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The original documents are located in Box D13, folder "The Christian Attitude in the
Atomic Age, 1950" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at
the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D13 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
(Labl
2
The Christian Attitude in the Atomic age
I'd like to begin my talk tonight with a story. It begins...
Once upon a time in an old medieval village, the city fathers decided
to have a great festival. (Here tell story of the wine cask.)
Now this story illustrates St point too often forgotten. We cannot
hide from ourselves nor can we hide from our responsibility to our fellow
man. We may get away with doing next-to-mothing jgst as the burghers of the
village
mediveal thought they would. But sometime the cask will be tapped. The day
of reckoning eventually comes.
We are living now in days of reckoming. In the atomic age there will be
many such days. They will come not once but over and over again. They will
come when the first atomic airship reaches the moon; they will come when the
dislocations of fully developed atomic power-plants begin to make themselves
felt. They will come a thousand times in a thousands ways yet not even imagin-
able to our most imaginative thinkers.
The atomic age will be full of days of reckoming.
With what strength? With what spiritual power will we meet these
crises to be?
At this very moment we are locked in the first era of the crisis of
ATOMIC TERROR.
Will this continue to be a terror until we have blown ourselves high
wide and handsome?
This is a sober subject. It is sober and we must think it through
to the udtimate conslusion.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-2-
SED
To a greater or lesser degree man has always possed the power to
destroy himself. The power to destroy humanity has existed for hundreds
of years in dozens of diffe ent manifestations.
Pharoah
For example, the tyranny of an Egyptian paraph posseded the power
to destroy a segment of humanity. The opportunists, the powerful, and the
wicked of all ages possessed a power over their fellowman until man began to
develope somehing called ethics. Ethics -- or the conscious INC2 which tells man
he has an obligation to his neighbor -- is the root of civilization. Without
it man becomes a brute. Without ethics, atomic power unleashed becomes a
fearful and dread weapon in the hands of an enemy.
In our western world the words Christian hase taken on & certain meaning
which is the core of our ethics.
When we hear the word "christian," for example in contra-distinction to
the word Tatar, we immediately get a visual image of what these things called
ethics is.
The parables of the Bible with their lessons of humanity and generosity
have been taught us with a very definite purpose in view. These implant
"consciems" -- Christian conscience if you will. Without them we are no
better than the brutal fascist overlord of a concentration camp.
What was Nazism in its lowest form? It was & national crede that denied
inhumanity
humanimity. It was the brutality of suchenwald; the imhanity of a prison keeper
who is said to have made lampshaes out of human flesh!
I am not one of those who believe that the machine is anti-Christian.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
I am not one of those who preaches that in atomic power We have developed a
Frankensetin that wil, turn against us and crush us in tentacle of steel. But
3.
I recognize the danger of atomic materialism. I can see it clearly unless
we fully understand the impact of this thing that has come upon us.
Open up your imaginations for just a moment. I cannot say - I am
no scientist how far these visions are from being fairy tales but I do
know that they are possible: anything is possible in the atomic age.
We must use our imaginations unless we are to perish from lack of
vision and the readiness to cope with the impossible. How will we cope with
the impossible?
We will cope with the impossible only if the thing called Christian
conscience is equal to the challenge; only if we understandthat without our
spiritual values, we too can become Frankensteins.
Yes, a flight to the nearest planet. wet's take this imaginary flight
whether it's today, temmorow, or a cnetury away in reality.
Some of my firends were discussing this fantastic Buck Reger's vision
the other aight.
They agreed on several principles.
They agreed that--
1) such a flight was possible semeday.
2) that if such a flight came to pas it was not beyond human
imagination that other inhabitante of other planets might be
found and if they were - immediately we would be envolved in
problems even more complex that terrify us this moment as WC
look au une unhappy circumstances across our oceans.
To the era of interplanetary travel, those oceans will be like
duck ponds. To the era of interplaneteray communication, problems between
nations ofthe world will look like backyard squabbles in comparison to the
possibilities of differences between planets.
YES, this may sound fantastic to you. BUT IT IS NOT fantastic for
the purpose of making emphatic what the importance is of Christian ethics in
4.
the atomic age.
The physical part of the man is the chemistry of his body --the
feeding, comforting, nursing, and pleasing of this strange chemistry that
is called "MAN."
The spirtual part of the man isn't something you can touch, smell,
or see.
BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE -- the physical does not continue to exist without
the spiritual.
This has been proven time and time again in history. It will be
proven many times over.
It is to the youth of a nation that the matter of Christian ethics
becomes the most vital concern. For that reason we are discussing it here
tonight.
WHY FOR THE YOUTH more than the oldersters?
Because many of our battles have been fought and arenow history. Many
of the things we have done have failed because we failed to make the most of
the opportunity we had to put into effect the Christian principles.
Perhas we were puzzled. Perhaps We did not know how to put Christian
pricniples into effect to their fullest.
It is no. an easy jgb in this comple X world of high pressure and high
destiny to make every move fit the wieest judgement of a Solomon. But we must
kee on trying and that's why the question tomight is mainl the concern of
youth. You must be sold on this if you are to be useful. You must believe
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
despite every argument to the contracy.
The heart of Christian ethics is the belief that man is the sacred
offspring of the intelligence and wisdom of God. MAN is more important than
5.
machines, or progress, or wealth, or power.
MAN is the meaning of life, not a tool through whom some shall
express malice and greed.
Contiue with examples;
1) the fallacy of fascism
2) the fallacy of communism the belief that any means
justify an end.
The idea of perfection all at once. That's the trouble
with communism. It allows notning for the human who
must necessarily progress slowly unless he is to be
liquidated outright as millions have. been liquidated
in the soviet union.
Now I ask you how can anything good come out of the casnal heaps of
asphixiation chambers and human slumghterhouses?
But in an atomic age haste, imprudence, and fear are likely to drive
us to much greater inhumanities than mere communism unless we are made of
the metal of real spiritual courage.
etc. etc.
Conslusions:
1) were it not for Christian ethics live and vigorous in
the world today --- we wouldtrul, be doomed to destruction through
our own power.
2) We must be acutely aware of evidences of the evil of cruel,
political materialism which is a by-product of the machine age.
3) We must be willing to fight for Christian ethics just as man
first fought for equality before a cruel tribal law and freedom from
tryany.
FORD i LIBRARY
We cannot buy our way out of what we have created.
GERALD
We cannot escape the ultimate responsibility for the use
of that which we create.
To live in the age to come will take plenty of guts and
a vigorous understanding of what is the value or Christian ethics in
an atomic age.
The value, golks, to my way of thinking is simply this.
It is the way of survival. It is the way of peace on earth
good will toward men.
Whenever you doubt the value of Christian ethics remember that
little story uf about the great festival of the wine cask.
TO ME IT TELLS A WONDFERFUL STORY. I think if you will remeber
it, you too will never doubt that without ethics there is only water.
Water is not enough for mankina. He must have more than that.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
Jerry--
1 am sorry that I haven't got time to polish up a real good speech far
you on the Christian attitude in the atomic age.
1 have knocked outthese suggestions for you, however, and 1 know you'd
rather put you own words behind whatever you BRJ anyway.
This has been a rat-race for me the past couple of months. I hope it will
taper off before long but what with the government keeping us'up in the air, we
are an industry goinghalf nuts.
Thanks for the housing bills. I will study them.
By the way, did you ever get the letter 1 wrote you at the appartment
regarding your future political plane? I'm beginning to wonder whether it got
lost in the mail.
Would you let me know if you received it?
As ever,
gach
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
The Christian of His Everyment
the prince pal terew of christianity is the doctrive of
the digity of the individual The life of Chrest
emphasesing this point time and time Q your There
were many times when He could have dormed
did. To Hun the worth & chquity of the individual
the roles of a ruler anda tyrant this He never
was far more important than the golglory with
which one man could surround himself
Through the age man has created one type
of government of as another. Their principal
characterister has been the doctrine ofther suprement
of the State The individuals Q
Such was the Roman Empire at. the Time? Christ
The christians docturie has survived ans is
stronger than cver. The RomanEmpere soon
desappeared mussalem. so did that of napolem He ther and
The mag no Carta of 1215 established pulopst the
fast & centaining, the strongest link between christian
secture and government. This Charter, forced nking John,
set forth the broak principal of soe the dignity of the
individual CIt was the a statement ofthe rig
individual and the limits of his government
1 GERALD
2
To say that the principals of this great charter of human
rights has prevailed without compromise is to mas
missunderstond history. Yet the magna Carta laid the
basis for the democr atec state, based on the doctrine
of the dignity of the individual as taught by Our Savious
centuries byore.
Democracy is man's best hope for the A urind
of the Christian this it is his orly hope Every ohillings
to democracy is a challenge Ip c (anstranity. The
challenge has been met twice in the past 25ycars,
yet democracy faces perhaps its supreme test
on the years immediately shead. The christian doctime
is the most power ful in the would but its wf heave
kan be felt only if it is practiced, only if it
p reached. The failure of democracy would not man
the deappearance of christian farth we are all
familiar with the mastyrs of the past, and thus will
martyrs in tho future. But the point is that Comocracy
can survive if the christian princy 607 the dignity
and storthan of the individual is part frught for
what alses This lave Do do with the e breation I his
grut? It. means that every citizan has very definite responsibilities
of his govt. To accept office, to vote, of pay takes to DR.GOROULI
laws, -
GERALD
now forry you earry on forther nepthalf.
Laymen's Fellowship
of the Congregational Christian Conference of Michigan
THE CHRISTIAN MAN FACES HIS PROBLEMS
I. The demands made upon the Christian Man by organized society
A. By his family
B. By his work
a. His employer
(If in business or profession for himself
it will be his clients)
b. His associates
C. Trade or Business Organizations.
(1) N.A.M.
(2) Chamber of Commerce
(3) C.I.O. or A.F. of L.
(4) Trade Organizations
(5) Farm Organizations
(a) Farmers' Coop
(b) Farmers' Union
C. By His Government
86 Enlarged scope of government activity
(1) Greater military activity
(2) Government in business
(a) participation in business
(b) supervision of business
(3) Government in practically all walke
of man's life.
D. By His Church
II. The Demandsof God
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
Stewardship
What is the Christian Man's Answer to the demands?
How will he answer the demands?
Wherein does satisfaction lie?
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
DISTRIBUTION LIMITED
A
JC348
&
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
H I
LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE
CHRIST AS THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
(Draft for a radio speech prepared at the request of
No human thing is of more importance to mankind than good
government. Even savage tribes have government of some kind, but
human health, sustenance, education, home life, happiness and religion
are all dependant for their development on whether men are well-
governed or ill-governed. To find out what is good government and
to find out how it can be instituted and maintained--these questions
constitute a quest of mankind through the ages. It is a task which
grows harder rather than easier, with the march of time, because
populations are increasing, the material, territorial and economic
basis of civilisation is growing more complex, and the territorial
units of government are becoming larger. It might not be so difficult
for the chief or king of some petty tribe, living in a primitive eco-
nomy, on a small tract of land, to govern well according to the stan-
dards of the day. How different to manage a great commercial and
industrial and agricultural nation of 150 million people, such as
we have in the United States!
Moreover, the standards of what is to be regarded as good
government are rising. In former times, masses of people who had
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
- 2 -
always lived in the poverty which is the borderline of subsistence
or below it, who had never had any property or freedom or rights of
their own, could exist in abject subjection to some kind of tyranny,
without even knowing how badly off they were, because they had never
known anything else. This is somewhat the case of the people of
Russia today; they do not know what material comfort or political
freedom is. They have never had either in the thousand years of their
country's history. They can take the rubhless dictatorship under which
they live, with all its cruelty, because neither they nor their ancestors
ever experienced anything but despotism.
But a new spirit is rustling through the world today, a spirit
of discontent and unrest. It is stirring in the jungles of Africa and
Asia, in the teeming cities of China and Europe, in the ancient, arid
regions of the Near East and among the humblest peasants of the Andes.
Somehow, by some sort of subsonscious, subterranean means of communica-
tion as well as by the spread of education (not very great in some of
these countries) the masses of the people have suddenly discovered
that the misery and the ignorance, the slavery and oppression under
the shadow of which they and their ancestors have groaned and lived
and died, is no longer necessary. They do not know much about science
and technology and invention, nor about ballots and free elections,
but somehow they have grasped the idea that a new and better life is
possible for them, and they want it. We do not feel this trend in
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 3 -
this country so much because we have always, as a Nation, had
almost all the good things that life has to offer along these
lines, and we take them for granted. But for a billion other
people in the world, the whole idea is new and it is revolutionary.
Here is the major explanation of the unrest in the world today-
-something that we Americans find it 80 hard to comprehend. It is
not all an aftermath of the war, which will settle down with the
settling of the dust of conflict. It is something deeper than
that and more lasting. It is mankind on the march setting out
with a grim but ignorant determination to get a better life.
This yearning, this determination, is often very naive.
It is exploited by communism. It is turned into destructive
channels. But in itself it is not wrong, because it is the
awakening of mankind.
These people--in China, in the Near East, In Russia,
and elsewhere--want good government, but they do not know what
good government is. They have never even seen it from afar, in
many cases.
Fortunately for us, we have a fairly clear idea what we
mean by good government. In the main it would be true to say that
here in America we have always had good government. Our task is
to understand it, to keep it, to improve and develop it, and to
open the way for its blessings to permeate the earth.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 4 -
What is good government according to our ideals?
I should say that the first element of it is that which
was expressed by the Pilgrim Fathers in the very first instrument
of government which they drew up, the Mayflower compact. It is that
there shall be "a government of laws and not of men". That means the
end of arbitrary personal government, by king or prince or commisser
or politburo. It means that no one can cast a citizen into prison or
bring him before a firing squad, without due process of law. It means
the writ of habeas corpus, it means the Bill of Rights, it means the
constitutional guarantees of the rights of individual citizens to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It means freedom.
The second element of good government, I would say, lies
in its representing the collective will of the people who are governed,
"government of the people, by the people, for the people". Laws are
to be expressions of the collective mind. There are various mechanisms
for achieving this, but all go back to the ballot-box and the free and
unfettered election. What a glorious privilege it is for the free
American to go to the polls, and know that he, poor and obscure as
he may be, has a voice in the selection of his rulers. You cannot
have good government without that right in the hands of the people,
nor when that right is left unexercised.
Thirdly, good government means that the laws and the actions
of the authorities who execute it, are based on respect for the common
GERALD LIBERAY 4. FORD
- 5 -
man. Good government does not mean absence of authority--we respect
authority; what we are against is tyranny, and special privilege. Nor
does good government mean charity and benevolent despotism. There have
been such governments in the world, sometimes honestly seeking the well-
being of the people but not founded on respect for the individual. Ches-
terton, a well-known English writer of the last generation, said "Demo-
cracy is founded, not on pity for the common man, but on respect for
the common man." This is an essentially Christian idea, and it goes
back to the Christ who died for every man, placing a mark of inesti-
mable value on each human being.
Finally, it is important and elementary for every thought of
good government that it shall be honestly administered in the interests
of the whole people by conscientious and unselfish officials. No system
of government, however perfect in theory can be good, when public offi-
cials are dishonest, or slack, or stupid.
These four principles are fundamental to good government.
What we sometimes fail to grasp is that this kind of govern-
ment makes great demands on everybody connected with it. It does not
function automatically. It is not a kind of political machinery which
we can set in motion and then go off and leave to run itself. It demands
more intelligence, and skill, and above all, more unselfishness, than any
other kind of government. It demands self-control. In short, it demands
character.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 6 -
Unless we can show among our holders of office, among our
leaders of thought, and among our plain citizens, enough character,
our democracy will fail.
There is a phrase in the Old Testament which seems to me
in place here. "The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and
the little hills, by righteousness." Who are the mountains in this
text? They are the "big shots"-the President and the Governor and
the Mayor, the Judges and the generals and the legislators and the
cabinet members, and locally the sheriffs and the county councilmen.
They must be righteous if the people are to have peace, and there
is no escape from that conclusion. But the obligation does not
rest only on the "big shots". It rests also on the "little hills",
And who are these? Well these are the "little people" in government.
The people with one vote, the good neighbors, the storekeepers and
working men and the housewives. No peace or prosperity for a demo-
cracy without their righteousness too. In the long run they have
more to say than the "mountains" as to what the laws shall be and
how they shall be enforced and how much unselfish loyalty to the
general interest as against special interests there may be. High
mountains and little hills-together-shall bring peace to the people.
Good government, then, depends to no small degree on the
high caliber of the citizens, leaders and ordinary people alike. Nor
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 7 -
is there any substitute for the right kind of men and women, the
kind which an American poet prayed for.
God, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble with their thumbworn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
There is no substitute for character in good government,
and in the formation of character there is no substitute for the
influence of Christ.
Not primarily our glorious constitution, or our boundless
natural resources, or our American business enterprise, have made the
Nation great. These things are contributory. The fundamental fact is
that there have been enough people here from the beginning, who have
been dominated by Christian influences, to make a glorious citizenry.
They are the foundation of the Republic and its chief wealth.
The ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah preached what is called
the "doctrine of the remnant". At a time when the majority of his
people seemed to have reverted to lower ways, there was a "remnant",
a minority indeed, who held fast by the highest ideals. And the Nation,
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
- 8-
said Isaiah would be saved because of the existence of "the remnant".
Christ had something similar to say of his followers. They were "salt",
he said. "Ye are the salt of the earth". Now salt is the great pre-
servative, the principal preservative in the older times, the only
available means to eep good food from spoiling. What Christ and the
Hebrew prophet were alike saying is this. If there is in the population
even a minority, who hold fast to the highest ideals, there is hope
for the safety of the whole group. So it has been in this country.
Our democracy has been preserved, and God grant it will be preserved
in the future, because there are enough citizens who are committed to
the way of Christ to develop for themselves and their children all
those qualities of character that make for good citizenship. Even
those who are not professedly and actively followers of Christ are
influenced by the dominant tone. There is a set to the atmosphere,
created perhaps by a minority, but spiritually and morally compelling
to the majority--and you have a nation capable of governing itself well.
To speak in this vein is not to belittle any genuine religious
form, because all are nearer together than they seem. Christ's influence
was in the tradition of Isaiah. It was never better expressed than by
another of the Hebrew prophets, when he exclaimed, "What doth the
Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?" Here are the three things that make
the foundation of good citisenship--justice, kindness and reverence.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 9 -
It is in the function of all genuine religion to bring justice, kind-
ness and reverence into human life, and when they are present, demo-
cracy is safe, whether in Washington or at the county-seat. As Presi-
dent Truman pointed out the other day, in an address to Federal,
State and local law enforcement officers called to discuss a drive
against organized crime: "The fundamental basis of this Nation's law
was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill
of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew,
from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough
these days."
There is a wider angle to this question of Christ and good
government, and I do not think I should fail to point it out, because
of the critical nature of the international situation at this time
in our national history. There is unfolding before the opening eyes
of the American people a new problem. Can we preserve our government,
our liberties and our peace, if the whole world does not have good
government, liberty and peace?
We have been seeking to stem the destructive trend of the
communist movement toward world power by political measures like the
United Nations, by military measure such as strengthening our armament
and producing atomic bombs, and military aid to threatened Europe,
and by economic aid on the most generous scale. The long-range
"Point Four" program may do more than all these, given time. But are
these things enough? Will arms, food, money and inventions bring good
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 10 - -
government to the world, or must we be ready to export something
more spiritual-an idea, an ideal, a faith and an enthusiasm-and
if so, what shall it be?
On the same day last week, Embruery 15, 1950, the news-
papers recorded three demands for this spiritual weapon for the
"cold war". A distinguished lawyer and public man, Mr. John Foster
Dulles, told a college audience: "There is confusion in men's souls"
Only a revival of the Western world's concept of the dignity of the
indididual, and its explanation to the rest of the world, he said,
would avert a triumph of Soviet despotism. On the same day, appeared
an editorial by one of America's leading business editors and columnists,
David Lawrence. He wrote: "We can mobilize our spiritual resourdes,
too... What a Christian opportunity to focus on truth-and 'the truth
shall make you free'. What a chance to kindle the great spirit of
mankind! What a time for a spokesman with the moral power to win
Russia to our side! What an hour for constructive planning and
leadership!" And on the same day, over in Edinburgh, Winston Churchill
was telling British electors: "I feel that Christian men should not
close the door upon any hope of finding a new foundation for the life
of the self-tormented human race. What prises lie before all peoples
if they are worthy of them-peace, food, happiness, leisure, wealth
for the masses never known or dreamed of; the glorious advance into
a period of rest and safety for all the hundreds of millions of homes
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
- 11 -
where little children play by the fire and girls grow up in all
their beauty, and young men march to fruitfulness in all their
strength and valor. Let us not shut out the hope that the burden
of fear and want may be lifted for a glorious era from the bruised
and weary shoulders of mankind."
Have we any great and all inclusive and inspiring concept
to set against the dead and godless materialism of the communists?
Have we what a delegate from one of the little countries to the
United Nations, Dr. Charles Malik of Lebanon, asks us for, when he
says:
"The only effective answer to Communism is a genuine
spiritualized materialism which seeks to remove every trace of
social injustice without loss of the higher values which constitute
the very soul of the West.... We must hope and pray that there
will develop in the Western world a mighty spiritual movement
which will rediscover and reaffirm its glorious hidden values, and
fulfill mankind's longings for a more just order of things, a more
beautiful world, a New Heaven and a New Earth."
Yes, my friends, we have such a concept. It was given
us by Jesus Christ. It was the very heart of his message, the core
of his teachings, the constantly reiterated theme of his discourse,
but it has been strangely by-passed in the long history of Christian
thought. It is the concept of the Kingdom of God. Obedience of
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
- 12 - -
mankind to the daváne will in all relations of life until the
world itself becomes truly His Realm. It covers Winston Churchill's
bright picture, and Charles Malik's plea, and vastly more besides.
It is a dynamic idea. We should take it up and proclaim it without
hesitation as the basis of a new ideology, more powerful than anything
else in the world. In our own lives and homes, and businesses, and
government, and in the world at large, we can make the goal of our
spirits the petition which Christ put at the forefront of His prayer:
"Thy Kingdom come! Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"
[s. Arthur Devan
National Defense Analyst
Foreign Affairs Section
February 21, 1950
SADIWW
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THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
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general no. 2
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LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE
CHRISTIANITY AS THE MANOR STRENGTH OF THE DEMOCRATIC WORLD
I. Its Emphasis on the Individual
A poor woman who lived in a community where Christianity was
not functioning very dynamically, complained that some of the neighbors
failed to treat her as an equal. She said she thought Christianity
ought to bring us all down to the same level. She just had her direct-
tions reversed. Christianity brings us all up to the same level-all
receiving the gift of life from the same Eternal Creator, all potentially
redeemed by the same Saviour of men, all alike bound to stand before the
Judgment Seat of Christ (Roman 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). There is no other
religion so democratic as Christianity and no other government so
Christian as a democracy.
Wherever democracy has been tried without Christianity it has
failed. In ancient Athens democracy of a sort was tried, but without
Christian principles in the heart of the great "demos" selfishness soon
brought political disintegration. Their democracy was not for the world,
not for all of Greece, just for Athens--not even for all of Athens, not
for the slaves of Athens, not for any but the closed eircle of full
citizens. "It was not 80 much the growth of democratic principles, as
1/ Prentice, W. K. The Ancient Greeks. p.152.
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the ambition of politicians and the greed of the common man, which
produced the extreme democracy of ancient Athens."
The Roman Republic was still less democratic, with its patricians,
plebians, and slaves.
The rise of true democratic principles awaited the working of that
leaven which Jesus called the Kingdom of Heaven. It has not yet dewvened
the whole lump, but it is working.
From the days of Khufu the pyramid builder to Hitler the German
Fuhrer, individuals have existed for the sake of the Government and for
the glorification of its ruler--where Christianity has been repudiated.
But the words of the Galilean still reverberate, "Neither be ye called
masters: for one is your Master, even Christ," and while this word relates
primarily to spiritual things, it has wider and unavoidable democratic
implications, so that Onesimus becomes the brother of Philemon rather than
his slave, and eventually all slaves and masters, by the same token become
brothers.
Christ and Christianity emphasize the worth of the individual soul,
with its eternal possibilities and values. Only an un-Christian dictator-
ship could have its Malmedy and its Buchenwald.
Christianity is not only good to the individual but it is good for
the individual. It does something for him. It develops him. It brings
out his hidden possibilities and values. It makes him unafraid to speak
with kings, because he has been in communion with the Divine.
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As democracy stands or falls on the quality of its individual
components, what better guarantee of a worthy permanence, than that
every individual should be Christian!
If democracy with its blessings, is to be more than provincial,
it must be based on a true universalism of sympathy and purpose. There
is no other force working to this end so powerful and so world-pervasive
as Christianity, in which, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28).
II Its View of Society
Christianity's view of Society is based on its evaluation of the
individual, as we have just seen. But these individuals are not isolated;
they are in relationship with one another. If these contacts are mutually
helpful and constructive, peace and prosperity follow, otherwise, there is
discontent, strife, and the probability of experimenting with undemocratic
forms of government. Here Christianity states the ideal and sets the
example for a well articulated and happily functioning society.
Not only aire Christians called "brethren" because all are born again
of the Spirit of God, but a closer relationship is indicated by a well-known
metaphor. We are members of the same body, Members of a family do some-
times quarrel most bitterly, but whoever found occasion to disparage his own
body.
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14 For the body is not one nem-
ber, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I
am not the hand, I am not of the
body; is it therefore not of the
body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because
I an not the eye, I an not of the
body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the
melling?
18 But now hath God set the
members every one of them in the
body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one mem-
ber, where were the body?
20 But now are they many nem-
bers, yet but one body.
a Cor. 12: 14-20)
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This is describing the church. The more of this Christian unity
we can get into the hearts of men the better our whole society will be.
The better our government will be. The fewer the false statements that
will be circulated about our fellow workers in governments How this would
out down irresponsible and unjust charges of "Fascist" or "Communist"
directed at associates in our great democracy! And how it would stimulate
our appreciation for the work of others whether great or lowly.
Do you arrive early enough at your office sometimes to see those
who clean the floors and dust the walls just leaving with their mops and
pails and cloths? I often think how utterly impossible it would be for
the United States Government to function without their work. If a
Congressman or a Supreme Court Justice is important, remember also that
his work is dependent on that of the char-women. The are all one body, and
dependent on one another, as the members of our physical body are dependent
on its other members.
This principle finds its fullest expression in Christianity. There
is a lesson also for all society.
A friend of mine who works in the Goverment in Washington tells how
heartened he was to overhear his Division Chief talking on the telephone
one day about some employee who had resigned and had changed his mind and
wanted to be reinstated. The Chief was saying "Technically we are not under
any obligations to him. Legally we do not have to do anything for him, but
under the circumstances, I feel that clearly we are morally obligated--and
that should guide our action."
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If management and labor and all the individuals forming our
complex society would be guided by Christian principles of unselfishness,
the world would soon be safe for democracy, and what is more democracy
would be safe for the world.
III Its Intellectual Truth
It was the Roman official who signed Christ's death warrant that
asked, perhaps with an agnostic sneer or in sarcastic unbelief "What is
truth?" And he was addressing Him who is "The Way and the Truth and the
Life" even the one who told those who believed on Him, "and ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." Christianity and democracy
demand truth. They love truth. They do not fear truth. In this respect
Christianity is the bulwark of democracy, and democracy aids Christianity.
Neither the one nor the other can shut an iron curtain on truth. Only the
opponents of both Christianity and democracy can do that.
Christianity demands faith. But faith is not what the little girl
said, "believing something that isn't so." Faith and Christianity involve
spiritual mysteries that are beyond the range of our finite reason, but
these mysteries never demand that we stultify the intellect which God has
given US. All falsification of history in order to glorify one race or nation
is un-Christian and undemocratic. So great is the affinity of Christianity
for truth that one of the greatest Apostles writes of those who "believe a
lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth."
(2 Thess. 2:11 12).
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IV. Its Leader - Christ
Hero worship is a natural human propensity. As children we
play "follow the leader" and we never outgrow the urge. Human leaders
have made and unmade history through the ages--they have come and gone,
and have left the world a little better or a little worse for their
passing.
No other has made an impact on history comparable to that made
by Jesus of Nasareth. Every other great leader has been
"limited in some way to the interest of his own
people, or empire, and set in opposition, more
or less decidedly, to the rest of the world. But
to Jesus alone, the simple Galilean carpenter,
it happens otherwise; that, never having seen a
map of the world in his whole life, or heard
the name of half the great nations on it, he
undertakes, coming out of his shop, a scheme as
much vaster and more difficult than that of
Alexander, as it proposes more and what is more
divinely benevolent! This thought of a universal
kingdom, cemented in God--why, the immense Roman
empire of his day, constructed by so many ages of
war and conquest, is a bauble in comparison, both
as regards the extent and the cost! And yet the
rustie tradesman of Galilee propounds even this
for his errand, and that in a way of assurance, as
simple and quiet, as if the immense reach of his
plan were, in fact, a matter to him of no consider-
tion."
"Nor is this all; ...it is a plan as universal in time, as it
is in the scope of its objects. It does not expect to be
realized in a lifetime, or even in many centuries to come.
He calls it understandingly, his grain of mustard-seed which,
however, is to grow, he declares, and overshadow the whole
earth." 3/
3/ Bushnell, Horace, The Character of Jesus, pp. 35,36.
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Such a divine Leader we have in Jesus Christ. And we believe
it certain that the day will come when it will be truly said, "The
kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his
Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev. 11:15 Revised
Standard Version).
Such a Leader demands followers. That is our part.
"The Son of God goes forth to war
...
Who follows in His Train?"
Allow me to close in words of another, who presents the
wondrous beauty and power of the Christ better than I could find
words to tell:
This one perfect character has come into our world,
and lived in it; filling all the molds of action,
all the terms of duty and love, with his own divine
manners, works and charities. All the conditions
of our life are raised thus, by the meaning he has
shown to be in them, and the grace he has put upon
them. The world itself is changed, and is no more
the same that it was; it has never been the same
since Jesus left it. The air is charged with heavenly
odors, and a kind of celestial consciousness, a sense
of other worlds, is wafted on us in its breath. Let
the dark ages come, let society roll backward and
churches perish in whole regions of the earth, let
iffidelity deny, and, what is worse, let spurious piety
dishonor the truth; still there is a something here
that was not, and B. something that has immortality in
it. Still our confidence remains unshaken, that Christ
and his all-quickening life are in the world, as fixed
elements, and will be to the end of time; for Christianity
is not so much the advent of a better doctrine, as of a
perfect character; and how can & perfect character, once
entered into life and history, be separated and finally
expelled? It were easier to untwist all the beams of
light in the sky, separating and expunging one of the
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colors, than to get the character of Jesus, which is the
real gospel, out of the world. Look ye hither, meantime,
all ye blinded and fallen of mankind, a better nature is
among you, a pure heart, out of some pure world, is come
into your prison and walks it with you. Do you require
of us to show who he is, and definitely to expound his
person? He may not be able. Enough to know that he is
not of us-some strange being out of nature and above
it, whose name is Wonderful. Enough that sin has never
touched his hallowed nature, and that he is a friend.
In him dawns a hope--purity has not come into the world,
except to purify. Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sins of the world! Light breaks in, peace
settles on the air, lo! the prison walls are giving
way--rise, let us go.
4/ Ibid, pp. 86-87.
/ H. E.Snide
History and General Research Section
April 7, 1950
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