Highlighting the semiannual meetings of the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches, held this month in Chicago, were the visit of twenty Soviet church leaders (see following story) and a debate on civil rights for homosexuals. If anti-Communist minister Carl McIntire and some ethnic groups had not shown up to hassle the Soviets, and if someone had omitted the word “pastors” from the gay resolution, reporters would have had to scratch to come up with something to write about.
There were few major actions. The delegates came out for the Equal Rights Amendments (a women’s issue) and asked member denominations to work for its passage. They asked that military aid to Cambodia and South Viet Nam be stopped. IBM was declared off-limits to church investors because its dealings in South Africa allegedly benefit whites and suppress blacks. It was suggested that when feasible a committee be sent to Cuba to look over the church-and-society scene. A task-force report on world hunger was affirmed.
Member churches were encouraged to join the NCC in seeking disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act “of any surveillance or other improper activities” carried out against them by the federal government. This move was motivated by unproven “indications and allegations” that federal agents had snooped around offices at 475 Riverside Drive (the NCC’s New York headquarters building) during 1971, 1972, and 1973, and had bugged staff telephones. Audits by the IRS were also carried out during this period.
In a bicentennial “message to the churches,” the delegates called for some rethinking of the American social order.
“When such institutions [as government] and their officials become self-serving and unresponsive to the people, they have forfeited their legitimacy,” the statement declared. “When government fails to secure the rights of citizens it is ‘the right of the people to alter or abolish it.’ ”
It went on to state that “property can no longer be held to be the inviolate, private possession of the one who controls it,” and that essential resources belong to the entire community, whether local, national, or global. If those who control the resources abuse or squander them or use them to enrich a few, said the statement, then “it is the inherent right of the community to assert the ownership” of them.
Withdrawn was a potentially explosive resolution asking for recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
In housekeeping matters, the Broadcast and Film Commission of the NCC and the Department of Information were merged into a new Communication Commission. Formulas and procedures were drawn up to ensure that future staff hiring will meet minority-group quotas.
An “ecumenical event” proposed for 1976 was put off until 1977 or later to provide enough time to involve Catholics and conservative Protestants outside the NCC. No attempts were made to specify what form the event should take.
The resolution on civil rights for homosexuals grew out of earlier NCC action that set up a committee to hold discussions with gay people. Brisk debate erupted among the delegates over one sentence in the resolution’s preamble:
“Many persons, including some of the members and pastors of some of our churches, have been and are being deprived of their civil rights in employment, housing, and full and equal protection of the law because of their affectional or sexual preference.”
The wording of the statement could have been interpreted by some to apply to a church that might refuse to ordain a self-avowed practicing homosexual or refuse to tolerate one as its pastor. ‘Those who interpret will see not only civil rights but also clergy rights,” insisted missions executive David Stowe of the United Church of Christ, despite disclaimers by the gay backers.
Episcopal ecumenical officer Peter Day asserted that a pastor “doesn’t have a civil right to be pastor of a church,” and he moved to strike “and pastors” from the sentence. President Robert Marshall of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) lent a strong supportive argument. Churches have qualifications for their pastors, maintained Marshall, but “this statement would make the NCC the judge of those qualifications.” The Episcopal, LCA, and Orthodox delegations were virtually unanimous in their support of the deletion, but the move failed by a 42-to-60 vote.
Pastor William Grove of First Methodist Church in Pittsburgh next tried a second-best measure, calling for deletion of “employment, housing, and.” He was backed by several strong voices, including that of executive head William Thompson of the United Presbyterian Church, and the amendment passed 84 to 17. (Allowing for the handful of abstentions, the delegates—who numbered about 150 the first day—by the third day barely managed to meet the necessary two-fifths quorum of the board membership of 276.)
The entire statement was then passed overwhelmingly. The resolution section affirmed that homosexuals are entitled to the pastoral concern of the church, and it called for legislation guaranteeing the civil rights “of all persons without regard to their affectional or sexual preferences.” It asked the NCC to “explore the most effective ways of relating the theological insight of the churches on the effects of discrimination and prejudice to the lives of homosexual persons in the community and the churches.”
In other action, the executive committee released a financial report showing the NCC still on shaky financial ground. Most of the $9.4 million balance at the end of 1974 was in designated reserve funds, $8.7 million of it alone for overseas work, mostly for relief projects.
Several reporters, noting the relatively small turnout of delegates and sparse attendance at some sessions, asked whether NCC critics are perhaps correct in their assessment that the NCC is a dying organization. “We’re still in a transition following restructure,” replied General Secretary Claire Randall. “Don’t judge everything by what you see now.” Added Thompson: “The attendance is proportionately about the same as always.” The quorum may be too high, he said, especially when so many denominations today are in a financial bind and can’t always fund the travel of their delegates.
But, wondered a reporter, might that not in itself indicate something about the ranking of the NCC on denominational priority lists?
EASTER ON THE RUN
Tired of the usual Easter-dawn religious activities? Some who are might be interested in the Easter sunrise “Jogging Celebration” in the hills around Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. The eleven-mile run—symbolical of the eleven disciples and the fact that Peter and John were running on the first Easter morn—is not a race, explains Haydn Gilmore, a pastor who wrote a book on jogging and is the originator of the event. It is intended to be an occasion of worship and joy, he says. There’s a catch: only experienced joggers who run four or more miles daily can take part, so it may not be exactly a change of pace for the participants.
Soviet Churchmen: Too Many Differences
Eighteen Soviet churchmen this month returned home with mixed impressions after three weeks of visiting in American church circles. They were wined and dined by their National Council of Churches hosts, grilled by reporters on the hard facts of Soviet church life, and picketed by groups ranging from American Lithuanian and Ukrainian Catholics to Latvian Lutherans and followers of anti-Communist minister Carl McIntire. In small groups, the Soviets took part in church services and visited church leaders and seminaries in a number of communities across the eastern half of the United States. The delegation was composed of thirteen Orthodox, one Baptist, one Catholic, one Armenian Apostolic, and two Lutheran churchmen.
One week was spent in theological discussions at Princeton Seminary with an NCC delegation that had visited the Soviet Union last year. The conversations revolved around two papers from each side: “Jesus Christ Frees—the nature of our freedom, our salvation in Christ” (Soviet Baptist leader Alexi M. Bichkov and McCormick Seminary professor Bruce Rigdon) and “Jesus Christ Unites” (Professor Alexei Osipov of the Moscow Theological Academy and Princeton Seminary professor Charles West).
The Princeton topics covered the theme of the World Council of Churches assembly scheduled for Nairobi, Kenya, in November. Some Americans had hoped a common Soviet-American statement could be presented at Nairobi, but the Soviets said this would not happen because there are too many confessional and political differences between the two groups. The Soviets at Princeton underscored the importance of the authority of Scripture while the Americans stressed the necessity of applying Scripture to all realms of life, including social and political sectors. A “joint communique” was drafted summarizing the highlights of the discussions.
At the NCC meeting in Chicago (see preceding story), several dozen ethnic demonstrators stormed into the hotel and accosted the Soviet churchmen as they emerged from an elevator en route to a press conference. Amid pushing and shoving, some protesters swore at the Soviets, and a Ukrainian Baptist from Chicago claimed a visiting churchman kicked her shin. Police escorting the churchmen stayed out of the fracas, and order was restored only after hotel security people arrived.
Obviously shaken, Ukrainian patriarch Filaret, leader of the Soviet delegation, asked at the press conference: “Is there a contradiction [here] between the right to manifest freedom and the right to security?” Later, McIntire told the Soviets he repudiated what had happened and said his own followers were not involved.
Despite the differences, the Soviets seemed to enjoy sparring verbally with McIntire, and he and Bichkov greeted each other in a warm semi-embrace after a good-natured exchange. McIntire had inquired about criticism of Bichkov by fellow Soviet Baptists. “Pray for our unity, Dr. McIntire, and we’ll pray for yours,” exhorted Bichkov with a knowing smile.
Generally, the Soviets denied the existence of religious repression in their country, but several hinted that while the laws of the land may not be “nice” they must be obeyed. When one reporter asked whether Bichkov might be a KGB agent, he shot back: “That’s an insult!”
At an NCC banquet in Chicago, the Soviets were toasted with donated wine (Bichkov and some American Baptists substituted water) and were given expensive crystal gifts donated by the Steuben glass firm in Ohio. Their air fare was reportedly paid for by Soviet church funds. The NCC underwrote their expenses in America.
HOTLINE PLACEMENT
Intercristo, a Christian agency in Seattle specializing in computerized matching of people to job openings with mission organizations, installed a toll-free number (800–426–0507) for a ninety-day period to hurry the matchmaking along.
Banned In Uganda
Controversial Uganda president Idi Amin, a Muslim, last month banned fourteen Christian groups, declaring them “dangerous to peace and order.” Among those outlawed: Campus Crusade for Christ, the Navigators, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Uganda Bible Society, Elim Fellowship, Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Uganda Church of Christ, and a Quaker group.
This leaves the Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches as the only three recognized Christian bodies in Uganda.
Word of Amin’s displeasure with the groups was first spread a year ago, and last month’s action merely makes official and final a de facto ban of some months. Curiously, Amin has told missionaries they are welcome to stay, but most have already left for reassignment elsewhere.
BENJAMIN OMORO
Religion In Transit
Some law enforcement officials and cattlemen investigating numerous mutilation killings of cattle throughout north Texas and Oklahoma believe they may be the work of Satanist cults. The animals had had their blood drained and their sexual organs, lips, and ears removed.
Some 25,000 complaints about violent and sexually oriented TV programs poured into the Federal Communications Committee last year, up from 2,000 in 1972. The FCC will ask Congress for legislation banning explicit “visual depiction” of obscene or indecent material. Meanwhile, the FCC commended voluntary network action setting aside 7 P.M. to 9 P.M. (8 P.M. in the Midwest) as family viewing time. Morality in Media leaders, however, say they don’t want objectionable material on TV at any time, and they will fight.
Pleasant surprise: The 176,000-member, 1,057-congregation Presbyterian Church in Canada had an increase of 12 per cent in denominational giving in 1974, and instead of an anticipated deficit, there was money left over from the $2.8 million income for extra projects.
An Ontario Supreme Court jury awarded $5,000 to the Church of Scientology of Toronto in its $1.5 million libel and defamation case against Tower Publishing of New York (The Scandal of Scientology, by Paulette Cooper) and a Toronto book distributor.
United Methodist missions executive Paul McCleary, 44, this month becomes executive director of Church World Service, the $25 million global-aid program of the National Council of Churches.
Mathematics professor Charles Hatfield of the University of Missouri-Rolla is the new president of the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies.
Ten educational TV stations licensed to Catholic institutions have organized the Catholic Television Network.
The Viet Cong released two New Zealand Catholic missionary nuns who had
been missing since the January takeover of Phuoc Binh by the North Vietnamese. The women, captured while trying to lead 100 Montagnard orphans to safety, were imprisoned for more than two weeks, during which time the Viet Cong publicly disclaimed any knowledge of their fate.
DEATH
KENNETH G. HAMILTON, 82, retired educator, missionary, bishop, and chief administrative officer of the Moravian Church; in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
