No. 1 Christian

A little Japanese Presbyterian with a broad smile and bad eyesight toured the U.S. in 1936, speaking to packed halls on Christianity and consumer cooperatives. For the hundreds of thousands who heard him, Toyohiko Kagawa sounded like a saintly social worker and symbolized the best of Christianized Nippon.

But when his government went to war with the great country he knew so well, Princeton-educated Kagawa spoke out of the nationalist side of his mouth. In English-language broadcasts beamed at the U.S. he attacked American "savagery comparable to the lowest cannibalism," argued that if America had not lost the spirit of Washington and Lincoln her leaders would cease the cruel perfidy of the war against Japan. After the war he did not deny his words. The broadcasts had been made, explained Kagawa, to show both his government and his people that a Japanese Christian could also be a patriot.

Though Kagawa had been twice imprisoned (briefly) towards the close of the war, when he was accused of having "peace thoughts." he escaped more lightly than other Christian leaders. (Two Episcopal bishops spent more than three months in prison.) Possible reasons: 1) his ready accession to government pressure for a merger of the Christian churches; 2) his uncertain health; 3) his anti-American broadcasts, speeches, and articles.

To most U.S. Christians, Kagawa still symbolizes Christianity in Japan. Author of an ambitious three-year plan to evangelize his country, he spends much time training young Japanese to spread the gospel, once again preaches almost daily in his emotional Holy Roller style. He is still a preacher of the social gospel.

Yet Kagawa's place is not unquestioned. Many Japanese Episcopalians and Catholics frown on what they consider his avid fondness for the limelight. Newly appointed to Japan's House of Peers, he is among those whose seating General MacArthur has ordered delayed, pending determination of their status as "desirable personnel." Headquarters rumor predicted last week that he would not be purged, despite an unfavorable report by SCAP's Civil Intelligence Section.

Kagawa was unconcerned. Said he to reporters: "I have been an evangelist from the start. The Gospel never changes. If they bar me from office it is all right; I will still march on."

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