Man's Hope

Man's desperation took him a step nearer to man's hope last week. Into Manhattan's Cathedral of St. John the Divine filed some 5,000 Protestants, to inaugurate the Christian Mission on World Order, most important attempt to organize U.S. Protestants and their churches as a potent force for a just and durable peace.*

Present were 500 church leaders including the Federal Council of Churches' President Bishop Henry St. George Tucker, New York's Bishop William Thomas Manning, the Greek Orthodox Church's Bishop Germanos, the Serbian Orthodox Church's Dean Shoukletovich, the Russian Orthodox Church's Metropolitan Theophilus.

Also present were the meeting's two speakers: John Foster Dulles, chairman of the Commission to Study the Bases of a Just and Durable Peace, and Senator Joseph H. Ball of Minnesota.

Greatest Crusade. Senator Ball called the Christian Mission "the greatest crusade since Jesus sent his twelve disciples out to preach the brotherhood of man," declared its purpose was "to remove the scales of fear and cynicism from the soul of America so that [we] may undertake confidently, with courage and vision, the building of a world order in which justice and reason, and not brute force, prevail."

Said the Senator: "That faith, that confidence, is not here today. . . . The men in our armed services regard the war as a tough, dirty job, and 'let's get on with it.' Many of them are thinking about what comes after Berlin and Tokyo, but their thinking, so far, consists mostly of questions, not conclusions. To a large extent the same attitude prevails among the people. One finds no unshakable faith or confidence that we and the world, once the war is won, are going to see that it does not happen again. . . ." John Foster Dulles called upon Christians to regain this faith. He said: "We have been a people of vision and self-confidence. Our founders . . . from the start conceived of their task as of worldwide import. Within a few generations there existed here an area of spiritual, intellectual and economic vigor the like of which the world had never seen. . . .

"Then something happened. We lost our vision. . . . We lost our courage. . . .

"What has happened is grave. . . . For guidance let us turn to Jesus Christ, who revealed to men not only the way of spiritual salvation, but how to create a fellowship on earth. . . . Christ wanted men to see, to see far and to see truly. . . . Christ wanted men to have hearts that comprehend the human significance of what is seen. . . . Christ wanted men to reason clearly and serenely ... to act. . . .

"The harmonious association of men is not achieved by treaties, or councils, or armies. These things may help. But ... if we would be a nation of creative faith, we must be individuals of creative faith. ... Almost everywhere a new society must be built. This is not only a calamity, it is an opportunity, the like of which men never saw before. . . ."

* The Mission is sponsored by six leading U.S. interchurch agencies: Federal Council of Churches, Foreign Missions Conference, Home Missions Council, International Council of Religious Education, Missionary Education Movement, United Council of Church Women. Between Nov. 1 and 20, the Mission will send some 90 notable clergymn and laymen in teams of three or four to about 100 cities in 40 states. They will hold one-day conferences with local church groups, climaxed by a public mass meeting at night.

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