Search results

Contents: Communist strategies; Clerical targets; The propaganda offensive; Pressures on church leaders; Methods of intimidation; Physical attacks on priests.

It is pointed out that the record of the Amer churches in the struggle for civil rights is, at best, ambiguous. Historically the churches have been more on the side of the status quo than on the frontiers of change & the achievement of soc justice. The occupants of the pews continue to resist change, but those who occupy the pulpits have to a considerable degree experienced a deepening commitment to, & involvement in, the struggle for soc justice. This is leading to the deepest schism in the churches since the Protestant Reformation. The efforts of clergymen to make the faith relevant to current pol'al & soc issues, eg, civil rights & the Vietnam War, must be seen in the broader context of internal upheavals over the meaning & purpose of the faith, doctrinal belief, & the exercise of authority. Lay resistance to involvement of the clergy is serious enough to raise the question of whether religion in its present instit'al forms will survive. The large majority of Amer's believe that black militants & Coll demonstrators have been treated too leniently & that the police should have more power. If the churches are to survive the 1970's, the clergy must devote much more of their energies toward changing men's hearts. Modified HA.

I suppose I should start this piece by clearly stating that I do not believe in the draft in any form. I happen to hold with Benedict XV that it is an abomination among free men. Yet, if we must have a draft, it must be as equitable as humanly possible. There must be no privileged groups in a truly democratic society; it is, therefore, unjust that seminarians and clergy be exempted from the draft.Before going into the specifics of the argument, I take it as an accepted political as well as theological fact that the absolute pacificist must be exempted from active military duty as long as he is willing to make his contribution to his countrymen in another capacity. This principle was upheld by Vatican II (Pastoral Constitution, par. 79°) and, as such, rejoins a pacifist tradition of the Church almost entirely forgotten for some sixteen hundred years.

The att's & behavior of Protestant ministers toward the war in Vietnam are studied. Source of data is a mail questionaire sent to a 66.6% sample of clergymen In the 9 largest Protestant denominations in Calif during 1968; 1,580 clergymen (63%) responded. The clergy were asked their opinions on 5 policy proposals relating to the war. 29% favored an increase in military efforts, 19% a continuation of the bombing of North Vietnam, 18% a stop to the bombing, 8% a withdrawal to coastal enclaves, & 26% a complete withdrawal. These positions corresponded closely with the ministers' att's on other pol'al issues & with their theological views. The more hawkish ministers generally called themselves religious 'conservatives,' & the more dovish, theologically 'liberal.' Because the latter group are the strongest proponents of an action-oriented church, it was proposed that they would be much more active than clerical hawks on the Vietnam issue. This hyp was verified; the doves were more likely than the hawks to take a series of public protest actions. The clergy were also asked to compare their positions on the war with that of their parishioners, colleagues, & local denominational leaders & to report the sanctions taken against them by their parishioners as a result of their activities. The clergy perceived their colleagues & denominational officials as holding the same or 'more dovish' views than their own, but reported their parishioners to be 'more hawkish.' Parishioner sanctions were most often levied against the most active of the dovish clergymen; among those who committed civil disobedience (N= 26), 52% lost financial contributions, 21% faced efforts to have them removed from their parish positions, & 58% lost parish members. Modified AA.