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Eugene Carson Blake, "The Church and Communism," May 9, 1961.
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- speakerI was asked by your committee to speak to you on the subject of the
- speakerchurches and communism. It was
- speakerAdolf Hitler who perfected first the technique of the
- speakerbig lie.
- speakerHe proved that falshood repeated enough could
- speakerbrainwash a whole people, no matter how absurd the falsehood might
- speakerappear to the rational mind when it was first stated.
- speakerLos Angeles Presbytery, along with its churches is being subjected now to
- speakerthe Big Lie technique by this current rash
- speakercharges that the churches, particularly Protestant churches,
- speakerand the ministry, particularly Protestant ministers, have been
- speakerwidely infiltrated by communism.
- speakerLouis Cassels of United Press International in an article in The New
- speakerYork World Telegram, and in some other papers I'm sure,
- speakeron last April twenty ninth wrote,
- speaker"F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover is deeply concerned about the
- speakerdanger that self-appointed vigilantes, may in the
- speakername of anti communism, play into communist hands.
- speakerDuring the past few weeks, Mr Hoover has sent F.B.I. Chief
- speakerInspector William C. Sullivan to deliver speeches in many parts of the
- speakernation, warning Americans not to be taken in by
- speakercharges that their churches are overrun by Reds.
- speakerThese allegations have served to create the
- speakerimpression among many Americans that the Protestant denominations in
- speakerparticular have been subjected to alarming infiltration and
- speakerinfluence. Mr Sullivan says." He goes on, "But
- speakerthis is patent false hood. The truth is that the
- speakerCommunist Party has not achieved any substantial success
- speakerin exerting domination, control or influence
- speakerover America's clergyman or religious institutions on a national
- speakerscale." Mr Cassels, quoting this continues, "Mr Sullivan
- speakeris not making this statement on his own authority. He is
- speakerspeaking with the full approval and personal backing of Mr Hoover.
- speakerAnd the F.B.I. director has so informed a number of amateur communist
- speakerhunters who wrote him protesting Mr Sullivan's speeches."
- speakerThat is the end of the quotation. I know of no stronger or
- speakermore recent third party evidence that I can quote for you this morning
- speakerto make it perfectly clear that the widespread allegations, and
- speakerI hope all of you recognize the difference between allegations and evidence,
- speakerthe widespread allegations of communist infiltration
- speakerof the Protestant ministry, of the leadership of our church, and our churches
- speakeror of the National Council of Churches. I hope that this makes it clear that this
- speakeris a brazen falsehood. If any of you have
- speakerbeen worried about these charges, and I'm sure many of you have, I hope you're convinced.
- speakerMay I go further and remind you that repeating these
- speakerslanders and libels or even gossiping about them
- speakermakes you an accessory to the conspiracy, which is attempting to
- speakerweaken the influence of your pulpits, your churches, and
- speakeryour councils locally and nationally. I would
- speakerremind you this morning that we have traced to their sources these lies
- speakerabout the Protestant churches and their ministry. I do not intend to
- speakerlist these sources for you, for nothing pleases these
- speakerapostles of discord more than to receive publicity that they cannot get
- speakeron their own, for having someone like me name them publicly.
- speakerAll the letters I received after my sermon of a few
- speakerweeks ago at Santa Barbara on this same general topic was one
- speakerfrom one of the well known sources of this falsehood. And, he
- speakercomplained that I had not mentioned him in my sermon in Santa Barbara,
- speakerthat I had left him out of my list of the sources. And, he said we originated some
- speakerof these charges about the National Council of Churches. My
- speakerreason was that he and his pamphlets did not happen to be listed on the single
- speakersheet of calumny that formed the basis of my sermon outline to
- speakerthe Santa Barbara congregation. The text of my sermon was "Thou shalt not bear
- speakerfalse witness against thy neighbor." And I believe, in the forty minutes
- speakerthat it took me, which is about twice as long as I think a normal sermon should be.
- speakerIt took me forty minutes to answer one sheet twice the
- speakersize of this, printed on both sides of false allegations,
- speakermostly put in the form of questions, so that you can back off and say
- speaker"Well, we never said that. We just implied the lie."
- speakerCourse he should have made his complaint to the anonymous cowards who printed and circulated
- speakerthat poisoned sheet to the members of the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara.
- speakerThis is one of the things that seems hardly possible, that members of our church
- speakerwould begin to use the anonymous technique and be afraid to identify
- speakerthemselves with what they circulate or even to give their names on
- speakerrepeated telephone calls. But we can identify without
- speakertoo much trouble the original sources of the lies about our church. You
- speakercan tell your people, the ministers here I'm speaking to, particularly now, but chances are
- speakerprobably better than ten to one that any church story is false that is they
- speakerdateline Tulsa, Oklahoma; Collingswood, New Jersey; Madison,
- speakerWisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio; or Wheaton, Illinois.
- speakerMost of these alleged facts go back to the McCarthy era or even
- speakerearlier and have been denied and disproved as far
- speakeras anyone can disprove. I remind you that both the
- speakerPresbyterian and the American system is that the person who makes an allegation has the
- speakerresponsibility to prove it or withdraw it rather than the person who is attacked
- speakerhaving the responsibility to disprove it. But, they have been denied and dis-
- speakerproves again and again by the responsible people.
- speakerIf that's so, how is it that they still trouble us.
- speakerThis is the real question.
- speakerPartly because the Big Lie technique doesn't depend upon facts at all,
- speakerbut partly now because the old lies are being actively circulated by the
- speakersame people, who were McCarthy stooges a few years ago, and even before
- speakerMcCarthy. I found the same people in Pasadena are now in the John Birch
- speakerSociety, who attacked the school system of Pasadena when
- speakerI was a pastor there. The same crowd, doing the same thing. They are now
- speakerreorganized into typical totalitarian cells of disruption,
- speakerunder. I understand, the retired candy manufacturer of the Commonwealth
- speakerof Massachusetts.
- speakerThe illogic of this whole campaign has been again and again illustrated by that
- speakerman's own words.
- speakerIn effect, he is saying to us a Communist conspiracy is the
- speakermost important and most dangerous thing that we are facing in the world. That you
- speakercan't trust anybody, not the president, not the State
- speakerDepartment, not the politicians, the congressman, not the army, not
- speakeranybody who can run and be elected for office. Certainly not the newspapers or the
- speakerpreachers. Therefore, he says, trust me!
- speakerHis
- speakerargument to trust him is that he has a nose for communists.
- speakerWhen this more than usual a fantastic charge was publicized that former President
- speakerEisenhower was a communist, and not even the top one, his older brother was
- speakerhis boss in the party. Even most of his followers even
- speakerrealized that that was going too far. But their lack of
- speakerlogic and common sense made them say, oh course that's going too
- speakerfar I don't agree that President Eisenhower was a communist, but still most
- speakerplay people are communist, you see. You are an influence.
- speakerNow
- speakermay I suggest to you that a little Aristotle would be helpful here.
- speakerWhen a totalitarian scoundrel is caught
- speakercharging falsely that one distinguished patriot is a communist
- speakeror a communist dupe, the logical conclusion, according to
- speakerAristotle's logic or any other more modern logic,
- speakeris not that now he's gone too far but, rather, that this
- speakerproves that he does not in any respect know what he is talking about.
- speakerThis is not an exception which proves a rule, if you know what that really
- speakermeans. This is an exception.
- speakerThis is a fact which makes his whole nose for
- speakercommunism technique suspect upon the face of it.
- speakerThe other reason for the current increase in the circulation and acceptance of these false charges
- speakerabout communist infiltration is the fact that, generally speaking, the
- speakerAmerican people are frightened. Things have not been going
- speakervery well in the Cold War. Cuba and Laos have taken a
- speakergood deal of hope and confidence from a great many of the American people.
- speakerThis real ground of fear of communist success, as
- speakeragainst our success of responsible freedom and
- speakerdemocracy, this fear is a fertile field for planting
- speakerseeds of distrust. We are all happy if we can find somewhere
- speakera scapegoat to blame our worsening situation upon, if
- speakerit is a worsening situation. Let me repeat what I have
- speakeroften said and most deeply believe. Free pulpits
- speakerand free churches all across this land are the best bulwark against
- speakercommunism that this nation owns. And, I'm not really
- speakerfearful that our church will be mortally hurt by these attacks against us.
- speakerWhat I do fear is that we will become so busy
- speakerdefending ourselves that we will not make the contribution we should
- speakerto true Americanism in our several communities and in the nation
- speakeras a whole. Our churches in every community should
- speakerbe inspiring that community to support the United Nations
- speakeras man's best hope for peace and freedom in this kind of world. Instead of that, some of
- speakeryou are afraid to mention the United Nations out here. K.P. P. C. was the
- speakerfirst station that gave regular United Nations news in
- speakerthis West Coast when they began to broadcast radio.
- speakerNobody else was even giving you the information as to what was going
- speakeron in the press or radio. And, that was the first like. This is the
- speakerkind of contribution that the church should be made. Let people who read and
- speakerknow what is being said by the representatives of the other nations as they meet together,
- speakerinstead of stirring up the kinds of fears that people have. Of course,
- speakerit's terribly difficult to be sitting in the United Nations with a communist bloc there
- speakertrying to block everything that the world would like
- speakerto be able to accomplish, attacking even the Secretary General.
- speakerThis is, of course, a controversial area, but I'm saying my own
- speakerword for the United Nations, not that I believe necessarily it will
- speakersucceed in establishing peace or justice in the Congo or anywhere else in
- speakerthe world. But I suggest that those who attack it,
- speakerare really asking for the kind of division of the world
- speakerthat can lead to nothing but mutual destruction, in view of the
- speakerkind of power that both the Soviet Union and ourselves now control.
- speakerOur churches and every community should be taking the lead in support of the public schools,
- speakeragainst those trying to disrupt them by making false charges against many of the
- speakerbest and most conscientious teachers that we have. This is going on in your
- speakercommunities and, if you are busy protecting yourself, you're not going to be a very
- speakereffective in supporting a good and responsible public
- speakerschool board and system and P.T.A. etc etc. Our
- speakerchurches should be busy preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of
- speakerGod that alone will give us that kind of courage we need to face the
- speakerreal threats to our nation, to our culture, and our civilization.
- speakerI come here then today to my own presbytery at your invitation to urge you all to get
- speakeroff the defensive. And, that every church to begin to attack,
- speakerbegin the attack that our nation needs to be protected
- speakerfrom those who, in their fear of communism, would really
- speakerdestroy American freedom. And, if these attackers of our
- speakerfreedom have infiltrated Presbyterians sessions, I remind you that the
- speakerpresbytery has power to go into that church in the support of courageous
- speakerpreachers who will preach the truth. If these enemies of freedom have
- speakerinfiltrated our membership, sessions have the power and the duty to
- speakerdiscipline members who slander the Church of Jesus Christ by false
- speakercharges of communism. May I interpolate here that I am not
- speakersuggesting that we ought to try to make everybody think alike on political,
- speakereconomic, or social issues. But all I am saying is that there is
- speakerstill the ninth commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness against Thy neighbor"
- speakerand presbyteries and sessions have the responsibility of seeing that people
- speakerobey it, if, as far as they are able to do so.
- speakerAnd, there is no reason for our sessions to allow a church to be
- speakerdisrupted by people spreading distrust, which is slander.
- speakerNow it's true that our gospel is not always popular.
- speakerIn truth some of our members and even our officers may be bothered when they
- speakerhear the Christian Gospel preached. But, I urge
- speakeryou ministers and elders not to be afraid to stand for the Christian faith.
- speakerLet me this morning remind you what our biblical faith is.
- speakerEven though I shall have time only to set forth in brief outline.
- speakerYou are to write your own sermons.
- speakerAll Christians worthy of the name believe in God as revealed in Jesus
- speakerChrist. That in itself makes it quite clear that we don't have to spend all of our
- speakertime saying I'm not a communist. Anybody who has this faith
- speakeris not a communist. If we really believe in the sovereign
- speakerliving God, why should the Communist conspiracy or its
- speakertotalitarian and fascist cousins make us afraid?
- speakerLet's encourage our people then to trust God, to speak the truth, to
- speakerbelieve in the victory of righteousness that Christ has
- speakeralready won.
- speakerThis is what the gospel is about, and this ought to give us
- speakera strength, a community of courage,
- speakera community of faith that could face destruction of our way of
- speakerlife.
- speakerStill, in faith, I was hearing a man talk very piously about
- speakerGod one time and then the subject of Russia came up. And, after
- speakerhaving been so pious about God and how he believed in Him, he made it perfectly clear that he didn't think God could
- speakerdo anything about Russia.
- speakerRussia was way beyond the sovereign God, and that this
- speakerwe and the military had to take care of.
- speakerWell, we are in a situation where we need military defense. I've never been a pacifist. There are
- speakerChristians who are pacifists. But my faith
- speakeris not in the strength of our wealth, the strength
- speakerof our military. The ultimate strength and security that you and
- speakerI should be depending upon is the Living God, Creator of heaven and earth,
- speakerthe sovereign over the whole world.
- speakerThis is what we're in business to preach to our people. And, all Christians
- speakerworthy of the name know that love rather than hate is
- speakerultimately the most powerful weapon. We need to be reminded that
- speakerJesus said "Love your enemies." Let's not be afraid to preach
- speakerChrist, even if some will charge then that you are weak or
- speakerstupid or an idealist or out of touch with reality.
- speakerWhat hope has the Christian pulpit of being respected if the preacher is afraid to preach
- speakerBiblical truth? What else are you preachers paid your salaries for, after
- speakerall? Can we dare let our pulpits become soft
- speakerechoes of the worst prejudices of our people? This is really what we're
- speakerfacing.
- speakerI remember during World War
- speakertwo, I was a pastor in this area.
- speakerThere were some people who didn't want me to preach about peace, because the communists were for
- speakerpeace. Before the communist party was
- speakerestablished, the Christian church has been for peace. I
- speakersuggest the Christian church will be standing long after the last remnant of communism has been destroyed
- speakerand will be still standing for peace. During the time that I was a
- speakerpastor in Pasadena, there were some people, some of these same people, by the
- speakerway, who were pressing me to lay off the
- speakerfact that the Japanese were people for whom Christ died,
- speakerthat Germans really weren't human or that
- speakerI should modify what I was saying and not make it
- speakerclear that we believed that God had plans and purposes for these
- speakerthen enemies, prayed for them even. How
- speakerforgetful are we supposed to be in a very few short years now if
- speakerthe Japanese and the Germans are our bulwark against the real enemies. That happens
- speakerto be now the Russians. And, we're not allowed to preach the Gospel in
- speakerrelationship to the Russians either. The other people somehow got
- speakerrescued, since the Japanese and the Germans are our bulwarks against them.
- speakerYou can't please this crowd of people. Why try? Why not
- speakertry preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ? Tell your
- speakerpeople why from Christian grounds, we have to help the poor nations
- speakerout of our abundance.
- speakerThis is something that the Gospel has to say positively
- speakerRemind them that the Christian faith is concerned about all men: Russians,
- speakerLatin Americans, Negroes, Mexicans, as well us stupid and decadent
- speakerwhite Protestants. Don't pull your punches.
- speakerSome will get into trouble for sure. So did Jesus Christ.
- speakerDon't let the doctors make you afraid to challenge them to provide better
- speakermedical care for old people. Don't let your realtors keep you silent about
- speakerhousing or about open covenants of occupancy for all races.
- speakerDo you think that we dare let the communists be the friends of the poor and
- speakerthe hungry and the disinherited, the only friends? And, if we find ourselves
- speakertherefore, for some of the things, the Daily Worker is for, is
- speakerthis going to worry you? These things come out of the Gospel. The
- speakercommunist heresy has taken some of the best out of the Gospel and added its
- speakerown brand of poison to it. Surely, you want every one of us to be
- speakerpersuasive if we can, but don't expect that the Gospel is ever going
- speakerto win you a popularity contest. In addition to these general
- speakerChristian truths that we're obligated as Christian ministers to preach and as Christian
- speakerelders to try to apply in our lives and congregation,
- speakerlet us remember our Presbyterian heritage and stand up for it as well.
- speakerFor we Presbyterians believe that constitutional representative
- speakergovernment is the right way for free men to govern themselves under God
- speakerin both church and state. And don't let anybody get
- speakeraway with challenging that heritage in your part of the Presbyterian Church.
- speakerWe Presbyterians believe that our religion, both individual and corporate,
- speakerought to bear upon the whole realm of human life. And don't let
- speakeranybody silence you or make you afraid to apply the gospel as well as you
- speakercan to economics, to politics, to social ethics, or to anything else that
- speakeris controversial. You want to have that kind of church, the only place that I know of you can
- speakerfind it in full is in certain of the communist countries, where the church is
- speakerunable to say anything about anything except what is within the
- speakerwalls and the various ancient liturgies. We Calvinists cannot
- speakersettle for that kind of an interpretation of Christianity, even
- speakerunder pressure, for we Presbyterians believe in the emphasis on the
- speakersovereignty of God. A sovereign God strong enough to accomplish His
- speakerwill in the face of Satan and all his courts cohorts. Let us
- speakerbehave as if we did believe it. Surely we are not promised that such
- speakera course will be easy or pleasant or even successful.
- speakerWe don't know what God's will may be for us, our church, our
- speakernation, but we do know that, if we are disobedient, if we are
- speakerfaithless in our times of trial, there is no hope.
- speakerBut that God Himself must repudiate us as faithless
- speakerservants. Let's then get off the defensive.
- speakerLet's move into the battle. Let's so behave that the world may note what
- speakerwe say and do, and, perhaps because of us,
- speakerbe drawn to Jesus Christ because they see that we
- speakerare His.
- speakerThank
- speakeryou
- speakervery
- speakermuch.
- speaker[Applause]
- speakerI'm
- speaker[Turner, Herman Lee speaking] Sir. It is my duty to inform you. To announce to this
- speakerhouse that you [McKelvey, Paul D.] have been duly elected to the office of Moderator in this General
- speakerAssembly. Congratulations. For your direction in office and for the direction of this General Assembly
- speakerand all your deliberations, before I leave this seat, I am
- speakerto read, and fortunately the footnote says that I may hand this manual
- speakerto you.
- speakerTo you and this house, the rules contained in the records of the General Assembly,
- speakerwhich I doubt not will be carefully observed by both, in conducting the
- speakerbusiness that may become before may come before you. Here the moderator
- speakerdelivers the book. And I've got to hand it to you then take it back
- speakerbecause I don't have another one. I have one in my coat. I give you
- speakerthis book.
- speakerNow, having read the rules,
- speakerI assume you have all read them. to order for your instruction as moderator
- speakerand for the direction of all the members in the management of business, praying that Almighty God
- speakermay direct and bless all the deliberations of this General Assembly for the
- speakerglory of his name and for the edification and comfort of the United Presbyterian
- speakerChurch in the United States of America, I resign my place
- speakerand office as moderator. Sir, before I
- speakerturn this office over to you and the gavel, I am privileged to
- speakerpass on to you, as other past moderators have passed on, over the last twelve years,
- speakerthe Moderator's cross. In fact, it is two crosses, as you
- speakerwell know, and most of the members of the Assembly. About twelve years
- speakerago three Celtic crosses were made in the island
- speakerof Iona in Scotland. One given to the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church
- speakerUS, one to the moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, and one to the
- speakermoderator of the United Presbyterian Church. In nineteen fifty-eight
- speakerthe two crosses, one from the United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian
- speakerChurch USA were welded together so now we have two crosses
- speakerone. And, of course, our hope and prayer is that one day in the not too far distant
- speakerfuture that the other cross may be welded to these two so they might
- speakerbecome one.
- speakerFor I give you this sir, and pray God's blessing upon you and guidance in your
- speakeryear as moderator, which I know will be a great year.
- speaker[applause].
- speaker[McKelvey, Paul D. speaking] Just go back to your mic. If you will
- speakertarry with us for one moment please. Are you men ready?
- speakerYes, sir. All right sir
- speakerI'll play it
- speakerCongratulations.
- speakerYou.
- speakerWell. What would you do if you were in this fix?
- speakerSome years ago in New York, General Assembly was meeting and
- speakerand elected Hermann Morse as Moderator [Morse, H. N. [Hermann Nelson[] . And he made a
- speakerresponse that when you see a turtle on a stump, you know it didn't get there by itself.
- speakerI don't know whether it was true then, but it's true this time.
- speakerI'm mindful of people who out of various kinds of
- speakerconviction felt that this would be good for the Assembly. I'm also very
- speakerconscious has already been an interview, of a heritage which
- speakerlies back of me. And I'm not sure I've done anything. but
- speakersomewhere along the line, I've been pushed by the acts of
- speakerProvidence as they have come. You have a sense of a heritage, you have this, of course.
- speakerI assume that this has
- speakertaken place because the Presbyterian, United Presbyterian Church
- speakeris, through you, its representatives, have been
- speakerdelegated somehow want to express
- speakerdetermination that, in these times, which are moving very
- speakerrapidly, changes are taking place, not only in our own country, but clear
- speakeracross the world. Technological advance comes
- speakermore rapidly than we can comprehend it. And the
- speakerchanges where men work, the changes of our whole society and culture are very
- speakergreat that somehow you have one of the symbols the fact that the
- speakerPresbyterian, that the United Presbyterian Church is determined that it shall fulfill its
- speakermission with the eternal gospel in such a day as this.
- speakerI'm not quite sure how I became the symbol,
- speakerbut on behalf particularly
- speakerof those pastors and their wives
- speakerand their children and the men and women of their
- speakercongregations in inner cities all across this
- speakercountry. And, in similar experiences in other
- speakerparts of the world, where some of our people have gone, that
- speakeron their behalf, I will accept this as somehow a
- speakersymbol of your determination in their behalf.
- speakerI have asked thus far, either directly or indirectly, anything of
- speakeranyone. But I do have one request.
- speakerHow
- speakerWill you be as understanding and as kind
- speakerof my foibles up here, as you would want me to be
- speakerif you were here and I were back there.
- speakerMr Clerk.
