A Plea for Realism: Perspective on the Power Struggle

The background of all that we do, as individuals and groups, is a dramatic power struggle. This struggle dominates our epoch. It is the most stupendous power contention in international history. It is global in scope, but is centered in the policies and action of two nations, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. These two giants, but recently sprung into prominence and lifted into commanding eminence among the great nations of the world, have left the rest far behind and are the principal factors in the war for the minds of men.

A Secular Vision

On the one side, we see a new secular religion, something novel in history, married to massive state power. The leaders of the U.S.S.R. and of world Communism are at once priests and technocrats. They are committed to the dream of a transformed world and they expect to accomplish this by superior technology.

In fact, Communism represents from a theological standpoint the disjunction of the traditional orders of creation and redemption. It says that there is no God, no Creator at all, and no settled order of creation. The idea of definite meets and bounds limiting the freedom of man is rejected out of hand. The past is indeed viewed as pure prologue, and the important thing is not what has been, but what will be.

In short, what is set forth as the essence of Communism is unlimited change for the better, presided over by men who are emancipated from the dead dogmas of the past and are enlightened with a new knowledge, the knowledge brought into the world by Marx and by Lenin.

The publications and actions of these two figures represent the two testaments, the two great stages of saving truth. Outside of them, beyond Marxism-Leninism there is no truth. There is only falsehood and illusion, which must be rejected and bitterly opposed and which will pass away.

It is noteworthy that the central structure of Communist thought embodies a strange parody of Christianity, with its Old Covenant of the Law and its New Testament of Grace. But Communism is much more drastic and radical than historical Christianity, for the Church rejected the counsels of the first and second century Gnostics. The Church Fathers held to creation and law and the Old Testament and the validity of nature, even as they embraced a transforming salvation offered through faith in Christ. This is a salient part of the meaning of the historic Creeds.

The Communists, by contrast, say there is no world above and beyond. There is only this world, the realm of matter and time and space, and the point is to seize on it and build heaven on earth. Communism is, therefore, the most revolutionary idea in the history of man.

A Forgotten Glory

On the other side, our side, in this epic struggle is a beleaguered and somewhat schizophrenic Western civilization, erected upon and still giving at least lip-service to Judaeo-Christian principles. This is an old civilization and it has been weakened by both intellectual corrosion and the erosion of moral substance. At times it seems unsure of its foundation principles and values. This is expressed in its lack of will.

The U.S.A., a younger and fresher nation, has been called by Providence into a premier position as leader of Western Christian civilization. On balance, our civilization is in better shape than Western Europe or other sectors of the free world. But at least three tendencies in our national life are visible symptoms of degeneracy. Unless checked, these tendencies will lead to decay of our power and ultimate disaster.

1. A widening gulf between our intellectuals and the great body of the American people. Our people as a whole are a religious people. They believe in God. They cherish the traditions of this country, right back to our great founding fathers. They believe the United States is very important to mankind and to a good future for the world. Our intellectuals, on the other hand, have drunk deeply at other cisterns. In a great many instances over a prolonged period of time they have been caught up in the powerful Marxist over-drift which has so powerfully affected and infected the twentieth century.

2. An unconscious secularism, or confinement to this world, fed by scientism and religious divisions. Grave manifestations of this mounting trend are the interpretation of the First Amendment as implying the absolute separation of state and religion, the gradual removal of religious exercises and observances from the public schools, and the complacent acceptance especially by Protestants of the heresy that the place of religion is not in the commonwealth but in the churches.

3. A spreading moral decline, linked with progressivism in education, the removal of religion from life, and the thrust of materialism and the sensate in American culture generally. Such symptoms are gradual, but we need to measure standards today with those of our forefathers and face honestly the question whether we are transmitting to the younger generation the central moral tradition which is man’s essence and glory.

The Communist challenge becomes more urgent as we fail to mount in the face of it a dynamic and appropriate response. The meaning of the rise and threat of Communism may well be in the judgment it represents on Western civilization and in the demand it makes on us for reformation and renewal.

In this spectacular grapple the United States has far greater assets, both material and spiritual. But despite many problems and weaknesses, the U.S.S.R. at this moment has the edge psychologically. It believes in itself; it knows what it wants; and it has a definite plan. It has a will to win, and it believes that it is winning now hands down. It is certain that the United States is hopelessly corrupted and enfeebled by internal contradictions.

The Need Of Realism

What has authentic Christianity to say? What does our faith as churchmen mean in this horrendous ordeal? What should our witness be?

I believe that Christianity could turn the tide. So far we have not been very much preoccupied with Communism as a Christian issue. We have tended to regard it as academic, or as vague and undefined, or as something for government to handle, while we get on with “the parish program.”

The response Christianity has made has been almost wholly in idealistic terms of “doing better” at home and in the world. We have got into the habit, especially as Christians, of regarding the cold war as a popularity contest in which the role of the United States is to court the favor of the uncommitted peoples and thereby to emerge as a victorious Miss Universe.

This concept of the nature of the struggle and the path to victory is dangerously defective. It is not based on facts, on the real world, but on dreams and illusions. This became clear in August and September of 1961 when Chairman Khrushchev showed his contempt for neutral and so-called uncommitted opinion by the unilateral resumption of atmospheric nuclear testing.

Furthermore, Khrushchev had the nerve to time the resumption of these tests with the opening of an ambitious conference of the leading neutrals in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on September 1. Did the neutrals react as men of conviction and courage? Did they show the annoyance and anger they must have felt? They did not. They acted like sheep. They controlled and concealed their displeasure at Khrushchev’s contemptuous bellicosity. But they did not hesitate in their conference communique to criticize the United States for its colonialist policy and conduct in holding a naval base on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

That is how idealism has impressed the uncommitted peoples. Rethinking the nature of the world conflict is therefore most urgent. We must revise our fundamental concept of the character of the cold war. The view that idealism as a sole or main answer can prevail is false and must be resolutely put aside. Even if we had endless time, it is doubtful if we could win simply by the utmost exertion in good works.

The Reliance On Might

The harsh fact is that Communism both in its ideology and in relentless, unvarying practice represents the maximization of power.

Christianity answers: There are two powers.

There is, first, the power of the state—of weapons, police, armies; of counter-planning and counter-terror, and of superior force.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.… But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil (Paul in Rom. 13:3, 4).

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils (Jesus in Luke 11:21, 22).

Consider the ferocity of Communism in Viet-Nam and Laos right now. Indoctrinated, fanatical Communist guerrillas are turned loose upon innocent villagers. They seize control by murder, pillage, naked terror; and they remain, advance, or retreat by similar means. Mercy, pity, humane considerations are out. All is rational calculation, with only one objective in view: control of territory and advance of the revolution.

Consider the Communist conquest of Cuba by and through Fidel Castro. Castro was brought to power largely by the Cuban middle class, with a considerable assist from American public opinion and correspondingly altered State Department policy, both heavily influenced by propaganda transmitted by a reporter such as Herbert L. Matthews and an organ such as The New York Times.

What happens when the amoral scoundrel Castro, hailed by ultra-respectable moulders of opinion as a Caribbean Robin Hood, has seized power? He moves cold-bloodedly to keep it, to remove loyal and patriotic Cubans who had made his victory possible but could not stomach betrayal to Communism, and in the manner of Mao Tse-tung of China to build an emotional base of support in the landless rural proletariat for a total Communist state. Naked power is fastened upon a helpless people. They cannot rebel even as they discover that the Castro regime has badly mishandled the economy of the island and that they are much worse off now than under the limited corruption and brutality of a Batista.

What can deliver the Cuban people? Clearly only counter-power. Once a little power, judiciously applied. Now quite a good deal of power. Tomorrow it may be at the risk of retaliation on Florida by rockets. But it is vain to answer Castro or the hardened veterans of Communist discipline now replacing him with lofty words or even with good deeds.

The only answer to naked, lawless power is counter-power. We are, of course, not referring to the treatment of captives or to person-to-person contacts with Communists in peaceful circumstances or to desire and attitude toward enemies. Here the ethic of Jesus applies. But in relation to the central power struggle of our age, and to power in general, we have to invoke not idealism but the older tradition of Christian realism. We have to recover the insights of this ancient religious wisdom in regard to the nature of man, the role of the state, the basis of social order and peace, and the laws of relative progress and fulfillment in the affairs of men.

We must win the power struggle now raging. We must defeat Communism. We must do so to survive.

We as a nation could suffer the fate of a Hungary or an East Germany. All Latin America could become a succession of Cubas. Because the stakes are freedom and hope for our country and the world we have to embrace unpleasant risk in the all-important matter of nuclear weapons. Far from declaring, in accordance with some theologians in their most recent pronouncements, that we will never initiate nuclear war in any form, that is just what under present circumstances we must be willing to do. If, for example, the Soviet Union were to mass overwhelming conventional forces in an action to pinch off West Berlin or in support of such a fait accompli, we would have no choice but to resort to tactical nuclear weapons—except to surrender to the Soviet will in this matter and accept the disastrous consequences of such an act for Europe, NATO, and our whole position. We would therefore be forced to act immediately and with all necessary atomic force tactically deployed, taking the risk of acceleration into general nuclear war.

We should, however, make it clear that we will not resort to the use of strategic nuclear weapons save in response to such action by our adversary.

The Christian position, to sum up, is not the elimination of force, but its consecration and right direction. “The powers that be are ordained of God.” That is to say, established, legitimate, consecrated state power has a most necessary role in the Divine government of the world.

A Higher Realm Of Power

But there is a second form of power, of which the Bible has far more to say than it does of the first kind. This second form is a distinct species: it is power in the spiritual order, supernatural power, the power that comes from the presence and action of the Spirit of God.

The New Testament is filled with evidences of power of this kind. Early Christianity can hardly be conceived—so strong is the tenor of the records—apart from the reality of the Spirit in clear distinction from the normal order of nature and history. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” Thus Paul wrote. And in every fiber of his being he felt the presence and power and greatness of the Spirit. His letters all bear witness to this, and the Acts of the Apostles by Luke shows clearly that this experience was in no way confined to Paul but was the distinctive feature of the early Church. In the Gospels this is carried back to our Lord himself who felt in his own life and in the mighty works he was enabled to do the powers of a new age and the signs of a new order of life intersecting time, the order of the Kingdom of God. In the succeeding ages there has been a notable ebb and flow of spiritual tides. Yet continuously and impressively the Spirit has made himself felt and known. The Church has never been allowed to sleep in apathy or to languish in worldliness for long. Saints have been raised up: in Christianity’s Golden Age, in the Dark Ages, in the high tide of Mediaevalism, at the Reformation, in the over-rationalized and moribund eighteenth century, and in the great, expanding, progressive nineteenth century.

Today also in our “times of troubles,” God does not leave himself without witness. There are many signs that other winds than the hurricanes of change are blowing across nations and continents. The Christian Church must await special enlightenment and endowment for the tremendous tasks of our urgent time. She must see that the Spirit is more than liberal idealism, a philosophy which sees nature, history, and all things as the expression of immanent, all-pervading Mind.

Our greatest need is a new sense of God as God. It is for a baptism of Christians in our time with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Recently in New Delhi, India, not only the Russian Orthodox Church of Russia but also a Pentecostal church of Chile, South America, was admitted to the World Council of Churches. Pentecostals believe in baptism by the Spirit as a distinct moment and phase of Christian experience. There is considerable preoccupation in some Presbyterian and Episcopal circles with visible and ecstatic manifestations of the Spirit comparable to those which were conventional in the apostolic Church. I am not evaluating these facts or this movement. I am by temperament a good deal of a rationalist, though reason leads me to recognize the limitations of reason. I am, however, compelled to believe in the reality of the Supernatural and in the special working of the Holy Spirit. We who call ourselves Christians, and who do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, do need to be more in prayer to expect great things of God today, and to be open to his leading and to empowerment by his Holy Spirit.

“I propose … the training of Christian cadres, quho should be thought of as missionarties to the Communists and other alienated intellectuals and political revolutionaries.… So far there is no seminary, no college, no university for concentration on Christianity and Communism. This is a scandal.”

I believe, too, that we must relate this faith and knowledge of God—this expectation of spiritual power—to the central crisis of our time. This crisis to a large extent pivots on an ideology falsely parading as a gospel of salvation, while in reality deceiving the people, turning the life of earth not into a heaven but into hell.

We are dealing in today’s world not only with power but with idolatry, with a false god and a false religion in an organized form. This is a direct challenge to Christianity, and one which requires in reply the armor and weapons of the Spirit. This is not the might of arms or brute force or terror, but a distinct form of strength, a power derived from God within us and expressing the fruit of the Spirit. If I am asked what Christians can do to meet the threat of Communism, I invariably reply that, first, they must be intelligent: Communism is not going to be overcome by stupidity. Second, we must be better Christians—more serious, persistent, and persevering (I believe that was once a very special Presbyterian word). And, third, we must face our impotence with God’s greatness and sufficiency: we must be open to the promptings of his Spirit and ready for extraordinary action and sacrifice if he so leads us.

There ought to be in the local church a cell or group or committee which devotes itself strenuously to ideological concerns and questions and to the role and meaning of Christianity today when our world is on fire. Such a group should add prayers to study, and should emphasize what I am calling openness to the Spirit and his power. I believe also that these concerns and this openness should be brought very centrally into our services of worship and into private and family prayer.

It is a truism to say that the whole missionary movement is today in confusion and disarray. How could it be otherwise in our world of storm? Everywhere conditions are abnormal and there is no prospect of a change. On the contrary, we are in the era of the indefinite emergency—of “the interruption of history. I propose, therefore, the formation and training of Christian cadres, who should be thought of as missionaries to the Communists and other alienated intellectuals and political revolutionaries in our disordered world. Even if it should not be feasible to operate openly or definitely behind the iron curtain (and I would not rule this out), the opportunity for contacts with Communists is now very wide and is constantly growing. Moreover, the Communist party is worldwide, with 36 million members and Communism is itself an international missionary movement. Then there is the whole ferment of intellectuals in the new and emerging nations which gives Communism its primary missionary opportunity.

Possibly there could be a missionary extension or laboratory division of a really strong “Institute for the Study of Christianity and Communism.” If church people got sufficiently concerned, it would come into being. There are in our universities all over the country scores of institutes and special schools for Russian studies, Chinese studies, East European, African, or Asian affairs, overseasmanship, and what not. But so far there is in no seminary, no college, no university a special school for concentration on Christianity and Communism. This is a scandal. It reflects unfavorably upon Christendom in America, and, I believe, upon the United States itself.

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