ULTIMATE GOAL—Communists—in all countries—oppose religion because they do not recognize any authority beyond the human.… The [Soviet] regime tolerates a limited number of open churches. But there is no doubt that this toleration is a temporary expedient, and that the ultimate goal is to eliminate religion as a force in the Communist society.—“Religion Survives Against Heavy Odds in the U.S.S.R.,” Senior Scholastic, January 10, 1962, p. 20.
MOSCOW’S METHOD—In its over-all attempt to destroy the Catholic Church, the Communist regime of Walter Ulbricht is sedulously imitating the methods of his mentors and protectors in Moscow. First of all, pressure is exerted to deprive the Church of its most precious prerogatives: to instruct the faithful in the teachings of Jesus Christ, to maintain religious schools.… Finally, Communist regimes try to establish dissident “national churches,” which they manipulate brazenly in their all-out attempt to eradicate religion.—WALTER DUSHNYCK, “The Catholic Church in East Germany Today,” The Catholic World, April, 1962, p. 14.
COMMUNIST MISSION—Communism in American churches has gone shockingly far!… In 1942 I was ordered by the Party to maintain strong ties with the Baptist church.… I discovered that in Boston the Party had … a special subversive cell of hardened, disciplined, trained agents of Stalin, men who were ministers …!—HERBERT A. PHILBRICK, “The Communists Are after Your Church!,” Christian Herald.
FBI UNDERCOVER AGENT—Mrs. Brown also contributed information relating to the infiltration of church organizations and the use of such organizations for fund-raising, propaganda, and recruiting purposes.—Synopsis, “Communist Activities in the Cleveland, Ohio, Area,” Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, June 4 and 5, 1962.
MASKING ITS FACE—The Party is today engaged in a systematic program to infiltrate American religious groups.… The Party’s objectives are several: 1. To gain “respectability”: “… a church is the best front we can have”.… 2. To provide an opportunity for the subtle dissemination of communist propaganda.… 3. To make contact with youth.… 4. To exploit the church in the Party’s day-to-day agitational program.… 5. To enlarge the area of Party contacts.… 6. To influence clergymen.… If he can, by conversion, influence, or trickery, be made to support the communist program once or a few times or many times, the Party gains.… The church, in communist eyes, is an “enemy” institution to be infiltrated, subverted, and bent to serve Party aims.—J. EDGAR HOOVER, Masters of Deceit, Henry Holt & Co., 1958, pp. 325 f.
