NEWS
Although America’s leading Protestant denominations have officially condemned their country’s involvement in the Viet Nam war, a number of them continue to benefit from the financial profit that the war produces for companies with defense contracts.
Boards and agencies of ten Protestant churches hold more than $200 million worth of securities in twenty-nine of the top sixty prime military contractors doing business with the Defense Department, according to a survey made public last month. These investments were described as earning more than $6 million for the churches during 1970.
The survey was conducted by the Corporate Information Center of the National Council of Churches. The center was set up last year with a view to applying financial pressures to secure social goals.
The study turned up the fact that even the NCC is guilty of “complicity” in the so-called military-industrial complex. The NCC was found to hold $332,000 worth of securities in five military contractor firms.
Frank White, center director, said the report was not intended to reveal hypocrisy or to suggest that the church groups divest themselves of the questionable stock holdings. “Generally,” he said, “the reason that investment ethics has not kept pace with policy is quite simple—no one has thought much about it.” White added that it was more a matter of being “unconscious” of the ethical problem than of holding an “unconscionable” attitude.
Last year, the center published a seventy-eight-page primer on economic involvement for people seeking to keep abreast of the “social profiles” of major American corporations. The latest publication, which focuses upon the arms issue, is the thirty-one-page “Church Investments. Technological Warfare, and the Military-Industrial Complex.” (It was explained to the Soviet people in a state radio network report from Moscow.) The center also began recently issuing a six-page monthly publication entitled “The Corporate Examiner.” It purportedly contains “information on how churches, foundations, universities, mutual funds, brokerage houses, and the business world are dealing with corporate responsibility questions.”
White is a former businessman himself; he had twelve years in oil and an automotive dealership before enrolling at Yale. He ended up with a B. D. but chose not to be ordained. His first work with the NCC involved experimental ministries.
White concedes he is dealing with intricate ethical problems. He says that he is not against the military per se, and that there is a certain amount of ambiguity built into the report: “Our report only recommends that the churches begin to look seriously at their military holdings.” The problem, he admits, seems hopelessly complicated because millions of church people derive their livelihood—and support their churches—as employees of companies with defense contracts.
Reminded that Defense Secretary Melvin Laird is a devout United Presbyterian* and presumably contributes to his denomination, and therefore to the NCC as well, White replied. “I’d love to talk to him.”
What the center is aiming at White intimated, is not a clean black-and-white division but a greater awareness on the part of church, government, and industry of the vastness of the investment in the Viet Nam war. He maintains that this huge amount is totally out of line when compared with domestic needs, and that a complete reordering of priorities is a necessity.
White said he could not get data on Roman Catholic involvement in the arms industry. Requests sent to Catholic dioceses were ignored.
Economic sensitivity is not new to American church officials. For a long time denominational investors made it a point to stay clear of companies that produced alcoholic beverages or processed tobacco. Never before, however, have churches debated whether to try to influence corporate policies by buying stock. It is still a moot question, but many churchmen are now pushing this procedure. Again, however, ecclesiastical bureaucrats seem to forget that the “they” who supposedly are at odds with the churches’ ethical stands are actually part of the churches.
The NCC center proposes to concern itself not only with the military factor but also with treatment of the environment, policies of hiring or excluding minorities, responsible use of natural resources, and foreign investments.
White said most public reaction to the disclosure of the center’s military report was favorable. Several officials of the denominations involved issued protest statements, however. Dr. A. Dale Fiers, chief executive officer of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), asked:
“If those industries are to be condemned because of contracting with the government for military equipment and materiel, is there not complicity in making investments in U. S. Treasury bonds, in paying taxes, or even in maintaining the franchise of citizenship in the biggest party to the contracts, namely the government itself?”
Round Three In Miami
The nickel in the parking meter is not the same as the nickel in the offering plate, even if both nickels go to support missionaries.
That’s the view the City of Miami is taking as it plans to hand the Central Baptist Church a big tax bill on a controversial parking lot owned and used by the church but also used by the public for a price (see January 7 issue, page 42).
The city is interpreting a January ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court to mean that the parking lot is taxable. The church thinks otherwise. The case may be the pivotal legal battle in determining the extent to which American churches must pay real-estate taxes on income-producing property.
Actually, what the court said was that a new law adopted by the Florida legislature in 1971 stripped the case against the church of its “character as a present, live controversy.”
The downtown church has enjoyed a tax-free status for its parking lot, which can accommodate 290 cars and adjoins the sanctuary. Church members and staff are given free space during the week while downtown office workers pay as much as $9 a month to rent space. Anyone can park free on Sundays.
Church records show that about $2,100 a month profit is made on the parking lot, which actually uses attendants rather than parking meters. The money goes to the world-wide missionary efforts of the church, established in 1896.
The city first tried to tax the lot, then valued at $150,000, in 1965. The state supreme court ruled that the commercial use was “reasonably incidental to the primary use of the church property as a whole for church or religious purposes,” and therefore the lot was exempt from taxation.
But the American Civil Liberties Union claimed such an exemption violated the First Amendment by aiding one religion and inhibiting others. The ACLU filed a class suit in 1969 in the name of Mrs. Florence Diffenderfer (now Wills), an ACLU attorney, and Nishuan Paul, an atheist retiree who has fought unsuccessfully to ban the annual display of a lighted cross on the Dade County Courthouse.
The district court ruled for the church, but the ACLU appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, which ruled 6–1 that the question is now moot.
Florida’s new law narrows the grounds for religious exemption. Church properties formally had to be totally commercial before they were taxed. Now they need be only “predominantly” commercial. “Predominantly” has not been clearly defined.
“As far as we’re concerned, Central Baptist does not rate an exemption,” said Joe Creech, supervisor of the exemption division of the tax office of Dade County, which collects taxes for the City of Miami. “We’re going to send them a bill.”
The parking lot was last assessed in 1968 at $231,690, and the tax bill was then $6,000. Creech indicated that this year’s assessment would be “considerably higher.” Tax rates also have risen by 25 per cent.
There also is the possibility that an effort will be made to collect back taxes. In all, the total could be somewhere near $50,000.
However, Herbert Sawyer, attorney for the church, thinks the parking lot still is exempt under the conditions stipulated in the 1968 Florida supreme court ruling. He said he would file suit if the exemption is revoked, thus beginning a third round of litigation.
ADON TAFT
Anti-War ‘Witness’
Resolutions urging withholding of certain tax payments, sanctions against military-contracting industries, support of peace candidates, and sanctuary for draft resisters were passed by delegates to a four-day “Ecumenical Witness” held in Kansas City.
The conference, initiated by the General Board of the National Council of Churches and sponsored by 137 Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish leaders, brought together 600 representatives of forty-six denominations and other religious groups. They included seven Catholic bishops and forty foreign delegates from ten countries. The purpose was “to consider the moral crimes arising from the Indochina war.”
Not surprisingly, in view of past opposition to U. S. involvement on the part of most delegates, there was almost complete accord on major issues. Some snags were hit, however. No agreement was reached on whether complete U. S. withdrawal should be unconditional or contingent upon prior negotiations, and the conference also refused to pass a resolution that said “all war is unjust and immoral.”
Two special-interest resolutions were presented. Blacks, who were few in attendance even though three blacks were featured speakers, prepared a resolution urging delegates to view the war as an extension of racism at home. And the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War pressed for sanctuary for conscientious objectors. Both motions were approved.
Distress came to the participants with the disclosure that ten of the largest denominations hold securities worth $200 million in twenty-nine military contractors (see story, page 28). “I can’t imagine Jesus Christ holding stock in Pontius Pilate’s army,” said Mrs. Marian W. Edelman, who represented the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and who was the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi bar.
But the conference did more than merely recite the problems.
Delegates decreed that individuals should “withhold payment of telephone excise taxes and part of their federal income taxes,” boycott products produced by firms that manufacture military hardware, refuse to work in war industries, support peace candidates.
Denominations were urged to withdraw all military chaplains from Indochina and withdraw investments from war-supporting industries, placing them instead in black-owned businesses and legal-defense firms. Denominations were also asked to finance draft counseling.
Congress was asked to cut off all military funds early this year, abolish the draft, ratify the Geneva Convention on genocide, and grant amnesty to all those accused of offenses related to the war.
And the Soviet Union and China were urged to “cease military aid to the North Vietnamese in order that all the peoples of Indochina may indeed determine their own future without outside military support.”
JAMES TINNEY
Students Seek Answer: What Can One Man Do?
Lots of students go to Washington, D. C., to demonstrate, others to sightsee. But last month several contingents of evangelical collegians arrived in Washington to study—and work—on Capitol Hill.
Although academic intern programs in the nation’s capital aren’t new, until recently the only program for evangelical colleges was the National Association of Evangelicals’ annual four-day weekend. From that, three schools have developed programs of their own.
Calvin College sent twenty students headed by Dr. Paul Henry (son of CHRISTIANITY TODAY editor-at-large Carl F. H. Henry) to Washington. During the day the students worked in government offices; at night they met in seminars, earning one credit. Huntington College’s twenty-five students, who also earned one credit, conducted interviews of top government officials. The year-old course sponsored by Evangel College, an Assemblies of God school, was a more structured three-credit work-study program.
The Evangel project was led by Dr. Alex Karmarkovic, associate professor of political science. Each of the twelve students presented an oral report and submitted a final paper. Most of them were political-science majors; several were pre-law.
Norm Scott, 33-year-old Evangel senior assigned to Senator Stuart Symington’s office, engaged in research, condensing reports and compiling information on the coming election for the Democratic steering committee. The program, though only three weeks long, “helps break down the monolith myth about the government,” Scott commented. “These are real people with real desks making real decisions. It’s easier now to come up with an answer to the question, What can one man do?”
The students from Huntington College, affiliated with the United Brethren in Christ, handled this problem from a different angle. Program head Jack Barlow said he designed the interview series as an introduction to political science. The students, whose majors range from history to business to speech, analyzed the decision-making process on an individual basis. Twenty-year-old Paul Cherry said his Washington experience “impressed me with the need for evangelicals to become sensitive to and involved in politics.”
Dr. Henry, who once worked for Congressman John Anderson, said he has felt such a need for a long time. Calvin’s new curriculum schedule made this year’s trip possible. Through his contacts on the Hill, Henry placed all his students in congressmen’s offices.
Sidney Nemeyer, a physics major at Calvin, worked with the House Republican Conference’s research task force on energy resources. Most of Calvin’s students, however, like many from Evangel, were assigned the less glamorous tasks of sorting mail, filing, or typing. Some students from both schools expressed dissatisfaction over their menial jobs.
The programs were financed differently. Eleven of Calvin’s twenty students had paying jobs, with the salaries placed in a communal expense fund. Each student also contributed $60.
Huntington’s program cost each student $160, but the school granted a percentage refund on room and board for the time spent in Washington.
Each student from Evangel paid about $80 of his expenses, with the school supplying the rest. Last year the course cost the college $15,000 for twelve students.
According to Dr. Henry, no secular colleges or universities have sent larger groups of interns to Capitol Hill. As more Christian colleges switch to the four-one-four calendar year, the possibilities for these pioneer programs will increase, say directors.
Now that 18-year-olds can vote and students are taking an active role in government and elections, evangelical colleges need to develop these possibilities. As Paul Cherry put it, “The Church must wake up to the need for responsible social action. These programs are a big step in that direction.”
CHERYL A. FORBES
Playboys, Come Home
Not all of Playboy’s readers are playboys at heart. A full-page ad in the January eastern regional edition invited readers to “come home” to the Catholic priesthood. The response has been very good, says Father Joseph Lupo, who placed the ad for his dwindling Order of the Most Holy Trinity (down to fewer than 100 priests and trainees).
His Maryland-based order, also known as the Trinitarians and dating from 1198 in Italy, had spent thousands of dollars advertising for recruits in big city newspapers, national news magazines, and religious publications, but with sparse results. So he decided to “go where the men are” (he estimates that 80 per cent of the nation’s male collegians read Playboy).
The ad depicts two young men deep in thought walking along a beach, with the words: “You are already a Trinitarian. You who have love to give and the courage to offer it, you are already a Trinitarian. Come work with your brothers. Come home.”
Beacon Presses For Privacy
Last month the Unitarian-Universalist Association filed suit in Boston against the Justice Department for alleged violation of freedom of religion in connection with a grand jury subpoena of its financial records.
Beacon Press, the non-profit publishing wing of the UUA, issued a four-volume edition of the Pentagon Papers from information supplied by Senator Mike Gravel (D.-Alaska), but the UUA insisted on a “hands off” policy for its own papers. Last October FBI agents began investigating the association’s records, kept at the New England Merchants Bank in Boston. A district court refused to hear the suit.
Baptist Squabble
Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of Georgia’s largest church, the 5,000-member First Baptist Church of Atlanta, is suffering from a sore jaw—and the church is suffering from a split.
Last October Stanley, former associate pastor, was named pastor by congregational vote over the objections of both the deacons and the pulpit committee. Last month thirty-six of the sixty active deacons resigned, citing Stanley’s “inordinate passion for political power.” The deacons claimed in a prayer meeting a week before their resignation that the pastor “bypassed the board of deacons and the administration, finance, personnel and education committees” in making appointments. At this same prayer meeting, one of the debaters slugged Stanley in the jaw.
Stanley insists that before he became pastor the church was “a country club.” He says he wants to change its direction to evangelism. But, Stanley concluded, “some people don’t like that approach.”
A Questionable Expense
The National Association of Laity, an unofficial group of Roman Catholic laymen, last month issued an 111-page report charging more than seventy-five dioceses with publishing misleading fiscal statements.
Compiled by forty volunteers who spent a year on the project, the NAL report accused Catholic bishops of spending more than $6 million a year lobbying for tax support of Catholic schools, an “ethically unjustifiable” expenditure.
Russell Shaw, director of the U. S. Catholic Conference’s information office and spokesman for the Catholic bishops, called the figure “widely inflated” and said no one knows the precise amount.
