Protestant-Catholic Conflict

What are the sources of Protestant-Roman Catholic tension in the U.S.? Last week the Jesuit weekly America listed three areas of friction in a lead article (written for CBS's Church of the Air radio show, but denied clearance because it was judged too controversial) by Editor in Chief Thurston N. Davis. The sore points as Jesuit Davis sees them:

BIRTH CONTROL. "Some Protestants speak of birth control as a positive virtue. They are hurt and perhaps humiliated that their code of personal morality in this matter is held to be grossly wrong by their Catholic friends. The Catholic Church views this practice as contrary to the natural law, that is, to the law of human reason itself. The birth-control question is only a part of her total philosophical and theological view of the right relations between husband and wife."

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. "The Catholic parent who exercises his undisputed right to educate his child in the atmosphere of a Catholic school is convinced that an integral education--a complete education--is possible only where a child receives thorough and systematic training in man's obligations to know, love and serve God his Creator and Redeemer. Protestants very often misunderstand the parochial school. Too often they repeat the slogan about the Catholic school being a 'divisive' influence on American society."

CENSORSHIP. "The Legion of Decency and the National Office for Decent Literature ... do not regard themselves as 'censors.' They do, however, publish moral appraisals of movies and books. As a result, they are looked upon by Protestants as 'unAmerican pressure groups,' or as symbols of the intolerance of Catholics. [But the Legion addresses] its directives only to Catholics. Protestants are just as concerned as Catholics are to protect their youngsters from suggestive and defiling influences. The trouble is that some Protestants seem to feel themselves almost obliged to patronize the movie which the Catholics condemned--just because the Catholics condemned it."

Father Davis' prescription: "Protestants and Catholics should get together to talk over--not merely their differences --but also the vast areas of common concern which they have. I think that Catholics should take the initiative."

For years a small but recurring sore point between Protestants and Catholics has been the movies' preponderance of Catholic priests over Protestant ministers. Last week George A. Heimrich, West Coast head of. the National Council of Churches' Broadcasting and Film Commission, totted up the 1956 figures on films with Catholic and Protestant themes and happily announced the result: four to one in favor of the Protestants. Lutheran Heimrich gave most of the credit for better Protestant billing to the Council of Churches' campaign to inform producers about Protestantism. One lost battle of the campaign: the council appealed to ministers for film scripts, got several and rejected them all. The flaw: "They would never get the seal of approval of the Production Code Administration, for in part (e.g., by portraying pastors bossed around by church-board members) they show the Protestant religion in a very bad light."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.