Evening star., 1951-02-01
py 0eUT9e SuTheH
Associated Press Stoff Writer

BY George SorneIi
As.eeiessd Pres. staff Writer
NEW YORK, Feb. with a
Bible under one arm and q stack
of pronouncements under the
other. a new reinvigorated figure
has stepped into the public arena
Of this country. He represents
American churches.
Usually on the sidelines in the
past, you'll find him today in the
Second of Series of Three Articles Troe-
ing Current Trends in Amerieon Re-
lisious Life.
chambers Of Government. in the
halls of labor and industry and
sitting with the council of nations.
In strengthened voice. he states
what he stands for.
He is a symbol Of q new mile
stone in American religious an
mails that has focused the basic
creed of the churches on the con-
duct of the country.
Never before have churches
moved on such a broad, allied
front in seeking to inject the
ethics of their faith into practical,
working problems Of society.
Haven't Expressed Conscience.
TOO often in the past the
churches have not given express
sion to the Christian conscience
of the Nation and community"
said Episcopal Bishop Henry
Knox Sheriff., president Of the
National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the United States Of
America.
Events of the world have made
It essential for the church to
speak out"
The concept itself is not new
one, but 1t is only in recent times
that 1t has gained its present
stature, and won the support Of
most denominations.
It has been a bit-by-bit thing,
slowly gathering strength and
now emerging with new force as
the earth resounds with ideologi-
cal strife, and threats of new.
scientific catastrophe. It has
blended the once-sporadic. dis
connected voice, of American
churches into a rising. more ar
ticulate chorus.
And what do the churches say?
Says Moral Law Must Control.
"They proclaim" said DR.. O.
Frederick Nolde, Church expert on
international affairs, that moral
law must become controlling, not
only in the lives of men as indi-
viduals but also in their corporate
lives as nations"
While churches regard the indi-
vidual as the bedrock of good and
evil, most of them now also view
the wider social order as a sphere
where spiritual values must be
reinforced.
Most religious bodies at present
declare their interest in such
fields as: Economic practices,
labor-management relations, for
eign policies, racial problems,
marriage and domestic matters,
the United Nations and interna-
tional justice, immigration meas
ures, education and overseas re-
lief.
Some denominations have
Stunned any part in considering
such issues, feeling that to do so
would bring their religion down
to the level Of secular controversy
and politics.
But the majority of United
States Protestant churches, as
well as Jewish and Catholic lead
ers, now see not only man but
mans communal affairs, as their
mission.
Have Paved Program.
To make the Christian con-
science" effective in government
and society, the programs of the
newly established National Coun-
Gil and that Of many individual
denominations embrace such ac-
tions as these:
Testimony before congressional
committees, consultation with high
government officials on major
issues, presentation of views to
the U. N. and other bodies,
sponsoring Of conferences, insti-
tutes, research and surveys on
various subjects and the broad
casting of the Christian stand via
modern communication channels
and literature.
In at least one instance last
year, churches Joined in filing a
friend-of -the-co brief in behalf
Of a Negro students efforts to
enroll in the University of Texas.
Special Nationwide observances
such as the annual Labor
Sunday" Economic Life Week, -
and Race Relations Sunday
also point of the growing religious
emphasis on social problems. Some
denominations now maintain