Encouragement for Spanish Catholics
Anyone having a biography of Lyman Beecher, the great champion of the church in New England, can do a good turn by sending it to Catholic Church authorities in Spain. Seems the Spanish hierarchy is worried about what will happen to their church now that the newly signed agreement between the Vatican and Spain provides for cutting off the $8.9 million in state aid at the end of three years.
Lyman Beecher has the answer.
When in May, 1818, disestablishment of the church in Connecticut became certain, Beecher called the day "as dark a day as ever I saw." But he lived to say that the loss of establishment was the "best thing that ever happened to the State of Connecticut. It cut the churches loose from dependence on State support. It threw them wholly on their own resources and on God."
With what result?
Said Beecher: "They say ministers have lost their influence; the fact is, they have gained. By voluntary efforts, societies, missions, and revivals, they exert a deeper influence than ever they could by queues, and shoe-buckles and cocked hats, and gold-headed canes. . . . We were thrown on God and on our selves, and this created that moral coercion which makes men work."
"Then," said Beecher, "there came such a time of revival as never before in the State."
In the name of Christ
On the chance that some of you Christians out there are stigmatizing the Moslems who are threatening to wipe out Christian missionary incursions, hear what is happening in Nagaland, the only Indian state having a Christian majority. Within the past few months raiders have massacred at least fifty people in attacks on ten villages in the neighboring state of Assam.
Nagaland, on the border of Burma in northeastern India, has a number of tribes that traditionally have defied authority. One can always assume that the raiders—and the unruly tribesmen—are from the non-Christian element. But does history support such a surmise?
The harsh truth is that many of the most brutal slaughters in history have been perpetrated by Christians—not by bad people trying to make others bad, but by good people trying to make others good! All too well can we recall the artist's depiction of Christians preying on non-Christians—and to the amazement of the non-Christian world—torturing and killing fellow Christians.
If one cry could encompass the Christian record through the ages it would be—All this in the name of Christ!
The wisdom of Solomon
Requirements of religious belief still may demand the wisdom of a Solomon, as two cases illustrate. In New York City a Catholic priest-lawyer has been trying since 1974 to win a court decision permitting him to wear his clerical collar during jury proceedings. In Chicago, the right of Jewish men to wear skull caps in a federal courtroom has been at issue.
The decisions? The priest-lawyer must remove his collar. The Jewish men may wear their skull caps.
The reasoning? The priest's clothing would be a "continuing visible communication to the jury and others in the courtroom," preventing a fair trial. But, said the U.S. District Court in Chicago: "The yarmulke worn by Orthodox Jewish men is not merely a symbol of religious devotion. They are required by their religion to keep their heads covered at all times; the yarmulke may not be removed. Thus, a ban on head coverings in a federal courtroom is not simply a time, place, or manner restriction . . . but rather a blanket exclusion of all Orthodox Jewish men from otherwise public proceedings."
Solomonic? It would seem so. But what about that case in Columbus, Ohio, last fall in which Rajindar S. Sandhu, an Indian Sikh, was barred from his wife's naturalization proceedings because he refused to remove his turban?
A wise man once said that a nation's true attitude toward religious freedom is determined not by how it treats its dominant faiths, but by how it treats its smallest, most-despised minorities.
Score in the above cases? Does 2-1 sound right?
Familiar plot?
Heard a good movie plot recently? How about this one:
"A wise, all-knowing father in the sky looks down on the earth. He sees a torn and primitive planet badly in need of help, and he sends the world his only begotten son.
"The son, whose miraculous arrival on earth is heralded by a star, learns the virtue of working with his hands from his adopted earthly dad. The lad grows in the favor of his friends, even as he begins to notice that he has powers and abilities far beyond those of mere mortals.
"Finally, the boy senses that his time has come, and he departs to the barren wilderness for a time of testing. While meditating in the wilderness, the spirit of his other-worldly father prepares him for the mission to come.
"At last, transfigured and self-assured, the young man returns to society, which stands in awe of his miracles, his goodness, and his power. Only the forces of evil stand in his way, and these forces launch a never-ending struggle against him."
Sound familiar? It should. You've read it a score of times—in the comics. It's the story of Superman, as interpreted by Philip E. Jenks, editor of The American Baptist magazine.
Maybe the "false messiahs" Jesus predicted would appear before His re turn are no farther away than the neighborhood theater.
Playboy values challenged
Hugh Heffner should be all shook up. The foundational beliefs on which his Playboy kingdom have been built are false. Sex is not "very important personally" for a happy and satisfied life. Or so says a survey taken by Louis Harris for Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Playboy's poll of American men surveyed 1,990 men aged 18-49. These represented the 46 million men in the U.S. in their so-called prime years.
Instead of sex, it was found that health, love, peace of mind, and family life topped the list of values considered most important.
The nine values cited most frequently by the men as "very important person ally" for a happy and satisfied life were: health (chosen by 89 percent), love (85 percent), peace of mind and family life (both 84 percent), work (65 percent), friends (63 percent), respect for others (58 percent), education (57 percent), sex (49 percent).
Money ranked eleventh, with 39 per cent citing it as important.
Unfortunately, Hugh Heffner is not the only one who should be shook up.
A convulsive shudder by the collective clergy is in order.
Religion came in next to last, with only 41 percent of the respondents calling it very important personally.
