(portion of report from CR)

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES 

      On February 11, 1960, Mr. James Wine, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches, wrote a letter to Mr. Thomas S. Gates, Jr., Secretary of the De­partment of Defense, protesting against re­marks in an Air Force instruction manual.  Mr. Wine demanded that the Department of Defense repudiate the manual, withdraw it from use, recall all distributed copies— and give the national council a complete explanation. The Air Force ordered withdrawal of the manual that same day—February 11— and both Mr. Gates, Secretary of Defense, and Dudly Sharp, Secretary of the Air Force, expressed regrets to the national council that the manual had ever been issued.

      None of this got into the news until February 17, 1960, when Mr. James Wine released to the press a copy of the February 11 letter of protest.

      The Air Force Manual in question was issued by the training command headquarters of the Continental Air Command at Lackland Air Base, Tex. A total of 6,100 copies were printed. Of these 3,290 had been distributed to Reserve training centers of the Air Force throughout the United States. The National Council of Churches complaint was against a section of the Air Force Man­ual, which, under the heading “Communism in Religion,” said:

      “From a variety of authoritative sources, there appears to be overwhelming evidence of Communist antireligious activity in the United States through infiltration of fellow travelers into churches and educational institutions.

      “The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. officially sponsored the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Of the 95 persons who served in this project, 30 have been affiliated with pro-Communist fronts, projects, and publications.”

      As soon as the National Council of Churches forced this issue into the open, Pentagon officials issued public apologies. News stories characterized the officials variously as “appalled,” “stunned,” “startled,” and “shocked,” at this “attack on the Churches of America” in an Air Force manual.

      Liberals of both parties in Congress made impassioned statements for the press. Sena­tor PRESCOTT BUSH (Republican, Connecti­cut) said the manual was an “unjustified and outrageous” reflection upon “the great body of American clergymen” and that its issuance was “inexcusably stupid.” Con­gressman JOHN E. MOSS (Democrat, California) chairman of the House Government Information Subcommittee; Congressman MELVIN PRICE (Democrat, Illinois), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Military Manpower; Congressman FRANK KOWALSKX (Democrat, Connecticut), member of the Armed Services Committee; Congressman CARL VINSON (Democrat, Georgia), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, among those who made statements comparable to that of Senator BUSH, all of them demanding or promising full-scale investigations.

      At least one Member of Congress, however, spoke calmly and factually about the controversy. Congressman FRANCIS E. WALTER (Democrat, Pennsylvania), chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, criticized the Air Force for withdrawing the manual without even trying to find out about the accuracy of the charges of Communist infiltration into churches. Congressman WALTER said he had examined the Air Force Manual. He said that 30 of the 95 persons who prepared the National Council of Churches Revised Standard Version of the Bible do have Communist front affiliations. Congressman WALTER said that if Air Force officials had looked into the charges which the manual made, they would have found that the manual is correct in what it says.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD

      The most interesting thing revealed by this controversy is the double standard of liberal­ism. Roscoe Drummond’s syndicated article of February 21, 1960 (New York Herald Tribune service), begins by saying,

      “The US Air Force has committed an awful offense against the United States * * *       of its training manuals for Reserves to be used to try to smear the Protestant churches with undocumented, un­proved, raise charges that the clergy are knee deep with Communists and fellow travelers.”

      Mr. Drummond characterizes the issuance or the Air Force manual variously as an “evil, pernicious, dangerous thing”; as “poison­ous”; as “meat ax, guilt-by-association accu­sations”; as “mean” and “false.” Drum­mond then falsely implies that even the late Senator Joseph McCarthy had been outraged (in 1953) by charges that Communists had infiltrated American churches; and he falsely implies that the House Committee on Un-American Activities belittles charges of Com­munist infiltration into religious institu­tions.

      Near the end of his column, Roscoe Drum­mond says:

      “What is needed is to find out who wrote this stuff, who had anything to do with clearing it at every level, where it was dis­tributed, and what assurance there is that it won’t happen again.”

      What Mr. Drummond here demands is ex­actly what he and all others of his kind were denouncing as “smear” and “book burning” in 1953, 1954.

      In 1953, the late Senator McCarthy, look­ing into operations of the Government’s oversea information agency, discovered that a large number of books in the agency’s over-sea libraries (libraries created and main­tained with tax money for the ostensible pur­pose of helping our struggle against com­munism) were written by Communists and Communist-fronters, falsely putting commu­nism in a favorable light. Demanding that the pro-Communist books be removed from our Government’s “anti-Communist” li­braries, Senator McCarthy tried “to find out who wrote this stuff, who had anything to do with clearing it at every level, where it was distributed, and what assurance *  *  * that it won’t happen again.”

      In 1954, Senator McCarthy, investigating Communist infiltration into the Army (par­ticularly at Fort Monmouth), discovered that Irving Peress had been given a promotion in rank after the Army had been informed of Peress’ Communist connections. Senator McCarthy wanted to find out “who had any­thing to do with clearing” this thing “at every level.” He sought assurances that such a thing wouldn’t happen again.

      But in 1953 and 1954, Roscoe Drummond and all other McCarthy-hating anti-anti-Communists (including President Eisen­hower) accused McCarthy of character as­sassination and “book burning.”

THE OTHER SIDE

      In 1953 and 1954, anti-Communists never did find out who was responsible at- every level for putting pro-Communist books in our oversea libraries and- for promoting Peress after- his Communist connections were known.

      In 1960, the Nation knew precisely who prepared the controversial section in the Air Force manual, long before liberals had quit making headlines with their demands for an investigation.

      The “Communism in Religion” section of the Air Force manual was written by Homer H, Hyde, 54 years old, who has worked for 18 years as an educational specialist at the Lackland Air Force Base. He is a member of Grace Baptist Temple at San Antonio, Tex.

      Mr. Hyde says:

      “I would welcome a complete and full-scale investigation into all aspects of Com­munist activities in the United States, espe­cially the infiltration into our churches and religious activities.

      “From the records I have examined, I’m fully convinced the greatest danger to our way of life is the insidious infiltration of Communists into various phases of Amer­ican life, and particularly in the churches.

      “The Communists are using our churches because people tend to believe what they hear from the pulpit as gospel truth.”

      The statement that 30 of the 95 men who produced the National Council of Churches’ Revised Standard Version of the Bible have Communist-front records: Mr. Hyde got this information from a pamphlet published by Circuit Riders, Inc., 18 East Fourth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. M. G. Lowman, executive secretary of Circuit Riders, says:

      “Apparently, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Secretary of Defense have ignored the public records of 9,000 clergymen whose names appear from 1 to about 200 times each, in public print, supporting Communist and pro-Communist causes.

      “Once these amazing facts were called to their attention by Homer H. Hyde, in the Air Force officer manual, both the Air Force Command and the Secretary of Defense pro­posed a great book burning of the offending manual to placate the outraged National Council of Churches of Christ in America.

      “The public should know that both the U.S. Air Force and the Department of De­fense now have copies of the public, pro-Communist records of 2,109 Methodist min­isters, 1,411 Protestant Episcopal rectors, 614 Presbyterian clergymen, along with the pub­lications ‘Recognize Red China,’ and 30 of the 95 men who gave us the ‘Revised Standard Version of the Bible.’

“These last two publications portray the National Council of Churches as - one of the most infiltrated and exploited operations in the United States.

      “The Air Force can burn its manuals; but in so doing, it has focused more light on this situation than patriotic organizations have managed to do.

      “The vast majority of U.S. clergymen are loyal to God and to the United States: they have not taken part in an attempt to neu­tralize against world conquest by the So­viets, which the liberal church programs and church organizations have done, propagandizing for peace-at-any-price and com­promise-with-atheism,

      “If the public would like to have some of the material which Homer H. Hyde used in the Air Force Officer Manual which outraged the National Council of Churches of Christ and, thus, terrified the Department of De­fense, they can obtain it by writing to Cir­cuit Riders.”

      Some of the general information about communism in religion, which Homer Hyde put in the Air Force manual, was taken from material published by Dr. Billy James Hargis, Protestant evangelist who is presi­dent of Christian Crusade, Tulsa, Okla. Dr, Hargis says:

      “Newspaper stories, say the ‘Communism in Religion’ section of the Air Force Reserve Training Manual was based on: (1) a book­let entitled ‘The National Council ‘of Churches indicts itself on 50’ Counts of Treason to God and Country,’ which I wrote and published 4 years ago; (2) a Christian Crusade broadcast, still in ‘print, entitled ‘Apostate Clergymen Battle for God-Hating Communist China’; and (3) a booklet en­titled ‘30 of the 95 Men Who Gave Us the Revised Standard Version of the Bible,’ pub­lished by Circuit Riders, a Methodist lay­men’s group concerned about subversion in its particular denomination.

      “I had sent all these publications to Mr. Homer H. Hyde, of San Antonio, when he asked for documentations last November.

    “In my opinion, the National Council of Churches of Christ has done more to nurture communism than any other organization in the United States. It is nothing short of folly for the United States to spend $60 bil­lions a year to defend our country against communism abroad, and here at home hide our eyes to the realities of Communist in­filtration.

    “I would gladly debate the charges of Com­munist infiltration of American churches With the national council president, Dr. Edwin Theodore Dahlberg.

    “Mr. Hyde is concerned about losing his job with the Air Force. I have offered him a research position at his present salary on my Tulsa staff if he is fired. Congressman FRANCIS WALTER, chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, has asked me to extend an invitation to Mr. Hyde to join his staff in event of his dismissal,

    “As an ordained Protestant minister, I have asked the House Committee on Un-American Activities to make a thorough investigation of alleged Communist infiltration into Amer­ican churches. After 12 years of research and study on this subject, I am convinced that there is evidence to prove that Commu­nists have infiltrated the National Council of Churches, its affiliated denominations and the Unitarian denominations.”

      Edgar C. Bundy, general chairman of the Church League of America, Wheaton, Ill., said he would testify under oath that— “The National Council of Churches is one of the greatest enemies in regard to national security.”

      Bundy said his organization can give docu­mentary proof of his charges. Bundy’s book, “Collectivism in the Churches,” published by the Church League in 1958, is a heavily documented account of the leftwing political activities of the National Council of Churches.

      Verne P. Kaub, president of the American Council of Christian Laymen, Madison, Wis., says:

      “In 1949, our American council published a brochure, ‘How Red is the Federal (now National) Council of Churches?’ making sub­stantially the same charges as those made in the questioned Air Force manual. Our brochure reports, among other things, that in 1935 naval intelligence branded the Fed­eral Council of Churches as subversive. No legal action has ever been brought against us and no statement in the brochure has been successfully challenged.”

      Dr. Ralph I. Yarnell, general secretary of the American Council of Christian Churches, said the charges about Communist infiltra­tion into American churches can be “more than sustained.” He said the Air Force withdrew the manual “merely to shield and satisfy the National Council of Churches.”

      Dr. Carl McIntire, president of the Inter­national Council of Christian Churches, 801 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood. N.J., says:

      “The quick and unjustified surrender of the Air Force and Defense Department to the demands of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. leaves up in the air the truth of the Air Force manual’s statements about Communist infil­tration of religious institutions. The manual’s statements are true, and point up a serious problem facing the Nation. There is no field today where the Communists are more successful with their ‘peace’ and ‘peaceful coexistence’ propaganda than in the field of religion.”

A BRIEF HISTORY

      The Federal Council of Churches was or­ganized in 1908. By 1950, Communist infil­tration into the organization was so well known that anti-Communist intelligence agencies regarded it as an arm of the Com­munist Party.

      In November 1950 the Federal Council merged with a few other church organiza­tions and formed the National Council of Churches. The old Federal Council leaders became the leaders of the National Council. Indeed, the Federal Council Bulletin for De­cember 1950 officially announced “All the work of the Federal Council will con­tinue under the new auspices.”

      The constituting convention, which con­verted the Federal Council into the National Council and merged it with other similar organizations, was held in Cleveland, Ohio. It was composed of delegates from 29 Protestant denominations. Delegates of 28 of these denominations took their whole denominations into the National Council. Thus, denominational churches with a total membership of something like 28 million people became members of the National Council of Churches by the arbitrary action of a few score delegates at the Cleveland con­vention. The question was never submitted to church congregations, or even to individ­ual churches, for approval or ratification. Today, the national council is composed of 33 cooperating Protestant and Eastern Ortho­dox denominations representing 38 million people.

      The National Council of Churches of Christ is probably a powerful political lobby for socialism, hiding behind the facade of a Christian name and enjoying the tax exemption of a church institution. The anti-Com­munists who complain about the socialism and Communist infiltration into the Na­tional Council are precisely the people who want to protect the Christian churches; want to protect them from the pro-Communist leadership of the National Council.

COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA

      The best way to prove the pro-Communist orientation of the leadership of the National Council, and of the interlocking leadership in its affiliated denominations is to look at the record of what they do and say.

      In November 1958 the Fifth World Order Study Conference, held under the auspices of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., at Cleveland, Ohio, went on record, by unanimous vote, in favor of diplomatic recognition of Red China by the United States. The Cleveland conference was composed of about 600 delegates, two-thirds of whom were laymen, one-third clergymen. One-half of the clergymen at that conference had public records of affilia­tion with leftwing operations, which followed the Communist line. During the past 20 years, 719 officers of the Federal Council and National Council of Churches have been affiliated with one or more organizations of a leftwing character.

      It is revealing to look at the pro-Commu­nist propaganda about Red China which was insinuated into church publications, prior to the 1958 Cleveland conference, thus pre­paring the way for the great Communist propaganda victory which resulted from that conference.

      Volume II, No. 2, 1957, of the Episcopal Overseas Mission Review, 606 Rathervue Place, Austin, Tex., has an article entitled “China and the Chinese Church” by the Right Reverend Ronald O. Hall, Anglican bishop of Hong Kong. Here are excerpts:

      “To our brethren in the Chinese Church * * * all that has happened is God’s answer to the prayers of the church throughout the world for China and her people. That, my dear friends, is the one thing they beg you to understand.

      “They do want you to know that for the first time for several centuries China has a government of which her people are proud and for which China’s Christian people thank God. *  *  *

      “Let us with God’s help adjust our thick skulls and eager hearts to the fact that the Chinese church has come of age. Their country has been rescued from moral cor­ruption and seemingly irreparable war dam­age by a new technique for governing as yet not 40 years old as far as its testing in history is concerned.

      From the Presbyterian Outlook, volume 139, No. 42, dated November 25, 1957:

      “With a full measure of caution, Prof. Walter Freytag, of Germany, describes developments in the Christian Church in China (after a 3-week visit there). *  *  *

      “Dr. Freytag pointed out that he was impressed with the ‘look of the people’ and a new spirit of self-respect.’ Certain national evils like opium smoking, gam­bling, and prostitution seem to have dis­appeared, he said. *  *  *

      “For China, no other way has emerged than the one which it has followed, and it is unthinkable that they should give it up. *  *  *

      “Christians are clearly impressed with the moral strength of the Communist move­ment.”

Presbyterian Survey is a magazine pub­lished monthly under the authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Presbyterian Building, Rich­mond, Va. In the November 1956 issue of this magazine there is a report on a meeting of the Central Committee of the World Coun­cil of Churches, held in Communist Hungary during the summer of 1956. Here are pas­sages from the report:

      “Bishop (K. H.) Ting, Anglican, from Peiping, China, was the first Christian from his land to attend a WCC (World Council of Churches) meeting since 1948. * * * He said that although Christians in the West may regard the new China as a judgment of God, Chinese Christians in the past 6 or 7 years have come to see it as ‘an act of God’ and a demonstration of His love for China.

      “The Communists do not believe in God or Christ * * * (but) we thank God for the good things they do and feel humbled * * *.  We think we know the essence of the Com­munist. He is a child of God, and in him there is something God regards as worth saving.”

      The Lutheran (1228 Spruce Street, Phila­delphia) is a news magazine of the United Lutheran Church in America. In the July 3, 1957, issue there is an article. “I Went to Red China,” by Shiro Aoyama, who is pastor of the Lutheran Theological Sem­inary Church in Tokyo. Here are some pas­sages from the article:

      “One leader reported as follows:

      “The Church of China and the Christians of China are fundamentally opposed to com­munism.    * * * However, both individual Christians and the church as a whole are loyal to the policies of the Government. This is true because in the present Chinese society there no longer exist such social evils as gambling, bribes, and prostitution. Rather, the whole moral level has been so raised that the church need not take a hand in such matters.

      “‘Further, religious liberty is guaranteed us. *  *  * The Government merely said, wor­ship without hindrance, only don’t cooper­ate with the counterrevolutionaries. We have no freedom for counterrevolution, but within this limitation the Government up­holds us, makes church property tax free, and grants aid in cases of need.’ *  *  *

      “All schools, social agencies, hospitals, and so forth, formerly conducted by the church have been turned over to the Government, and such works have been nationalized, The Government is putting much effort into this kind of work. The Government pays rent to the church for its property now used in these agencies and in this way aids the finances of the church.

      “Thus the church is now restricted to wor­ship and evangelism alone. It seems that the Government places no restriction on faith or evangelism and gives no directions pertaining thereto.”

      The Communists having created heaven on earth in China, Christians need not con­cern themselves with temporal things any more; and they are happy in their freedom to keep their mouths shut, This whole ar­ticle—which, incidentally, is the lead arti­cle in the July 3, 1957, issue of the Lutheran—could very well have been prepared by the Communist minister of propaganda of Peking.

      Church publications of the great denominations affiliated with the National Council still carry such obvious Communist propaganda pieces, not only on the subject of Red China, but on all aspects of the current Communist Party line.

THE TRUTH

      Anyone who wants to prove that the picture of Red China given in the foregoing quotations from church publications is a frightful Communist distortion, could begin his research by reading the March 26, 1959 publication of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, setting out the testimony of five Protestant leaders from the Far East who had firsthand experience with the Communist.

      Here are passages from the official report:

      There are no longer any truly Christian Churches operating in China. *  *  * The only ones in existence are propaganda churches operated by the Communists with communist ministers ‘‘picked by the Government to fill the pulpits and indoctrinate the people in communism.’’ describing the incentive the Communists’ offer to the young people of Red China to join the Communist Party, Reverend (Peter Chu) Pong (general secretary of the Hong Kong International Christian Leadership) said:

      In 15 years, they are told, Red China will surpass the United States. They are told they will be the masters of the whole world: that by 1965 Red China will be celebrating their victories in San Francisco. As an immediate reward, the Communist young men are given their choice of the young women and they have wine to drink.”

      Rev Shih-ping Wang, East Asia director of the Baptist Evangelization Society International, described at some length the commune system recently instituted in Red China.

      “The family unit is broken up. Husbands and wives are separated into different barracks. The children are taken away from the parents and placed in government-run nurseries. Husbands and wives may meet only once a week for 2 hours—they have no other contact. Because these places of meeting are few, couples must stand in line at the special rooms waiting their turn. And after they are finished, they must report to the commune group leader to tell the date and time and how long they stayed together. They must also report what they said and did together. The parents may see their children once a week and when they see them they cannot show affection toward their children. The idea is to have the children and the families sever their affection and direct it toward the state. Names are taken away from the children, and they are given numbers. *  *  *

      There is no morality because the love of the family is taken away. There is no honesty and respect among men or between men. There is no human dignity; they are all like animals. There is no guilt associated with the murder of individuals for the improvement of the state. There is no prostitution on the mainland in the communes. * * *  In Communist Party circles a woman must submit herself to any Party member who desires her favors. If a woman refuses a party member, she may be thrown into jail or stripped and nailed to a wall until she dies. Another punishment is to cut the breasts off the woman who refuses. * * *

      “All the elderly people 60 years of age and above, who cannot work are put in the old people’s ‘Happy Home.’ After they are placed in the homes they are given shots. They are told these shots are for their health.  But after the shots are taken, they die within 2 weeks. ”Rev. Tsin-tsai Liu, pastor of the Gospel Baptist Church in Taipei, said that “the Communists * * * began wholesale persecu­tions of Protestant churches in 1950. Chris­tian leaders were placed under house arrest * * * were blacklisted, and * * * had to be reeducated and attend confession classes to reveal their past associations and beliefs. If the self-confessing classes are not successful, the Communists resort to other means.

      “They stop the noses of the people and pour water in their mouths. Every time the person breathes, he swallows water. After he swallows enough water, his stomach swells up, and then they stand on it. Then they use 24-hour questioning. The questioning goes on day and night with different shifts of Communists asking the questions. The person being questioned loses all sense of time. Also used are threats of violence to loved ones.”

      After the Christian ministers and leaders were arrested, they were replaced with Communists. The Government now uses Chin Ling Theological Seminary in Nanking and the Shanghai China Theological Seminary in Shanghai to train their own preachers.

      The only churches that were allowed to re­main open were Communist-run churches that serve as showcases for visitors.

      Rev. Samuel W. S. Cheng, who received theological training at Princeton Theological Seminary and is superintendent of the Gos­pelaires Friends Mission in Taipei, stated that since 1949 the Communist government of China has confiscated over 20 million U.S. dollars in church property; about 140,000 mainland Christians have been killed by the Communists; 5 million Chinese have fled as refugees to Hong Kong, Formosa, and other parts of the world, and over 30 million Chi­nese have been killed or persecuted. *  *  *

      Reverend Cheng described what had hap­pened to the family of a member of the Chi­nese Nationalist House of Representatives on Formosa because he was intensely anti-Com­munist: “His family and his cousins, broth­ers, all relatives, altogether 180 persons, have been killed. *  *  *

“This writer’s sister-in-law is a very good woman. The Communists thought she had a whole lot of money and asked a lot of her, and she said she had lent it. So it made the Communists very mad at her. They used five horses. One horse was tied to her neck and the other horses were tied to her arms and legs and they went in all directions. The biggest horse ran and it just tore her body into pieces. The blood streamed all over the public square, and the people shut their eyes and cried. They could not stand to see it.”