Evening star., 1942-04-26
No Earth Seorchinu
Done by Clergy in
Southwest Pacific
Bishop Confident Mojor
Investment Will Not Be
Impaired by Inyoder
nr wlae world rrvt.

ecorchinR that has marked with
drswals by United Nations national
In the Southwest Pacific, one msjo
American investment was deIiber.
ateiy left behind in territory occu'
pied by the japanese.
Confidence that IL viii still b
there when the invader Is driver
out was expressed here By visitor
fresh from Australia
It win be there, he said. becausf
basically the investment is In values
which moth and rust cannot cor.
rupt, stored away where thieves can
not break in and steal
II is Christianity.
Bronzed by "a years OF South Pa.
ciic sun. Methodist Bishop Edwin
r. Lee talked with confidence about
survival of the work and influence
Of missions IN the Orient which
folk In every corner of the United
States have supported with their
dimes and nickels for century.
Natives Continue Work.
For the first time In all those
years, the responsibility for ccn-
t.nuing that work and influence now
has passed largely 10 native hands
in the countries oyerrun by pagan
army.
Speculation on the possible fate OF
physical assets did not figure In
Bishop Lees conversation. He said:
while governments and bust
nesses were compelled to destroy
their properties when they withdrew
before the enemy's advance, we who
have been working In the Christian
churches have no scorched-earth
policy. Christianity cannot be de-
stroyed. Our work Is implanted In
the hearts OF men, where 1t viii
survive"
Bombed out OF his jurisdiction In
Malaya. the Philippines. Sarawak
and Sumatra. Bishop Lee was or
dered out Of Singapore by the
American Consul Just before the
japanese closed in. The ship on
which he and Mrs Lee reached Ba-
tavia underwent 27 air attacks.
But before Bishop Lee left he
charged the native clergy to carry
on. Conceivably, he said, the work
of the Christian missions may have
to go underground in the occupied
territory. The catacofnbs that hid
and preserved an adopted faith for
early Christians may have their Goth
century counterpart in the noun
tain faStness of Borneo, the steamy
jungles of Johore. the forests OF
Bataan.
Confident Of Survival.
He explained why he believed 90
firmly the missions will survive:
In my own jurisdiction there were
% district superintendents, Is of
them Filipino, Chinese. East Indian
or Batak, plus 325 native pastors for
TOO congregations. They have un-
dertaken responsibility for a church
of l25, 900 members and a constitu-
ency of half million. In my judg-
ment, these superintendent and the
Asiatic pastors will render a good
account of their stewardship.
"If the local leaders are unable to
conduct church regularly, they can
keep the contacts with the people,
meeting when and where they can.
They will be ready TO rally their con-
gregations after the war"
And of the church membership
itself.
They have a positive Christian
faith which would surprise many
with It's vitality. I think many will
be surprised by what we will find in
the preservation of the churches In
the affected territory at the end of
hostilities.
Christianity has been making a
real impact on the Orient for about
hundred years. II is little short
of amazing that the Christian has
made so great an imprint on the
minds of Oriental peoples. The
number of those peoples belonging
10 the church is no gauge of the
influence of Christianity. 1t is evi-
dent in many things. 1t is especially
marked in the lifting of the social
position of womanhood throughout
the Orient.
American People Trusted.
People everywhere in Southeast
ern Asia are looking to America for
salvation from the. present situa-
ton and also for leadership in the
years Immediately following this war.
Our treatment of the Filipinos over
q 40-year period has demonstrated
TO these people that the American
Government can be trusted"
To Bishop Lee the war is mot
solely war to avenge the treacher-
Gus attack on Pearl Harbor. but TO
stamp out an ideology which would
make our world an undesirable place
in which to live"
The people here must remember" !"
he said, that the attitude of the
Japs toward emi-deification of the
Emperor and the glorification of
Japan as state produces a situa-
ton in which nothing short of en-
tire acceptance of that theology can
prevail" !"
He said the pattern had been dis
closed in Korea. which the japanese
have dominated for 80 years. and in
China. where they purpoSely de-
stroy schools and other cultural
agencies such as the churches be-
cause they do not dare allow such
DYNAMIC ideals to be expressed ex-
cept in an inconseQuential way"
Bishop Lee, a broad-shouldered
former A. E. F. chaplain of the first
World War. and so not a stranger
70 military campaigns, believes it
may be possible to defeat Japan BY
the spring of I943 with adequate
emphasis on all Allied fronts" but
he lays great emphasis on the need
for preparing for a longer struggle
than that.
Personally. he is planning on a
return TO his Jurisdiction within a