A Quaker Weekly VOLUME 1 DECEMBER 17, 1955 NUMBER 25 IN THIS ISSUE ~RE is in us a haunt­ ing conviction that if we are to match these days, if we are Christmas Carols to meet the colossal obliga­ tions which God in His provi­ by Freda Morrill Abrams dence has imposed on us as a people, then God H imself must invade us from the out­ side. We MUST have a fresh Internationally Speaking encounter with the living by Richard R. Wood Lord of the Universe who alone can fashion us into a people we never yet have been, yet always have longed Our London Letter to be. -EDWARD L. R. Er.soN, Amer­ by Horace B. Pointing ica's Spiritual Recovery (Fleming H. Revell Company) Self-Help Projects in Korea Religious Broadcasting, Editorial Comments FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY $4.00 A YEAR 390 FRIENDS JOURNAL Decetnber 17, -1955 Internationally Speaking R etrospect FRIENDS JOtJRNAL HE year 1955 has been one of both progress and T retrogression. There have been instances of in­ creased irritability in relations between East and West, and, as the year draws to a close, there seetns to be a return to the feeling of bitter suspicion that tnakes con­ structive diplotnacy difficult and that so easily diverts attention fron1 the search for satisfactory international relations to considerations of tnilitary pressure. Published weekly at 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Yet 1955 has seen sotne relaxation of tension and Pennsylvania (Rittenhouse 6-7669) By Friends Publishing Corporation sotne evidence that coexistence is possible. WILLIAM HUBBEN JEANNE CAVIN Editor and Manager Advertisements Is War Impracticable'! MILDRED A. PURNELL LOUISE K. CLEMENT Associate Editor Subscriptions Rivalry in tnilitary preparations, particularly in the CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENTS developtnent of nuclear weapons, continues. Yet the itn­ RICHARD R. WOOD, Philadelphia pression seems to be increasingly widely held that nu­ Africa .. ......................... Maurice Webb, Durban England .. ... .. ............ Joan Hewitt, London clear weapons- at least the weapons of tnass destruction Horace B. Pointing, London Germany .....•. •. ......... Wilhelm Kllhler, Braunschweig as distinguished fron1 tactical weapons-will never be India . ..... • ....... .. ..... Benjamin Polk, New Delhi Japan ... .... • . • . .. ... Bruce L. Pearson, Osaka used. The reasons for this feeling are: (1) the unimagin­ Tatsunoauke Ueda, Tokyo Jordan ... ...... ... • ... .. ... Graham Leonard, Ram allah able horror of the results of explosions of large H-botnbs Scandinavia . .. .. .. .. .... Ole Olden, Stavanger, Norway Switzerland ..... .... ....... .. Robert J. Leach, Geneva in populated areas; (2) the unpredictable and uncon­ Turkey ........ ............... William L. Nute, Ankara Lake Erie Association . ... W inthrop M. Leeds, Pittsburgh trollable nature of a war in which such weapons are Midwest (Five Years) .. .. .. Russell E. ~s. Richmond New England .......... .. ... Thomas R. Bodine, Hartford used; and (3) the belief that world public opinion West Coast ............... Ferner Nuhn, Claremont, Calif. would react so strongly against any nation resorting to BOARD OF MANAGERS the use of weapons of tnass destruction that their use 1955-1956: Howard H. Brinton, Sarah P. Brock, Margaret L. Matthews, Lawrence McK. Miller, Jr., Sarah F. Splint. would be self-defeating. 1955-1957: Eleanor S. Clarke, Barbara L. Curtis, Arthur M. Dewees, Irving Hollingshead, Emily C. Johnson. 1955- In brief, 1955 saw sotnething very close to general 1958: Carol P. Brainerd, Willis H. Satterthwaite, Lydia F. Taylor, Daniel D. Test, Jr., Anne Wood. recognition that. as an instrutnent of national policy, THE JOURNAL ASSOCIATES are friends who add five dollars or more to their subscriptions annually to help war with large-scale atotnic weapons is not practicable. meet the over-all cost of publication. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States and POssessions: Danger Remains $4.00 a year, $2.00 for six months. Foreign countries: $4.50 a year. Single copies: fifteen cents. Cheeks should be made payable to Friends Publishing Corporation. A serious danger retnains. Military pressure is still Sample copies sent on request. being applied directly or indirectly at several points of Re-entered as second-class matter July 7, 1955, at the post office at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under the Act of friction: for instance, between Fortnosa and tnainland March 8, 1879. China; between North and South Korea; between Israel and the Arab States. And both East and West seen1 still to hope that the threat of war will deter war. Although recognizing the necessity of avoiding all-out war with nuclear weapons. the nations continue to use the kinds Contents Page of pressure that, backed by the threat of tnilitary power, have in the past led to situations in which international Internationally Speaking-Richard R. Wood. 390 tensions have broken down into open war. Editorial Cotntnents . ... ............. ... 391 This is a tnatter which should concern public opin­ Our London Letter- Horace B. Pointing ..... 392 ion as well as statestnen. Christmas Carols- Freda Morrill Abrams .. ... 393 Basic Requirements For Christtnastitne and After (poem)-Sheila One basic requiretnent for lasting peace is an inter­ Leslie ........ ................... 395 national organization adequate to enable nations to find Self-Help Projects in Korea ... ...... ... 396 mutually satisfactory solutions of the conflicts which naturally and nortnally arise atnong thetn. The United Books ........ ......... .. ......... ..... 396 Nations appears capable of being developed into such Friends and Their Friends . 397 an organization; but national statestnen seen1 unlikely Letters to the Editor . 399 (Continued on page 397) FRIENDS JOURNAL Successor to THE FRIEND (1827-1955) and FRIENDS INTELLIGENCER (1844-1955) ESTABLISHED 1955 PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 17, 1955 VOL. 1-No. 25 Editorial Comments Religious Broadcasting The study of the National Council, entitled T he HRISTMAS and Easter are the seasons when re­ Television-Radio Audience and R eligion (Harper and C ligion is likely to receive a slightly larger share of Brothers), reports that religious programs tend to be time in broadcasting programs. A two-year study con­ watched by specific audiences rather than a broad cross ducted by the National Council of Churches informs section of the population. They rank sixth in general us that radio and television devote only about two per popularity. Roman Catholic programs have a much cent of their time to religious broadcasts while giving larger audience than Protestant ones. Protestant audi­ nearly 80 per cent to entertainment. Frequently they put ences are found largely among persons of late middle religious programs at the least desirable hour. Liston age or older. Few pastors of local churches have given Pope, dean of Yale Divinity School, which supervised serious consideration to the impact of radio or TV upon the study, thinks that these two facts are an unmistak­ their constituencies. A number of stations have been able indication of the industry's own appraisal of re­ lost for religious broadcasting, but the demand for copies ligious programs. His trenchant criticism of religious of sermons or scripts of plays is larger than a year ago. broadcasts in Christianity and Crisis (November 14, Religious broadcasting is still in its infancy and will 1955) reproaches the churches for the inept use they are need more experimenting, the employment of creative making of these new media of mass communication. imagination, and artistic skill. Ultimately, only an in­ Musical programs run the range from the worst to the spired ministry will decide whether the churches are best, while some of the dullest sermons seem more sin­ making the right use of radio and TV. We shall have to cere than the spectacular ones. Popular skits about ask questions such as these: "Is the level of a sermon to wholesome Christian family life too often fail to make be broadcast such that it deserves large and unseen audi­ their point because they employ sentimental moralisms ences? Is the expectation of display or pageantry in TV and pleasantries that seem merely to prove that it pays a temptation for ministers to surrender to eye appeal to be good. Brotherhood sermons tend to demand instead of centering on the message? Would fewer but brotherhood to keep America strong in the name of more carefully selected programs acquire higher stand­ religion, forgetting its origin in God's fatherhood. The ing in the audiences' judgment?" peace-of-mind type program centers man upon his own Women in the Society of Friends neuroses rather than on renewed obedience to God. Pope asks, "When shall we be led again by the Christian Elizabeth Gray Vining's Ward Lecture, given at religion to Gethsemane rather than to the psychiatrist's Guilford College on Founders Day, November 11, 1955, couch, to the heights and depths of life as viewed in Women in the Society of Friends, is now available in Christian perspective rather than to the misty plains print, as announced elsewhere in this issue. The author where the mass audience is said to live? When will re­ stresses that Friends .have always done more than accord ligious broadcasts learn to inspire reverence rather than women a mechanical recognition of equality. They have receptivity?" accepted women "as individual human beings, as valid disciples as men, as competent as they for spiritual A Medium of the Future? leadership." It is essential to stress these points since It has been said that the new means for