Poison Three Ways

Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein (author of What the Jews Believe) was once an enthusiastic member of the Interfaith Good Will Committee in his. home town of Rochester, N.Y. For almost 20 years the clergymen on the committee dealt "constructively" with relations among their different religious groups. Since 1949, how ever, committee members have not even sat down together at an annual luncheon, The reason: hard feelings between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics.

"The Rochester situation is fairly typical," Rabbi Bernstein told fellow towns men last week. "My own duties as presi dent of the Central Conference of American Rabbis have taken me to scores of communities. I cannot recall one where improved relations were reported. In practically all of them, tensions were on the rise." Some of the reasons, as Bernstein sees them: the intensified Catholic pro gram for parochial schools, Cardinal Spellman's controversy with Mrs. Roosevelt in which he denounced her for bigotry, Harry Truman's designation of General Clark as ambassador to the Vatican. The Clark appointment, says Bernstein, "was both, a cause of antagonism and a clear symptom of it. Catholics were not aware of the in tensity of Protestant feeling until the President's announcement released a storm . . ." His advice: "First, a word to the Catholics. It seems that Catholics generally do not realize the offensiveness to non-Catholics of the church's claim to exclusive and final truth. The corollary, which is that the rest of us are in error, is, in my opinion, the single most powerful historic factor in embittering Catholic-Protestant relations. If this position is ideologically imperative to Catholic doctrine, let it be tempered in the practical relations between Catholic and non-Catholic . . .

"Birth control is an example. The Catholic Church has every right to instruct its communicants that birth control is a sin.

But it has no right . . . to seek to impose legislation which will make non-Catholics conform with its religious views . . .

"Now, as to the Protestants. They should recognize as evil the virulent anti-Catholicism which animates so many Protestants, especially among the clergy. Hatred is un-Christian . . . Protestants have no alternative but to accept as realities the basic Catholic premises for Catholics (not for themselves). They must learn to live with them. At times this may require firmness, but not intolerance . . . The genius of Protestantism is the open mind." Jewish-Christian relations have not suffered the same deterioration as those be tween Catholics and Protestants, said Bernstein. But "underlying tensions" do manifest themselves. His advice to Jews: "Do not live in a fool's paradise. Do not take any satisfaction from the current Catholic-Protestant frictions ... A poisoned atmosphere of divisiveness and distrust will engulf all."

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