Evening star., 1942-03-14

ware, OIllU, ulluSI bIlc dUSplCco VI u
Just and Durable Peace of thu
Federal Councils of Churches. Nor,
than 300 delegates, representing de-
| nominations, councils of churche!
and other religious organize lions
prepared the document, which will
probably become a subject of study
and discussion in churches and Local
communities throughout the coun-
try.
The statement is already being
compared to the famous Malvern
report adopted by a conference OF
Church of England leaders year
ago, but in informed quarters 1t is
regarded as more conservative than
the Malvern document in its criti-
cism of present conditions and in
its recommendation for changes in
the social order after the war. This
is ascribed to the fact that the con-
ference which drew up the state
ment represented a wide range OF
theological, economic and political
schools of thought, and most OF the
findings were adopted by large ma
iorities, in most instances by unanl-
nous votes.
The Malvern Conference, on the
other hand, was attended only by
Church of England leaders and
largely by representatives OF the hb-
eral wing of the church.
The Delaware statement con-
demned the grave defects" of the
profit system, repudiated the doc
trine of isolationism, especially IN
the economic field; advocated estab-
lishment of some form Of world govr
ernment, called upon the churches
to wipe out the "sin OF racla! dis
elimination" and made a plea for a
new era Of interdenominational CO.
operation"
Nothing Startling Produced.
The Delaware Conference pro-
duced nothing startling, in the opln-
ion of observers, but it came out
with Joint statement of Protestant
opinion on the subject of the post
war order, which tells the Nation
where the churches stand. Up to
the present time more than 6C
statements Of peace aims have been
adopted by various church groups
For some time church leaders have
recognized the need of co-ordlnatlng
and clarifying these statements into
a more simple and specific proposal
1t is conceded that the Delaware
statement is an important step in
this direction.
Some religious leaders feel that
church statements on peace aims
have been too abstract and that a
simple, concrete statement is still
needed, couched in terms which are
easily understood and clear to the
general public. In this connection
one delegate at the Delaware Con-
ference remarked that mot one per-
son in a hundred knows what the
church leaders are talking about
Proponents of this viewpoint be-
lieve, however, that If American
churches go through the dark days
that came upon the English
churches they will speak out con-
cretely.
Another school of opinion holds
that church groups studying peace
aims are concerning themselves too
much with world organization, to
the exclusion of domestic problems
This is felt to be particularly so in
the cases of the commission spon-
sored by the Federal Council of
Churches, whose chairman, John
Foster Dulles, is an advocate of the
world government idea.
There was no discussion OF the
war situation or the attitude of the
churches toward the war effort. 1t
was agreed upon in advance that
these subjects would not be consid-
cred. DR.. Charles Clayton Nor
riSon, editor of the Christian Gen.
tury, proposed that the conference
adopt a statement to the effect that
the church itself is not waging war.
The statement was adopted by the
discussion section but it was ruled
out of order in the plenary session.
The appearance of DR.. Leo Paslov-
sky, special assistant to Secretary of
State Hull, as speaker indicated the
Governments concern with we'll
defined peace aims, even from the
standpoint Of the war itself.
Preaching Mission Ends.
Latest venture in modern evange-
ism ended this week in Clinton,
Iowa 1t was the National Christian
Mission. which visited A medium
sized cities during an eight-week
ast-to-coast tour, sponsored by the
Department of Evangelism of the
Federal Council of Churches. More
than 100 speakers were used during
the tour, which was modelled after a
similar project conducted last year
In % major metropolitan centers.
Statistics covering last years mis-
sion revealed that the enterprise at
tracted an estimated average of 25
per cent of the population of each
city visited. On the basis of incom-
olete attendance returns, the current
mission exceeds its predecessor. In
one city (Hagerstown, Md a total
of PLAT persons, representing IS per