First in a Series
At the invitation ofCHRISTIANITY TODAY, the distinguished director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, speaks his mind on the Communist threat to the Christian heritage. Based on his long experience in dealing with subversive forces, Mr. Hoover here relates forCHRISTIANITY TODAY’s wide readership how the Communist Party operates against the American religious heritage. He expresses some firm convictions on how churchmen and churchgoers may effectively confront the Red menace in prayer, thought, and action. Scheduled in three successive issues, Mr. Hoover’s future themes are “Communist Propaganda and the Christian Pulpit” and “Communist Domination or Christian Rededication.” Readers of Mr. Hoover’s best-selling book Masters of Deceit have found it to be a definitive analysis of the Communist menace facing the world today.
The twentieth century has witnessed the intrusion into its body fabric of a highly malignant cancer—a cancer which threatens to destroy Judaic-Christian civilization. One-fourth of the world’s land surface has been seared and blackened by this cancer, while one out of every three human beings is caught in its tentacles. At this very hour, some are wondering whether we as a free nation can survive the frontal and underground assaults of this tumorous growth of communism.
Just 100 years ago communism was a mere scratch on the face of international affairs. In a dingy London apartment, a garrulous, haughty, and intolerant atheist, Karl Marx, callous to the physical sufferings and poverty of his family, was busy mixing the ideological acids of this evil philosophy. Originally of interest only to skid row debaters and wandering minstrels of revolution, Marx’s pernicious doctrines were given organizational power by a beady-eyed Russian, V. I. Lenin, who, with his Bolshevik henchmen, seized state power for communism in 1917. From that wintry day in St. Petersburg, communism began to flow in ever greater torrents. After Lenin came the crafty and cunning Joseph Stalin and now the ebullient master prevaricator, Nikita Khrushchev. Communism is today literally a violent hurricane, rocking not only the chanceries of the world but seeking to capture the bodies, minds, and souls of men and women everywhere.
UNIVERSAL DOMINATION THE GOAL
The full implications of the Communist challenge are shocking. The ultimate Communist goal—as defined by Marx, Lenin, and other Communist leaders—is the ruthless overthrow of our Judaic-Christian heritage and the establishment of a world-wide Communist society. By its very nature, communism is expansionist and universalist. In fact, the Communists feel that they can find their true fulfillment only by conquering non-Communist areas and bringing the whole planet under their dominion.
This overriding Communist goal of universal domination becomes the key to Party activities. Feeling that history has destined communism for ultimate victory, the Communists believe that permanent peace with non-Communists is impossible, that life must be an inevitable struggle between the two. “It is inconceivable,” Lenin proclaimed, “that the Soviet Republic should continue to exist for a long period side by side with imperialist states. Ultimately, one or the other must conquer.”
REJECTION OF OBJECTIVE MORALITY
Hence, there arises the ugly manifestation of Communist “ethics”—namely, the Communist belief that morality must be subordinated to the class struggle, the inevitable conflict between communism and its opponents. What is moral? Anything which serves to destroy the enemy and promote communism. Lenin was most explicit: “Morality is that which serves to destroy the old exploiting society and to unite all the toilers around the proletariat, which is creating a new Communist society.”
Communist morality, of course, is rooted in total rejection of a belief in God and in the values of the Christian moral code. Supernatural concepts and divine revelation play no role in communism. “We repudiate all morality that is taken outside of human, class concepts,” Lenin proclaimed. “We, of course, say that we do not believe in God, and that we know perfectly well that the clergy, the landlords, and the bourgeoisie spoke in the name of God in order to pursue their own exploiters’ interests.”
This rejection of God gives communism a demonic aspect—transforming it into a fanatical, Satanic, brutal phenomenon. Morality is not determined by ethical standards grounded in an Absolute, but in the expedient interpertations of the Party—meaning, in actual practice, the whims and desires of the ruling clique or Party leader. This leads to the terrifying doctrine that “the end justifies the means.” Proof of the cynical ruthlessness of such morality is the following description by long-time American revolutionaries:
With him the end justifies the means. Whether his tactics be “legal” and “moral,” or not, does not concern him, so long as they are effective. He knows that the laws as well as the current code of morals, are made by his mortal enemies.… Consequently, he ignores them in so far as he is able and it suits his purposes. He proposes to develop, regardless of capitalist conceptions of “legality,” “fairness,” “right,” etc., a greater power than his capitalist enemies.…
A SOCIETY WITHOUT GOD
Hence, under communism we see a decisive break from and thrust against the Judaic-Christian heritage. Communism is not just another political party, social organization, or economic philosophy which can be understood within the framework of our traditional Western heritage. So to regard communism is radically to misunderstand its terrific driving power, insidious persuasion, and terrifying intent. The Communists are not interested in remodeling or reforming our society, but in organizing a completely different society—a society which by denying God hopes to create a new type of man: Communist Man. St. Paul, the great Apostle, could say, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” The Communists would pervert this profound truth to say: “If any man be in the Communist Party, he is a new creature.”
CONFRONTING THE RED CHALLENGE
The question arises: how can a philosophy so anti-God, anti-religious, anti-human be so provocative and appealing to some people in our country? Perhaps in this strategic question we can find some of the challenges of—and answers to—this demonic way of life.
Let’s take a look at some of the Communist challenges today and see what we as Christians can do about them.
1. The Communists appeal to man’s idealism, and ask the very best of his life. Communist propaganda proclaims Marxism-Leninism “the greatest cause in the history of mankind,” worthy of man’s highest devotion. The Communist appeal is always to the noblest, the best, the most admirable in man. “The great vision and courage of us Communists has never been matched by that of any past heroes in the annals of mankind. In this respect we have every reason to be proud.…”
Answer: Have we in America and in the Church given sufficient emphasis to Christian ideals, and called for heroic effort in the attainment of great goals? In particular, have we imbued our young people with the moral idealism which helps to mold their lives for Christ? Perhaps we have contented ourselves with catering to man’s mediocrity, rather than attempting to bring out the noblest and deepest strands of character. Like Isaiah of Jerusalem, we must ever keep the awe, the majesty, and the holiness of God before us—and call men to ever greater efforts in His service. Are we pressing on toward the high calling in Christ, toward the goals of a Christian society? The Christian Church—as history has proved—has the power to capture men and lead them to divine levels. By exalting God and His purposes in the lives of men, the Church can unmask the utter falsity of communism’s siren calls.
2. The Communists do not doubt the validity of their cause; they press ever onward for their secularized Utopia, confident of ultimate victory. ‘We Communists must possess the greatest courage and revolutionary determination of mankind.… While we clearly see the difficulties confronting the cause of communism, we are not in the least daunted by them.…”
Answer: Are there too many pessimists, waverers, and people of little faith in the ranks of the Church today? Is there the enthusiasm among our people to match this Communist aggressiveness and certainty? The Church of Christ has a great message to sing, a great responsibility to fulfill. Never must she feel pessimistic, daunted, or uncertain.
3. The Communists expect from their members a deep sense of personal sacrifice and dedication. “To sacrifice one’s personal interests and even one’s life without the slightest hesitation and even with a feeling of happiness, for the cause of the Party … is the highest manifestation of Communist ethics.” This is a sacrifice of the members’ time, talents, and personal resources, financial and otherwise. Casual effort is not a Communist trait.
Answer: Do we in the church and society really expect a deep sense of personal sacrifice and dedication? Do too many individuals come to church exerting only a “casual effort” and not giving sacrificially of their time, talents, and personal resources? The Communists have discovered that a demand for the very best actually brings forth the very best from the individual. If the Communists can create such responses on the basis of a cold, cynical materialism, just think of the accomplishments which can be wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit!
4. The Party stresses the need for fidelity and loyalty to the mission of communism and the necessity of members to shun all temptations which would distract them from their assigned tasks. “But if for the sake of … the Party … he is required to endure insults, shoulder heavy burdens, and do work which he is reluctant to do, he will take up the most difficult and important work without the slightest hesitation and will not pass the buck.”
Answer: In our society today is there too much tendency to “pass the buck,” to let George do it. Do we not often start out enthusiastically in civic or church work, and then let temptations sidetrack us from our task? Are we embarrassed when we are criticized for doing Christ’s work? Are we ready to shoulder heavy burdens? Are too many following the easy road of conformity with secularism and not holding sufficiently high the banner of Christ?
5. The Communists proclaim that working for the Party brings internal peace, joy, and happiness to the member. He finds here creative achievement and self-fulfillment. “He will also be capable of being the most sincere, most candid, and happiest of men.”
Answer: The Christian Gospel tells of the deep joy, peace, and blessings which come from belief in Christ as Saviour and Lord. Is the Church doing enough to overcome the loneliness of contemporary man, his feelings of insecurity and frustration in a world growing more secular every day? Fear, personal unhappiness, and uncertainty stalk the streets today. Crime, juvenile delinquency, and disrespect for law and order are rife. Are we meeting these challenges in the Christian spirit, offering with maximum effort the true answer of the Gospel, telling people that belief in God is the true way to a peace of mind which passes all understanding?
PERVERSION OF THE TRUTH
These are some of the challenges of communism today, and the problems they pose for Christians. Communists, in fact, attempt to capture the historic values of Christian civilization, such as love, mercy, and justice, and after grossly perverting their true meaning, they actually turn these values against their parent!
With shameless perfidy, the Communists hail themselves as the great exponents of love—most truly, one of mankind’s most sublime virtues. Under communism, it is proclaimed, “there will be no oppressed and exploited people, … no darkness, ignorance, backwardness. In such a society all human beings will become unselfish.… The spirit of mutual assistance and mutual love will prevail among mankind.” We know, in fact, however, that communism means terror, fear, and slavery. Communism represents a new age of barbarism, which is repealing the centuries of progress of Western man toward tolerance, understanding, and human brotherhood. Communist Man—the product of this system—is a brute, ideologically trained, who unhesitantly conducts purges, runs concentration camps, butchers the Hungarian Freedom Fighters. He is immune to the emotions of pity, sorrow, or remorse. He is truly an alarming monster, human in physical form, but in practice a cynically godless and immoral machine.
ROLE OF THE MINISTRY
If communism is to be defeated, the task must rest largely upon the theologians and the ministers of the Gospel. Communism is a false secular religion with pseudo-theological explanations of the great verities of life, such as the creation, life on earth, and the world to come. Communism is an all-encompassing system with explanations—though wrong ones—for this great universe of God. The Party offers answers—though perverted ones—for the hopes, joys, and fears of mankind.
In the final analysis, the Communist world view must be met and defeated by the Christian world view. The Christian view of God as the Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of the universe is majestically superior to the ersatz approach of dialectical materialism concocted by Marx and Lenin. The task of our clergy today is to translate this Holy Truth into the daily lives of our men and women. This truly is their responsibility as Christian clergymen.
Strong, responsible, and faithful Christians, wearing the full armor of God, are the best weapons of attack against communism and the other problems of our day. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” In this way you will be playing a vital role also in helping defend our cherished way of life.
What Did He Write?
What message did the Master write that day,
As stooping down He traced on shifting sand,
What was the mystic meaning in the signs
Inscribed there by the finger of His hand?
The trembling woman standing alone
Was terror stricken, longing to be free;
No doubt she feared His answer might uphold
The death by stoning, Moses’ stern decree.
Self-righteous, vengeful men were waiting there—
Did His brief theme to their black hearts refer?
Or did He carve Love’s answer with the words:
“She need not die, for I will die for her.”
FLORENCE FRENCH
Samuel M. Shoemaker is the author of a number of popular books and the gifted Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh. He is known for his effective leadership of laymen and his deeply spiritual approach to all vital issues.
