There has been much discussion in recent days about the proper role of religious groups in the political arena.
The emergence of such conservative organizations as the Moral Majority has led many liberal clergymen to decry the politicalization of religion. When they do so, they ignore the far-left political activity of the National Council of Churches and the “mainline” Protestant denominations—which goes back many years.
It is possible to argue logically against the involvement of religious organization in politics. A good case can be made for such a position. It is more difficult, however, to adopt a double standard in which one kind of politics is acceptable, and another is not. Yet, this is precisely the position taken by groups such as those which now warn us of the “threat” posed by the so-called “Christian Right.”
In a new book, The Church and the Sword, Capt. G. Russell Evans, USCG (Ret.) and Dr. C. Gregg Singer, review the efforts, over many years, of the National Council of Churches (NCC) and its member denominations to move the U.S. toward pacifism and unilateral disarmament, a position the authors believe is not only harmful to the future of a free society but is contrary to the Christian Gospel.
Dr. Singer, who recently retired as head of the History Department at Catawba College and now is professor of church history and theology at the Atlanta School of Biblical Studies, is the author of an earlier book, The Unholy Alliance, which is a thoughtful review of the history of the NCC.
The record of the NCC and its predecessor, the Federal Council of Churches, is clear with regard to national defense. In 1978, a group calling itself “100 Prominent Christians” called on the U.S. to scrap plans for all research and development of strategic weapons and asked the churches to put pressure on the government for unilateral disarmament in order to “test” the willingness of other nations to do the same.
Among those involved were Robert McAfee Brown of Union Theological Seminary who told a 1975 meeting of the World Council of Churches in Kenya, “I love my country and I am deeply ashamed of it. I am ashamed of it particularly for what it has done to many of your countries.” Others in the group of 100 included Wayne Cowan, editor of Christianity and Crisis, and the Rev. Eugene Stockwell of the National Council of Churches. The current head of the NCC, United Methodist Bishop James Armstrong, in 1976 telegraphed President-elect Carter to remind him to keep his campaign promise not to produce the B-1 bomber. Armstrong said that building the B-1 is “not only contrary to the official position of the United Methodist Church but an insult to the American people.” Lowell G. Almen, editor of the Lutheran Standard, told American Lutherans that disarmament is a key issue of the 1980′s. He urged arms management by some “world authority” and said that the U.S. should modify “narrow notions of national sovereignty.”
The NCC, in 1980, adopted a resolution declaring that “Massive armaments buildup diverts resources away from human needs, does not provide national security and endangers the survival of civilization . . . .” The authors declare:
“The words of this pronouncement formed the usual pacifist pattern, but the timing was shocking. The Soviet Union for the preceding 10 years had outspent the U.S . by some 25 to 50 percent in armaments buildup and had just invaded Afghanistan. The resolution, however, had absolutely nothing to say about the invasion of Afghanistan or the unprecedented Soviet arms buildup. It was a clear call for unilateral disarmament by the U.S., the latest in a long series as our examination has shown. This American church group had directed its pacifist proposal to the wrong party: It should have gone to Moscow.”
The authors report and document the various crusades entered into by the NCC and its member churches-crusades against the selective service system, in behalf of terrorist groups in Rhodesia, against loyalty oaths and investigations of subversion, in behalf of Communist China’s admission to the United Nations, in support of the U.S. abandonment of Taiwan. In pursuing these objectives, Evans and Singer charge, the NCC has not been truly representing either Christianity or the views of the members of various denominations affiliated with it.
“These Christians,” they write, “are trading values. They are swapping their right to judge society’s movements by biblical truths for the privilege of participating in liberal politics in the name of the church. But this is a misnomer. Their Christian influence has been compromised and, in many respects, lost entirely.”
In following its present course, the authors suggest the “mainline” churches are fulfilling Lenin’s prophesy. Lenin urged that young people and church leaders be used by international communism to advance its ends—to create an atmosphere of pacifism and an unwillingness to defend one’s country in the Western world. Lenin declared:
“When a country is selected for attack, we must first set before the youth a mental barrage which will forever prohibit that youth from being molded into an armed force to oppose our invading armies. This can most successfully be done by creating ‘war horror’ thought and by the teaching of pacifism and non-resistance. It will be found that powerful organizations of non-Communists can be created for this purpose, particularly liberal-minded professors and lecturers.” Communist editor Nikolai Bukharin agreed: “The friendship of liberal-minded ministers shall be sought, as these men are at the present time the leaders of the masses.”
It is no accident that those now in the forefront of the crusade for a “nuclear freeze”—which would make permanent Soviet superiority-are clergymen. How better can the Soviet Union hope to achieve world domination than by spreading the idea of pacifism throughout the Western world? And what more vulnerable group could be found among whom to spread the message than the clergy?
If anyone doubts that the church has been performing this role for some time, a careful reading of this book will make that fact abundantly clear.
Reprinted by permission from Dec. 11, 1982 Human Events, 422 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003