemed fully white was actually black, he would go more concrete world of hypothesis, practicality, exemp- ahead and pronounce it black. tions, and application. It is specifically in order to get What we have said about religious liberty inside the out of this two-world situation and with the desire to be structure of the Roman Catholic Church may sound cleared of the accusation of insincerity in its attitude rather harsh, but all the statements used were written toward religious liberty (favoring it when in the minor- by leading Roman Catholic laymen themselves, who ity and opposing it when in the majority) that the hope to see the chains denying freedom of thought and council progressives want a relatively bold religious action to the Catholic laity broken by Vatican II. It is liberty statement adopted in the coming final session. very possible that some of these chains will be removed, Several other reasons can be mentioned why a reli- but not all will be broken, for this would mean break- gious liberty declaration is desired by the liberal bish- ing Catholicism itself. In passing, we might say that this ops: is exactly what the Catholic integrist opponents of reli- 1. The world expects it. gious liberty are afraid of. 2. Ecumenical dialog with non-Catholics is not possible without it. IN REGARD TO RELIGIOUS liberty in general, four 3. True religion lies not in external acceptance of main categories of religious freedom emerge from the church rites. widely accepted Declaration on Religious Liberty made 4. Evangelism will be helped by showing that reli- in Amsterdam (1948) at the First Assembly of the gion is best promoted by interior conviction. World Council of Churches: 5. Human experience tends to show that where the 1. Liberty of conscience (freedom to determine one's state dominates religion, civic welfare is harmed, own religious beliefs). whereas where religious liberty is enjoyed, civic wel- 2. Liberty of external expression and communication fare flourishes (view of the late Cardinal Meyer of to others (public worship and teaching). Chicago and others). 3. Liberty of open association with other people (or- ganize churches). 4. Liberty of churches (internal policies and external THE IMPORTANCE of the religious liberty question practices). is shown by the fact that on the first day of its debate While liberty of conscience deals only with man's re- during the third Vatican session, only cardinals, with lation to God, the three last-mentioned liberties deal the exception of one bishop, were allowed to speak. with man's relation to God and also with society. Now, Thus it was the heavy artillery on both sides of the real and complete religious liberty (external religious council that opened up the council barrage. In follow- liberty, that is, not the internal "Christian freedom," ing the speeches made during the three days of debate which comes through the redeeming blood of Christ, or one could not fail to recognize an old psychological law: psychological freedom, which deals with internal com- repression is born of fear. It is quite obvious that those pulsion) must, in the words of A. F. Carrillo de Albor- bishops favoring religious liberty (e.g., United States and noz, "liberate from social coercion. Therefore, social reli- Germany) have little if any fear. On the other hand, the gious liberty does not only [sic) exclude juridical or Spanish hierarchy, which took the lead in opposing full physical compulsion, but all other possible, even often religious liberty, gives the impression of being scared to unconscious, coercions coming from society, economic, death of what could happen in Spain if the small Protes- moral, psychological, etc."' tant minority (perhaps 50,000) were given freedom. The traditional Catholic doctrine regarding religious Here are two typical statements: liberty has been that, while truth has rights, error has "It is sometimes lawful to prohibit the spread of error none. A kind of intellectual duplicity, which the pres- when it can do harm to those who want to profess the ent schema on religious liberty is trying to avoid, was faith they have received from Christ." (Cardinal Jose promoted through the well-known theory of thesis (no Bueno, Archbishop of Seville.) To page 32

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 25 EW TESTAMENT writers pointed out what the Christian owed the powers that be in the Ncircumstances that applied then, namely, in an authoritarian state. Their injunctions are equally obligatory for the Christian citizen of a modern democracy. Let's examine our responsibilities today. The (1) Respect. Romans 13:7 enjoins, "Render therefore to all their dues: . . . honour to whom honour"; and 1 Peter 2:17, "Honour the king." To respect the government and its various agents means taking them Christian seriously. It means taking them thoroughly seriously— usually much more seriously than they take themselves. It means recognizing them to be ministers (Romans and 13:4, 6) of God, men who have been ordained by God (Romans 13:1) and are accountable to Him for the solemn trust He has committed to them. Respect will often mean treating with full seriousness Politics for the sake of their office men who themselves have lit- (Conclusion) tle understanding of the true dignity of their office and who in themselves are contemptible. But it does not mean flattery or "respect of persons"; indeed these are in- By CHARLES E. B. CRANFIELD compatible with proper respect. Nor does it forbid one to claim whatever legal rights he has over against the government. Paul was not showing disrespect for the magistrates at Philippi, but on his part does not conflict with obedience to God. was rather paying them true respect, when he insisted on (3) A serious and responsible disobedience, when- his legal rights and thereby summoned them to a proper ever obedience would involve disobeying God. We may sense of their own dignity (Acts 16:35ff ). And when refer to Acts 4:19f, "But Peter and John answered rulers or their agents behave unworthily and commit and said unto them [that is, to the Sanhedrin), Whether injustice, respect will involve, for those whose position it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you makes it possible, administering rebuke. rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak We may cite John the Baptist's rebuke of Herod the things which we saw and heard," and 5:29, "But (Mark 6:18; Luke 3:19), concerning which Calvin Peter and the apostles answered and said, "We must comments: "Hence we learn with what unshaken forti- obey God rather than men." tude the servants of God ought to be armed when they (4) Payment of taxes. The basic text here is, of have to do with princes; for in almost every court hypoc- course, Mark 12:13-17 (Matthew 22:15-22; Luke 20: risy and servile flattery are prevalent; and the ears of 20-26), the question about tribute to Caesar. Compare princes, having been accustomed to this smooth lan- Romans 13:6f, "For this cause ye pay tribute also; for guage, do not tolerate any voice which reproves their they are ministers of God's service, attending continually vices with any severity," and "John has thus, by his ex- upon this very thing. Render to all their dues: tribute ample, furnished an undoubted rule for pious teachers, to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; . . ." not to wink at the faults of princes, so as to purchase The Christian is under obligation to pay his dues to the their favour at this price, how advantageous soever that state, because as a beneficiary of it he owes it some pay- favour might appear to be to the public interests." ment in return for the protection and amenities which (2) Obedience so far as it does not involve disobeying it provides. Also he should pay taxes because no state God. While it is of the greatest importance to realize can function without resources, so a fundamental refusal that the Greek word used by Paul, biunciaasattat, does to pay taxes would be a fundamental "No" to the state not mean simply "obey" and in some circumstances will as such. We do not exclude the possibility that it might not involve obedience at all, it is certainly true that it in certain circumstances be right to refuse to pay a par- will usually involve it. In Titus 3:1 the words "to be ticular tax. in subjection to rulers, to authorities" are followed by (5) Prayer for those in authority. Thus 1 Timothy "to be obedient" (nEuffaQxetv). The Christian is under 2:1ff: "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplica- obligation to obey the government of the state of which tions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for he is a citizen, its various agents, and the duly en- all men; for kings and all that are in high places; that acted laws of the state in so far as such obedience we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and

26 LIBERTY, 1965 gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of the maintenance of the state as a just state, and therefore God our Saviour; who willeth that all men should be a dereliction of one's duty as a Christian. However, saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." This we should allow for the possibility of exceptional cir- earnest, persevering, and believing prayer is an essential cumstances arising, where the only possibility open to a part of the debt which the Christian owes the civil au- Christian might be to abstain from voting. thority, whether it is Christian or pagan, religiously in- (8) A serious and sustained attempt to keep oneself different or anti-religious, just or unjust. as fully and reliably informed as possible concerning (6) Witness to Christ. An essential part of the Chris- political issues—since responsible voting in the fear of tian's debt to the powers that be is witness to Christ Christ and in love to one's neighbor is only possible on in word and deed, and the playing of his part in the the basis of adequate knowledge. This will naturally in- corporate witness of the church within the state of which volve a diligent reading of newspapers, including at he is a citizen. This is a witness that has to be borne by least some chosen for their reliability. preaching and sacrament, by the church's order and (9) Criticism of the government, its policies and its common life, and by its service to the community. agents, in light of the gospel and law of God. We have Often this witness will entail suffering, and some- seen that even in an authoritarian state the Christian times death. "Take ye heed to yourselves," says Jesus, never owes the government an uncritical, unquestioning "for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in syna- obedience. In a democracy, where the citizen's active gogues shall ye be beaten; and before governors and cooperation is required and the scope of criticism so kings shall ye stand for my sake, for a testimony unto much greater, the Christian owes the government in them" (Mark 13:9). This is indeed the most essential power a continuing criticism in light of the Word of service which the Christian owes the government and its God. But, if he is to fulfill such an obligation, he will agents. By it he attests three things: their real dignity need not only the knowledge referred to under (8) as ministers of God, the limits of their authority, and above; but also a real knowledge of Holy Scripture. He the promise they stand under. will not be able to render to the government the critical We have now, I think, listed all the elements of the cooperation which he owes, unless he is a mature Chris- Christian's subjection to the powers that be that are tian who is always striving to hear God's Word. actually indicated in the New Testament. But the New (10) Something which overlaps (9) to some extent, Testament writers envisaged an authoritarian state, in but is not identical with it—an unceasing, untiring en- which there was no question of the ordinary citizen's shar- deavor to support just and humane policies and oppose ing responsibly in government. We have therefore to policies and decisions that are unjust or inhumane. A translate what they say into terms of our different politi- Christian does this by helping to build up an enlight- cal order if we are to apply Scripture to ourselves with- ened public opinion and by using the various other out distortion. means (besides voting in elections) that are constitu- tionally open to him. The methods adopted will vary IT IS CLEAR FROM WHAT has been set out above that according to the situation and one's personal circum- according to the New Testament a Christian living un- stances. The obvious possibilities include such things as der an authoritarian system is obliged to do what he personal conversations; letters to one's Congressman, can to maintain the state as a just state. The Christian cabinet members, the press; membership in a political living in a democracy can do much more. It is therefore party (or resignation from one); canvassing in elections; surely a true drawing out of the New Testament teach- organizing or attending mass meetings, etc. ing to assert that the extra a Christian in a democracy can do for the maintenance of the state as a just state, is AT THIS POINT it is right to list the primary serv- obligatory for him. It is an essential part of his proper ice owed by the Christian to the state, on which the faith- subjection to the powers that be. For him to fail to ren- ful rendering of all the other services depends: der this "extra" would be to resist the power and so be (11) A sustained endeavor to be a mature Christian, guilty of rebellion against the ordinance of God (Ro- so transformed by the renewing of one's mind as to be mans 13:2) just as much as to fail to fulfill obligations able to "prove what is the good and acceptable and (1-6) above. perfect will of God." The first and fundamental service So we go on to list four additional obligations that which the Christian owes the government and its agents are necessary elements of a Christian's subjection in a is that he should himself be "swift to hear" the Word democratic state. of God, allowing himself to be continually engaged in (7) Responsible participation in national and munic- conversation by the Lord of the church through the ipal elections, in the fear of Christ and in love to one's medium of the written words of the Bible. neighbor. In normal circumstances to fail to register We must now mention two possible further elements one's vote is to abandon one's share of responsibility for of the subjection owed by the Christian, both of which

SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 27 are highly controversial. Each would require more than ably farsighted that revolt would be hopeless at that a whole paper to itself for adequate discussion. All I time. shall do is indicate as briefly as possible my own present With regard to Romans 13:2, we should have to provisional opinion. ask, Is it not possible for a government to be so unjust (12) Readiness, in certain circumstances and within and so full of disorder as to cease to have any claim to certain limits, to join in military action at the com- be regarded as an "authority" in the sense of Romans mand of the government. The New Testament no- 13:1 and 2? Also, may a true and serious respect for where gives a direct answer to the question which has God's ordinance in such extreme circumstances not ac- tormented so many in recent years. "Should a Christian tually entail readiness to use force to repress a govern- refuse to take part in military action?" This is not ment that has become the direct opposite of what a really surprising, since in the first century A.D. Jews government should be? were exempt from military service, and the Roman authorities, while they had the right to conscript non- WHAT GUIDANCE does the New Testament offer Jewish males, seldom had any need to do so due to a concerning the spirit and frame of mind in which the normally adequate supply of volunteers. We must Christian ought to try to fulfill his political responsi- therefore try to discover the implicit answer, and this bility? It seems to me that at any rate three things is notoriously difficult. should be said here. It seems to me, so far as I can see at present, that (1) The Christian must, according to the New Tes- the New Testament's clear affirmation of the state as a tament, seek to fulfill his political responsibility seri- divine provision for men implies that our question ously and earnestly, as an obligation laid on him by God cannot be answered with an absolute "No." At this and therefore inescapable. It is a necessary part of his point surely a No is a No to the institution of the state obedience to Jesus Christ, of his debt of love to his as such in the circumstances of this world as we know neighbor, of his evangelistic responsibility; a necessary it. Paul himself seems in Romans 13:4 to assume that part of that intelligent worship which he owes to God being able to use force is an integral part of the state's in gratitude for His mercy and goodness in Jesus functioning. But the New Testament gives no basis for Christ. His right to think of his responsibility as in any the common notion in the post-Constantinian Church way an optional extra, in which he may or may not that war is a normal activity of a state to be accepted take an interest according to his personal temperament quite complacently. Nor is there basis for the assump- and inclination, is most decisively and emphatically tion of the thirty-seventh Article of the Church of Eng- denied. land that a government's decision to make war is in it- (2) He must seek to fulfill his political responsi- self enough to make it lawful for the Christian to fight bility in sobriety and realism. Under this heading a and kill. great deal could be said, but we can mention only a The Christian is under obligation to refuse to par- few points. ticipate in military action if he is convinced either that First, the eschatological teaching of the New Testa- it is being employed in an unjust cause or otherwise ment makes clear the temporary nature of the state, than in the last resort. I also believe there are some and so warns against absolutizing it. sorts of military action in which a Christian ought in Second, the eschatological teaching of the New Tes- no circumstances to take part. tament makes it clear that we cannot establish the (13) Readiness in certain extreme circumstances to kingdom of God by our political (or by our ecclesias- engage in armed rebellion in order to suppress a gov- tical) actions, and so forbids "zealotism" with its in- ernment that is intolerably unjust, and to replace it. herent tendencies to fanaticism and ruthlessness. Here again the New Testament gives us no direct Third, consider the New Testament's disclosure of guidance. Neither our Lord's attitude to the zealots nor the grim reality of sin. All men without exception are Romans 13:2 settles the matter. Our Lord's opposition sinners. This understanding opens the way to a realistic to the zealots does not mean that He would necessarily apprehension of the human situation that politics has have discountenanced on principle rebellion in all con- to deal with. We have an instance of such proper real- ceivable circumstances. It is easy enough to think of ism in our Lord's words in Mark 10:42: "Ye know good reasons to disapprove of the zealots quite apart that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles from any disapproval of rebellion on principle. For one lord it over them; and their great ones exercise author- thing, the Roman government was not so generally unity over them." The Revised Version unfortunately just as to warrant rebellion. For another, the zealots conceals the compounding of two Greek words with were not thinking merely in terms of establishing a xaret (R.V.: "lord it over" and "exercise authority over"). more just state. They actually planned to establish the They actually denote the exercise of lordship and au- kingdom of God. Third, it was obvious to the reason- thority over people to one's own advantage and their

28 LIBERTY, 1965 disadvantage—in other words, the exploitation of those that persons are infinitely more precious than property. over whom one has power. He will, for instance, allow himself to be guided by this In the light of the New Testament, the Christian principle when he has to weigh the relative importance must reckon constantly with the sinfulness of every of the issues in a general election. member of the government, every official, every mem- He will be more concerned that the starving and un- ber of the electorate, in his own and other countries. dernourished throughout the world should have enough If he does, he will be aware of the need at all times for food, than that his own countrymen should have more safeguards to limit the abuse of power as much as possi- and more amenities. He should be more concerned that ble. He will scrutinize carefully the claims and promises the personal liberties and dignity of those who cannot of politicians, and look beyond all high-sounding slo- defend themselves should be protected, than that the in- gans to see if they are but a mask disguising selfish pur- come tax be reduced. He will feel himself obliged to poses. And he will not be a party to any policy that in- throw his weight on the side of generous and unselfish volves handing over to one section of a community ab- national policies, and in domestic affairs to take a special solute power over the lives and destinies of another interest in the underprivileged, the misfits and the lame section. dogs of society. He will know that human life is always Fourth, both the New Testament's eschatology and to be reverenced. In time of war he will never forget insistence on human sinfulness lead us to see limits to that even the lives of the enemy are not cheap. what we can achieve in the sphere of politics. There- (3) The Christian should fulfill his political respon- fore limited goals are not to be despised. Often the sibility in confidence and hope. only choice open to the Christian will be a choice be- First, he knows that the state and civil authority are tween evils. But does it make no difference whether God's ordinance. God has ordained them for a merciful the greatest possible, or the least possible, evil comes purpose. He who ordained them has not lost control to pass? To help bring about the greatest evil by re- over them. The Christian knows that governments are fusing (out of a mistaken perfectionism) to choose the God's ministers who cannot help but serve Him and least, is dereliction of duty. Should we be so preoccu- further His gracious purposes, whether consciously or pied with the quest of the unattainable that we fail to unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, directly or in- achieve the limited goals within our reach? directly. He is continually being reminded of one spe- Christian realism should enable us to see two things. cially luminous instance, unique in its significance: Pon- One, it is not given to us to establish a perfect society tius Pilate, an unworthy and unwilling servant through within the course of history. Two, we should build in whom God accomplished His perfect will for the re- our time a society that contains such a measure of jus- demption of mankind. tice and compassion that in spite of all its human im- Second, the Christian knows that when he passes perfections it is a recognizable pointer to the justice from the ecclesiastical into the political sphere he is not and compassion of God. This is not beyond the bounds passing out of Christ's dominion into that of some other of possibility, and is a goal worthy of our untiring ef- lord. Political affairs no less than the life of the church forts. are within the dominion of Christ. He knows that the Fifth, included in this sobriety and realism is the same Lord who is confessed and acknowledged by the recognition that the purpose of civil government and church is also the Lord of the whole world, though not the state in God's intention is a purpose of mercy to- yet recognized by it. How then can he do otherwise ward men (1 Timothy 2:11T), that is, toward individual than fulfill political responsibility in confidence and men and women and children. We must also see that hope? every human being, not only in one's own country but Third, the Christian knows too that the end toward also throughout the world, is one for whom Christ died which history moves is the coming of Jesus Christ in (Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:11; 1 Timothy 2:6), glory, the decisive unambiguous manifestation of the and therefore someone of inestimable worth. Further, kingdom of God, the establishment of God's new order. we must see that in each of those who are wretched In that event he sees not only the ultimate limitation and needy, wherever he may be, the exalted Christ is but also the ultimate promise under which states and present to be honored or neglected (Matthew 25:40, governments of history stand. 45). For he knows that the time must come when it can be Holding fast these truths, the Christian will not be said: "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom able to forget that the state exists for the sake of men of our Lord, and of his Christ." At last "the nations and women and children, not they for the state. He of them that are saved shall walk in the light" of the "new will possess a standard by which to measure policies Jerusalem," and "the kings of the earth do bring their and legislation. He will know that he must at all times glory and honour into it." and in all circumstances loyally abide by the principle

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 29 as the editors see it

SECTARIAN SCHOOL EXPANSION youth; as a consequence, dispensations have been provided to the Catholic parent to send his child to public E HAVE been sure enough of our convic- schools. But soon, here and in Australia, space may be tions to predict that government aid to non- available for every Catholic youth. And if you will peer Wreligious departments of sectarian schools closely through the fuzziness of ecumenical hyperbole will result not so much in the upgrading of sectarian and governmental aid-to-education programs, you will education as in the proliferation of sectarian institutions. see that this expansion is financed with public tax dol- To spell it out: We suspect that church leaders will em- lars. R. R. H. bark on a great expansion program—to the detriment of teaching quality, already abysmally low in some sectarian schools—financed largely by government funds. THE GREEN AMENDMENT To spell it out even more: We believe that this will be done first and primarily by the Roman Catholic Church, DITH GREEN (D.-Oregon) is a strong sup- in whose schools 85 per cent of American church school porter of labor, but not, she has made plain, at students are enrolled, and second by Protestant bodies E the cost of inalienable rights. Her amend- that will discern in this Catholic expansion a threat to ment to House Bill 77, though defeated on a point of their own growth and influence. order (see page 12) , will be back standing on its own We now have some substance to add to our predic- two feet, and deserves the support of every Congressman. tion. Essentially the same as a bill proposed before the Sen- Under pressure from the Catholic hierarchy, the Aus- ate and the House subcommittees by LIBERTY Associate tralian Government has agreed to provide some mil- Editor W. Melvin Adams, her amendment provided for lions of pounds for construction of facilities for secu- the protection of workers who because of religious con- lar subjects in both state and church schools. In addi- viction cannot join labor unions. Its wording: tion, the newly elected New South Wales Government A BILL to amend the National Labor Relations Act to provide that individuals with religious convictions against has pledged to pay a portion of the interest on loans con- joining or participating in a labor organization under a tracted by Catholic and other private schools for build- union security collective-bargaining agreement shall not be ing purposes. These programs are similar to the two required to join or contribute to the support of that labor recently enacted by the Federal Congress here in the organization. United States, and similar to State programs under Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That which State funds have gone to sectarian institutions the National Labor Relations Act (29 U-S-C- 151-168) is for construction of dormitories, libraries, et cetera. Four amended by adding at the end thereof the following new such grants have been made, and challenged, in Mary- section: land. (See "Your Freedom and Pocketbook: At Stake "INDIVIDUALS WITH RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS in Annapolis," Liberty, May-June, 1965, p. 11.) Part No. 1 What has been the result in Australia? A mul- "SEC. 19. No individual who has religious convictions timillion dollar Roman Catholic school building pro- against joining or financially supporting a labor organization gram, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, may be required to join or financially support any labor was announced by Norman Cardinal Gilroy, Archbishop organization as a condition of employment if such individual of Sydney. According to present plans, which are to be pays to the Treasurer of the United States a sum equal to the initiation fees and periodic dues uniformly required as expanded later, eighty-eight new schools are expected to a condition of acquiring and retaining membership in a be constructed, most of them in the Sydney archdiocese. labor organization which is representative of the employee. Four schools are to be constructed in Melbourne. Part No. 2 The day may not be far distant when the Roman unless Catholic Church finally will be able to implement said individual and said labor organization mutually agree Canon Law No. 1374, which forces the Catholic parent, upon some other condition of employment." under pain of excommunication, to put his children We express our appreciation to Mrs. Green and to the in Catholic schools. To this point, overcrowded Catholic scores of Congressmen who declared themselves in favor schools have not been able to care for all Catholic of a conscience clause. R. R. H.

30 LIBERTY, 1965

world news

UNITED STATES is that of the members of Christ's body who live their lives in the world which they contact in their daily tasks. . . . The central task of the church must be renewal and Court Orders Transfusion this renewal must consist in again making the service for Witnesses' Baby of the Word and sacrament in our Christian life." Boston.—Religious views of a Jehovah's Witnesses Dr. von Schenk was among the American and Eu- couple were overruled by a Boston Superior Court ropean clergymen who recently drafted a constitution judge who ordered doctors at University Hospital to for a proposed new international society that will link give blood transfusions to a day-old infant in an at- Anglican, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern tempt to save its life. Orthodox churchmen interested in liturgical research. The ruling was made by Judge Felix Forte when told that the "blue baby" might die for want of blood. Hilltop Cross Under Fire The parents, who came to Boston from Switzerland six as Residents File Complaints months ago, are John and Marguerite D'Andrea. They told the hospital their religious faith forbids blood Eugene, Oreg.—A controversy over a cross placed transfusions. atop the summit of Skinner Butte in Eugene has been The matter came to the attention of authorities when taken to court. A complaint seeking removal of the il- Mrs. Martha M. Constan, an attorney for the hospital, luminated, 51-foot cross has been filed in circuit court reported the tiny baby needed transfusions of 0-posi- by attorney James Harrang on behalf of ten local resi- tive blood. dents. Mrs. Constan obtained the court order and the baby The complaint charges that erection of the cross on was given the necessary blood. Ordinarily such an or- public property violates both the Oregon and United der would not be made until after lengthy probate States constitutions. The plaintiffs represent various re- hearings, but Judge Forte and the hospital authorities ligious groups. Their complaint is supported by a citi- deemed it necessary to make haste. zens committee headed by Rev. Carl Nelson, a Uni- The father was asked if he would sign an authoriza- tarian minister. tion to permit another transfusion. "I refuse, but the The City of Eugene, Mayor Edwin Cone, and the court wins," he said. City Council are named as defendants, along with the owners of three firms that are alleged to have erected the cross—Eugene Sand and Gravel, Inc.; Hamilton "Loss of Lay Priesthood" Cited to Lutheran Men Electric; and J. F. Oldham and Son, Inc. The complaint cites the First Amendment to the Boston.—A leading liturgical scholar of the Lutheran U.S. Constitution and Article 1 of the Oregon Consti- Church-Missouri Synod declared here that the greatest tution, which guarantees freedom of religion. tragedy in the history of Christianity is "the loss of the lay priesthood." Dr. Berthold von Schenk, retired pastor now living in Minnesota and Iowa Durham, New York, told delegates to the annual con- Kill Bus Bills vention of the 139,000-member Lutheran Laymen's League that in the church today "the preacher is afraid St. Paul, Minn.—A bill to provide bus transporta- of the layman and the layman is too decent to do any- tion for parochial and private school children was thing about it." killed by a 20-7 vote of the Minnesota House educa- "The blame for the present state of the church," he tion committee. And a bill that would have required continued, "is not the fault of a growing secularism. The public school buses to transport parochial and private source and root of this evil is that the layman has lost school pupils was defeated 39-19 in the Iowa Senate. his office and has become a proletarian. The house had passed the measure 66-56, three votes "The only gospel which the world will see and hear more than the required constitutional majority.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 31 men describe as baseless, that they are responsible for the Naga demand for independence. Doctor on Birth-Control Law: The claim's basis is the fact that Nagaland is the only "I'm an Unconvicted Criminal" state in India where Christians form a majority of the Toronto.—Dr. Douglas Cannell, a prominent physi- population and that during British rule missionaries cian, told an Ontario Welfare Council seminar that he were the only foreigners admitted to the region. is "an unconvicted but habitual criminal" who constantly ignores Canada's birth-control laws. The head of obstetrics and gynecology at the Uni- Protestant Bookstore versity of Toronto's medical school said he offers advice Allowed to Open in Spain on contraception at all times. In his view, the need for family planning and contraception is first a social prob- Barcelona.—Liberia Evangelica—Spain's first author- lem and then a medical problem. ized Protestant bookstore—has been opened to the (Under Canada's Criminal code, it is an offense to general public in Barcelona. knowingly or without lawful justification offer to sell, It is managed by Harold Kregel, an independent advertise, or have for disposal any means, instructions, Baptist minister from the United States, who is also the medicine, drug, or article intended or represented as a editor of the Protestant fortnightly Portavoz (The method of contraception. The only defense against Spokesman), which has a circulation of about 6,000. charges under this section is that the action resulted in The shop has been allowed to post a sign bearing its public benefit. name outside the premises, although the Spanish con- (The law is ignored throughout much of Canada.) stitution currently stipulates that only the Roman Dr. Cannell said family planning advice and contra- Catholic Church may display "external signs." In the ceptives are available in most Canadian hospitals. Pa- past this has been interpreted to mean anything from a tients pay for the devices when they can, he noted, but cross outside a building to notices of the time of serv- many obtain them free of charge. ices. Meanwhile, Dr. Helen Morley, of the Planned Par- enthood Association, announced to the Ontario Wel- Catholicism and Liberty fare Council that Toronto's first "neighborhood" birth- From page 25 control clinic will open "illegally" in Danfort United church within a short time. "The religious liberty text opens grave dangers to "The law is . . . flouted by everyone, including the the faith of many Catholics." (Cardinal Fernando Toronto Welfare Service. We must pioneer," Dr. Morley Quiroga, Archbishop of Santiago de Campostela, Spain.) said. Added Bishop Antonio de Castro Meyer, of Campos, Brazil: "Equality of rights for all religions is a false concept. The public profession of religion is to be allowed only to the Roman Catholic Church." India Bars Missionaries What a revelation these statements contain of the From Nagaland State poor instruction the hierarchy has been giving the Ernakulam, India.—Foreign Christian missionaries "faithful" in countries such as Spain! One cannot but have been ordered by the Indian Government not to wonder whose fault it is if the members are so ignorant work among Nagas, the East India tribesmen who de- and liable to be led astray! Well-known Catholic jour- mand an independent state. nalist Michael de la Bedoyere makes this severe observa- In the past, government leaders—including the late tion regarding the hierarchy of his church: "There Prime Minister Nehru—have gone only so far as to seems to be a deadly fear that any suggestion of Catho- say that "there are no foreign missionaries in Nagaland lics really thinking for themselves must cause early at the present time." shipwreck to the barque of Peter. This view hardly Last September, Prime Minister Shastri made the flatters the bishops, priests and teachers, most of whom same statement in Parliament while replying to a take it for granted that the Catholic masses are incapa- charge that foreign missionaries were "fomenting trouble of more than a simple, rustic piety."' ble" in Nagaland. Observers said the official disclosures of the absence TAKEN AT FACE VALUE, the current text (available of missionaries appeared to have been made after the only in extracts and summaries) points to quite a con- government ordered them out of Nagaland. tradiction between the old Catholic doctrine on religious Government concern over the activities of mission- liberty and the new doctrine as presently formulated but aries in the state springs from the claim, which church- not yet adopted. The traditional position affirmed that

32 LIBERTY, 1965 error has no rights; at best it could be treated with toler- ology works on the principles of addition, not subtrac- ance if demanded by the common good. The new view tion. We are told that the Catholic Church today is not states that the individual has rights. The foundation of dealing with the same reality as in the nineteenth cen- religious belief is the duty of man to respond to the tury. The state and the significance of the common will of God according to the dictates of conscience. good (now worldwide instead of state-wide) have The text does allow, however, for two different bases changed. A century ago the Catholic Church saw the for religious belief, one for mankind in general and dangers of the objective aspects of liberalism; today it the other for the Catholic Church. The ground for reli- sees the rights of man existing concretely. The different gious liberty for non-Catholics is human dignity and aspects of a new concrete situation have given rise to a civil freedom, but for the Church of Rome the basis is new doctrinal synthesis, not a new doctrine. divine law, because the Catholic Church teaches that It is not possible for the objective viewer to avoid she is the one true church. being disconcerted, not to say appalled, by the theologi- The declaration, which is no longer a chapter in the cal acrobatics used in the attempt to make Pius IX, the ecumenism schema but a separate appendix to this pope of the First Vatican Council, and his Syllabus, schema, goes on to affirm that all men should be able to agree with the religious liberty schema presented to the practice privately and publicly their own religion, and Second Vatican Council. this means that religious liberty in society must be recognized and respected by all everywhere. In sincere obedience to conscience, man implicitly obeys God. THOSE BISHOPS OPPOSED to the religious liberty However, man has the obligation to acquire diligently declaration claim that there is a contradiction between the knowledge of God's will and law. The exercise of today's statement and the past magisterium and practice the right to religious liberty can be subject to legiti- of Rome. They say that in the past the Catholic Church mate restrictions, but only when it is in grave conflict saw the foundation of religious liberty in divine law and with the "end of society." Any violent oppression of the nature of truth, not in the nature of man's calling. religion itself or of the religion of determined religious In contrast to yesterday, the dictates of conscience, a sub- groups is in opposition with the divine will and with jective norm, are put above the objective and consti- human rights. tutive norms regarding truth. Now, they argue, the Council supporters of religious liberty claim there is text prefers the rights of man instead of the rights of no contradiction between the present and the former God, as Rome taught in the past. They see religious doctrine. They seem, conveniently, to forget that in the liberty now rising from below, when its real source, nineteenth century and more recently Catholics were re- they feel, is from above. quired to repudiate as subversive the idea that every A number of highly placed council fathers would like man is free to embrace and profess the religion he to see the council proclaim freedom of conscience or considers to be the true one. Pope Pius IX himself, in freedom of worship instead of religious liberty. How- Quanta Cura (1867), condemned, like Gregory XVI ever, religious liberty is a broader concept than free- before him, as false and absurd—even "raving"—the no- dom of worship. It certainly includes freedom of wor- tion that every individual should have the right of free- ship, but it also includes freedom not to worship. Free- dom of conscience. He called this doctrine a "most con- dom of conscience is also too narrow. The corporate tagious of errors." Today freedom of conscience is sol- freedom of churches is not included in freedom of con- emnly affirmed, but the council majority sees no contra- science. Freedom of outward expression and witnessing diction. is only indirectly included, if at all, and perhaps open Thus the very strong condemnations of religious lib- to considerable restriction in the minds of many council erty proclaimed by Pius IX a century ago in Syllabus fathers. Freedom of conscience is the kernel or core of (1864) and Quanta Cura (1867), and later by Leo religious liberty, but not the whole nut or fruit. It is XIII, are considered to be in basic agreement with the what Albornoz calls "pure religious liberty." present schema advocating religious liberty. They repre- The religious liberty draft presented at the third ses- sent simply a stage in the evolutionary process that basic sion declares the incompetence of the state to judge reli- Catholic concern for the liberty of man has undergone. gious truth. No matter what the final council statement This "consistent" development culminated in John says, we are quite certain that it will be interpreted in a XXIII's encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, which is con- way to allow for concordats, union of church and state, sidered to be the summit document on this subject. the use of government funds for parochial schools and (See "Summit Peace Conference," May-June, page 21.) a certain amount of state support in countries of pre- Here we have "unchanging" Catholicism, where dominantly Catholic tradition for defense of the reli- nothing once proclaimed is repudiated; it is simply put gious status quo, with at least some inhibition of the ac- aside and "forgotten." The evolution of Catholic the- tivities of smaller minority churches.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 33 The International Religious Liberty Association be- political authority on trumped-up charges of the use lieves that the state is an institution ordained by God. of dishonest means. Should a true case of the use of It has positive functions for the welfare of society. There dishonest propaganda by an individual be found, this certainly can be evil governments, but government as could be used as an excuse to impede the public evan- such is not an instrument of the devil. The duty of the gelism of a whole church. state is to ensure the peaceful exercise of the religious It cannot be denied that in- this document Rome has activities of all its citizens and churches, not to protect made considerable progress away from her intolerant the religious views of some citizens and assault the re- past, but the declaration still seems to allow for the con- ligious liberty of others. The Biblical principle is Give fessional state with its inevitable and unpleasant conse- unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and unto quences. Rome still expects a privileged position. God that which belongs to God. To pen the faithful sheep within "churchly" walls The state is incompetent to decide religious matters instead of leading them into the pastures of Christian and thus has no right to interfere in the religious life freedom and feeding them on the Word of God, to of the churches. The role of the state should be im- censor instead of guiding, to crush the heretic instead partial and detached in religious questions. Its task is to of proclaiming the gospel, to invoke the aid of the secu- promote the temporal welfare of the citizenry, not lar arm, may at times prove to be an "easy" way out, their eternal salvation. Now, while the state has no but this is hardly what the Lord Jesus Christ had in right at all to interfere with the right of the individual mind when He said "Ye shall be witnesses unto me," to decide for himself his religious beliefs, religious ac- "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations," and "Ye shall tivities are at times connected or mixed with other know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." rights regulated by civil law (e.g., right of assembly, Liberty is one of the most prized possessions of man- freedom of the press, education), and the state has the kind. In the First Vatican Council (1870) emphasis proper function of requiring, in the words of the 1948 was on the primacy of the pope. During the current as- Amsterdam declaration on religious liberty, "obedience sizes the accent seems to be on the primacy of the to nondiscriminatory laws passed in the interest of pub- episcopacy. What we would really like to see would be lic order and well-being." In other words, the basis for the underlining of the primacy of conscience and lib- regulating or limiting religious liberty is really "ex- erty. * ternal to the essence of religious freedom itself," ° and REFERENCES Rosemary Haughton, "Freedom and the Individual," in Objections to has to do with the nonreligious elements of mixed Roman Catholicism, ed. Michael de la Bedoyere ( London: Constable & Co., Ltd., 1964), p. 113. freedoms. 2 /bid., pp. 135, 138. 3 Herbert P. R. Finberg, "Censorship," Objections to Roman Catholicism, p. 95. 4 Ibid., p. 97. ° Ibid., p. 102. °Magdalen Goffin, "Reflexions on Superstition and Credulity," in Objec- WHILE THERE ARE certainly many positive as- tions to Roman Catholicism, pp. 43, 44. 7 A. F. Carrillo de Albornoz, The Basis of Religious Liberty (London: pects to the religious liberty draft statement, there are S.C.M. Press, 1963), p. 16. 8 Michael de la Bedoyere, "Introduction," Objections to Roman Catholicism, a number of weak points. A religious liberty declara- p. I1. tion should not discriminate between various religious 9 Albornoz, op. cit., p. 140. confessions, but this statement presents the Roman Catholic Church in a privileged position. In fact, we are specifically told that the Catholic Church has received a divine mandate to disseminate the Word of God, as if we are to understand that other churches do LIBERTY not have this mandate to preach and diffuse the gospel. Liberty is a necessity There is a phrase in the text to which non-Catholic for all men. But liberty churches could easily take offense. Here the declara- will not maintain itself. tion states that the religious communities, while they Men must join their inter- have the right to propagate with honest means their ests to preserve it. Make religion, must abstain from dishonest methods. It does LIBERTY: A MAGAZINE not appear from the context that the Roman Catholic OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Church is included among these religious communities your agent in fighting for of which this paragraph speaks. But Catholicism cer- freedom. tainly has had its share of dishonest propagation. We Subscription rate: $1.25 a year. Slightly higher in Canada. see a danger here. Honesty or dishonesty can be in- Cheek ❑ Money order Currency ❑ terpreted elastically and stretched until religious lib- Send your order to the erty breaks. Non-Catholic proselytism or evangelism Religious Liberty Association of America could be interfered with or even stopped by Catholic 6840 Eastern Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20012.

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With C. MERVYN MAXWELL Department of Religion, Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska

Q. The writers in Liberty often quote with ap- home on Sunday with the kiddies if he'd rather go proval Jefferson's sentence about the wall of sepa- off alone fishing? And now that mother's Sunday job ration. But when you get right down to it, how prac- has been eliminated, in how many cases has dad tical is absolute separation in its existential appli- been forced to get a job at a gas station all day cation?—Kentucky (a minister). Sunday in order to keep up the payments on the family car? A. If you will let me, I would like to turn the My opposition to Sunday laws is not based on my tables and ask you a few questions. May I? seventh-day Sabbathkeeping. I would also oppose 1. At the grass-roots level in no major country in a seventh-day Sabbath law. the world can there be found such good will toward the church as in free America. There is here but little of the anticlericalism that creates such bitterness in Q. (a) How do you justify the policy of the many lands where church and state are hand-in- Seventh-day Adventist Church in accepting tax glove. Do you really want to jeopardize this good funds—under the Hill-Burton program—for build- will? ing denominational hospitals? (b) Cannot the rea- 2. Money doesn't grow on trees. Any money the sons you use to justify your acceptance be used Government gives away it first raises as taxes— also to justify acceptance of money for your paro- under the watchful eye of the Internal Revenue Serv- chial schools? ice, all-knowing computers, and the FBI. Now, like A. I proffer two alternate responses: other earnest ministers, you probably teach that for Alternate Response 1 a member to support your local church program is an act of worship, a manifestation of consecration. The answer to the first question is, We can't. The You urge your folks to give generously of their own answer to the second question is, Of course. free wills, "as God hath prospered" them. You wouldn't dream of sending your deacons out with Alternate Response 2 billy clubs to compel your congregation to meet their pledges. Then do you believe that God wants you to Adventist parochial schools ought not to accept use the threat of a prison sentence to coerce people Government funds because these schools are ex- who aren't even members of your church to help pressly designed to teach the Adventist concept of you build your parochial schools? Christianity. Government has no right to tax Pres- byterians and Catholics to support the teaching of 3. Wouldn't you rather be free? Wouldn't you Adventist beliefs. rather prove that, under God, your church can stand Adventist hospitals, on the other hand, in actual on its own two feet? practice do not teach religion, but practice it by healing the sick. Furthermore, only a handful—in Q. Sunday-closing laws provide numerous bene- some cases, as few as 1 or 2 per cent—of the fits to otherwise busy families, yet you oppose them physicians who use Adventist hospitals are mem- because of your concern for Saturday. What differ- bers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. To the ence does a day make, anyway? extent, therefore, that Adventist hospitals are public- A. Let me try to explain. The seventh-day Sab- service institutions (a commendable percentage of bath is based on a specific commandment: "The their budgets goes for charity work), serving no seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." direct sectarian purpose but meeting a general There is no such commandment for Sunday. This is need in the community, they may be said to have the basic difference, as I see it. a right to be built by public funds. No public As for the benefits which Sunday-closing laws are funds have been used for staff salaries or in hos- said to bring to busy families, has anyone come up pitals connected with Adventist teaching institu- with solid evidence to prove that these benefits actions. tually do materialize? What is to make a father stay Take your pick.

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