Dangerous Rival

Is it possible for a Christian to be a Communist? It depends on what you mean by "Communist," says the Archbishop of York. Last week the Most Rev. Cyril Forster Garbett said that the early Christians were real communists, whose precept and practice had virtually disappeared from the earth.

"But," he said, "different as modern Communism is ... it need not be inconsistent with Christian faith and life. There are many Christians who are convinced that there is much more in common between Christianity and Communism than between Christianity and Capitalism. In Russia there are millions of Orthodox who are loyal citizens of a Communist state. In Poland there are convinced Communists who regularly attend Mass. In Czechoslovakia among the members of some of the Reformed Churches there are to be found convinced Communists . . . The Church therefore should avoid an indiscriminate condemnation of Communism, which would compel many, especially of the younger generation, to feel that they must choose between Christianity and Communism.

"But while it is possible to be a Christian and a Communist, it is not possible to be a Christian and a Marxian Communist without disloyalty either to Christ or to Marx, for Marxian Communism is far more than a political or economic theory; it has a doctrine behind it which leaves no room for Christianity or for any other form of theism ... It is the most dangerous rival to Christianity ..."

The Archbishop said that it is "possible for Russian Christians to live quietly in a Marxian state, accepting its economic and political system, but rejecting its philosophical ideology." He did not try to answer the old and terrible question: How quietly can a Christian live?

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