The Council Speaks

he National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. has set a course through some rough weather since its founding two years ago. Many Protestants incorrectly thought of it as a "superchurch" in the making, instead of a union of independent member churches. Moreover, some U.S. denominations, e.g., the Southern Baptists (membership: 7,400,000) and the Missouri Synod Lutherans (membership: 1,800,000), have refused to join. Yet the council, representing 35 million church members, has given U.S. Protestantism a collective voice that it never had before in its history.

In Denver last week, 1,835 council delegates met in general assembly. They elected a new president, Methodist Bishop William C. Martin of Dallas (see box), to succeed retiring President Henry Knox Sherrill, presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. They approved plans for streamlining the council's somewhat makeshift administration machinery. Finally, they issued a "letter to the Christian people of America," a broad commentary on the concerns and responsibilities of the church today.

The council's letter* was the work of a committee headed by Presbyterian John A. Mackay, president of Princeton Theological Seminary. Similar in scope and intent to the annual pronouncements of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the U.S., it is the first such statement that might be called the teaching voice of U.S. Protestantism. Excerpts:

Intersecting Circles. "Our supreme task as Christians is to be instruments in God's hands to carry forward His purpose in Christ for mankind. Our churches, therefore, cannot be ends in themselves. We dare not, moreover, make them the servants of any one culture, class, race or nation . . . They must radiate the light of God on all things human; that is their prophetic mission . . .

"In our country, religion and government have not been like contiguous squares, but rather like circles which intersect at two points. These points have been the reverent awareness of God, on the one hand, and the recognition of absolute moral values on the other.

"Inasmuch, therefore, as this nation was intended to be a religious nation, we should use all legitimate means to prevent it from becoming a secular state in the current sense of the term. A typical secular state, by rejecting the reality and authority of God and the relevance of religion in life, depreciates religion and exalts irreligion. Furthermore, secularism can take on the character of a positive religion, as it has done in certain modern states, whether of the Communist or Fascist type. When this happens, a state tends to assume divine prerogatives and commits satanic crimes.

"[Yet] we must never allow our government to be controlled by a particular religious organization. That any church should . . . receive special privileges in the national life or in international relations, would be a violation of our basic principles . . ."

Public Schools. "We believe in our public school system. It is unfair to say that where religion is not taught in a public school, that school is secular or Godless . . . On the other hand, a way must be found to make the pupils of American schools aware of the heritage of faith upon which this nation was established . . . On no account must an educational system which is permeated by the philosophy of secularism, something quite different from religious neutrality, be allowed to gain control of our public schools . . . In some constitutional way provision should be made for the inculcation of the principles of religion . . . within the regular schedule of a pupil's working day. In the meantime, the state should continue to accord freedom to religious bodies to carry on their own schools. But those who promote parochial schools should accept the responsibility to provide full support for those schools, and not expect to receive subsidies or special privileges from public authorities."*

Dungeons & Boycotts. "The interests of truth are dependent upon freedom of thought . . . It is, in fact, good for truth to have to struggle with error . . . The conscientious expression of ideas must not be dealt with by a dungeon, a boycott or an index, nor by arbitrary governmental action, character assassination or the application of unjust economic or social pressures.

"We are distressed at the persistent violation of human rights in many countries, our own included. To mention only a few examples, we are deeply concerned by the restriction of religious liberty in Spain and Colombia and lands under Communist domination, and by racial discrimination in the United States and South Africa."

A Missionary Church. "The church has also a redemptive role to fulfill . . . Evangelism, the confrontation of men with Jesus Christ so that they may accept Him as their Saviour and follow Him as their Lord in the fellowship of the church, is the church's primary task. It is not sufficient that the Gospel be preached in established places of worship. It is necessary that it be taken to the people. Let our complacency be shaken by the fact that today, even while church membership stands at an alltime peak in the history of our country, there are still 66 million people in the nation who have no religious affiliation . . .

"When a church is no longer mobile . . . when a challenge to high adventure under God fails to awaken a response in prophetic words and redemptive deeds . . . that church is dead. It is dead even should it be acclaimed as the most venerable institution of which a nation . . . can boast. For a true church must live a pilgrim life upon the road of God's unfolding purpose, keeping close to the rugged boundaries of His ever-expanding kingdom.

"We have now come to a moment in the history of the church and of the world when it is not enough that the church should have missions; the whole church must itself become missionary."

* The salutation "Dear Brethren" became "Dear Fellow Christians" at the behest of women delegates, some of whom felt slighted by ''brethren."

* U.S. Roman Catholics hold that the state should pay for "auxiliary" services, e.g., public buses for parochial-school students.

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