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The Church In the World
By E. G. Homrighausen

CZECHS FACE A NEW SITUATION

The world was shocked last August when Czechoslovakia was occupied by military forces of five neighboring communist states. For the Czechs, it was a stunning and a tragic experience. Though it was not like the Hungarian occupation, it was something the Czechs thought impossible. Communist nations might accuse the United States of military intervention in Vietnam; now it was the Soviet Union that intervened in the affairs of a friendly ally.

The reasons for the invasion were many: the Czech nation faced imminent disunity and even disruption; western influences through literature, tourists, the Voice of America, were weaning the people from the communist bloc; the old emerging Czech freedom was getting out of bounds; the reforms were putting a strain on Czech relations with the Russian people and the party in Moscow. Besides, this was not an invasion by a "foreign" power, but a friendly and helpful service in an internal family affair.

What made the situation so tragic was that for twenty years (1948-68) the Czechs were developing closer relations with the Russians. The Czechs were committed to socialism, and they honestly believed they were evolving a better kind of socialism than that which obtained in Russia.

Czechoslovakia was the most industrialized modern nation to become communist. It was therefore a prophetic model of achievement. When Alexander Dubcek was made the new chief of the Communist Party in 1968, many reforms were instituted which the Czechs believed would release the nation into a better relation with Russia, greater economic development, and a fuller development of socialism. One communist leader stated that he believed these reforms would make Czechoslovakia "a real socialist democracy with more freedom than even the most advanced capitalist country."

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The relation between the communist state and the churches was constantly improving. From 1948-68 the churches in varying degrees and with cooperative policies had to make their adjustment to the new socialist order. Sometimes the churches were more concerned about saving themselves than about serving the people and the nation; they thought the new order was only temporary, and they hoped, and even worked for, a restoration of the past. The state, on the other hand, had sometimes regarded Christians as second-class citizens, had injected into education the old cliché that religion was the opiate of the people and that the churches were anachronisms which would disappear when the socialist state had developed more fully.

No one worked more earnestly than Josef Hromadka in dealing with the relation between Christianity and communism in Czechoslovakia. He was not a communist, but he believed the new order was here to stay. He led the churches in their painful adaptation to the situation without compromising the Christian faith. He will be remembered in Christian history for this unique ministry. He has been honored and accepted in both east and west. To be sure, he has been subject to criticism; but who could avoid it while working in such a sensitive area of controversy? From the time of his return from voluntary exile in 1945, he has seen many changes take place in the relation of the churches to the Czech socialist state. He inaugurated dialogues between Christian theologians and Marxist philosophers, which brought about a better understanding between them. Through his influence and that of his colleagues, many reforms have come about of benefit to the churches: job discrimination against Christians has been stopped; churches are more in control of their religious education; more students are taking courses in religion in the schools; all limitations on the number and choice of theological students have been eliminated; theological faculties have greater freedom; Roman Catholic bishops are now free to exercise their Episcopal functions and maintain their contacts with Rome.

Little wonder, then, that the response to the occupation met with such a united resistance by the Czechs. There were demonstrations which culminated in the fiery self-immolation of a student. The various peoples of Czechoslovakia, and even gypsies, have become united in a new patriotism. The churches have gained a new solidar-

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ity. And world Christians of all confessions have united in their sympathy with and support of their Czech brethren.

Dr. Hromadka's letter to the Soviet ambassador in Prague, written on the day after the invasion, expresses the anguish of the Czech soul. In the light of his reception of the Lenin Prize for International Friendship and Peace in the Kremlin, his years of efforts to bring about better relations between the Czech and the Russian people, his hopes for the renewal and strengthening of socialism in Czechoslovakia, he wrote that he regarded the occupation as "most painful" to him. "I feel deeply disappointed and shocked. There has been no greater tragedy in my life than this event. . . . The Soviet Government could have committed no error of more tragic dimensions. The damage is immeasurable."

Now that Alexander Dubcek has been deposed in favor of Gustav Husak, what of the future? The situation is to be "normalized." Husak does not propose a return to Stalinism. The reformers may remain unchanged. A new period of adjustment confronts the churches. But the unity of the Czech nation, the memory of the glorious days of liberation, the spirit of solidarity with fellow-Christians, and the heroic faith of the fathers who lived under the Hapsburgs and the Nazis, will keep hope alive within these gallant people.

CATHOLIC FERMENT IN LATIN AMERICA

"Incredible!" This is the judgment of many people on the II Assembly of the Latin American Roman Catholic Episcopate (CELAM) which was held in Medellin in 1968. Medellin is regarded as the most Catholic city in the most Catholic country in the most Catholic continent of the world. The purpose of the Assembly was the "revising of the mission of the church before the global transformation of Latin America." Its immediate goal was "the profound, valiant, and rapid transformation of the structures of Latin American society and of the church itself."

One of the Assembly speakers, Msgr. Eduardo P. Pironio, declared, "There is a new presence of the Lord on this continent arousing the expectation of total liberation, a new Pentecost in Latin America, with the Holy Spirit simultaneously awakening man to his

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misery and the church to its mission, proclaiming the necessity for conversion to bring us to the reign of justice, peace, and love."

The Assembly took a hard look at the Latin American situation and formulated some realistic Conclusions which have the endorsement of the Vatican. Sixteen documents were produced on social, political, economic, and ecclesiastical matters. During the Assembly, the church and the world came into an honest confrontation. Four-fifths of the people of Latin America live under military tutelage. Inherited problems and feudalistic structures make life "bleak and hopeless." In Uruguay, inflation rose 130 per cent in 1967. Education and leadership are for the elite. The chances of a child getting beyond fifth grade are one in a hundred. Every year there is less food per person. Recent reforms in Chili were blocked by conservative forces backed by the military. The Assembly exposed international and external colonialism, the international imperialism of money, the growing distortion of international commerce, the continental support of governmental power by foreign aid.

The Assembly also called attention to the church's failures and weaknesses in the situation. There is an evangelism, for instance, that does not penetrate to the hearts of people, or that results in creating Christians in isolation from each other who do not see the social implications of their commitment. Preaching and teaching in isolation are no longer sufficient. They are a waste of time and money. Both must become relevant to the situation; both must awaken people to their plight and promise. Divisiveness in the church is not only a scandal, but in Latin America the Assembly called it an "abomination in the eyes of God."

All through the sixteen documents the words "arousing" and "awakening" are mentioned. The bishops committed themselves to the "conscientization," or awakening, of the people of Latin America to the need for radical changes in social structures. But they were aware of the fact that this arousal would involve "institutional violence." Word-echoes of the late priest-reformer, Camilo Torres, were hear at Medillin: "When the authority exists contrary to the people, that authority is not legitimate and is called tyranny. We Christians can and must fight against tyranny." Much was said about violence at the Assembly. The Youth Commission asked, "Whose side is the church on?" The implication was that until this

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question is answered all talk of methods is not relevant. The youth hinted that the answer to the question of violence is not self-evident.

One of the most penetrating documents was produced by the Youth Commission. It called for a church "authentically poor, missionary and pastoral, freed from temporal power and boldly committed to the liberation of the total man and of all men . . . Youth are more sensitive than adults to the positive values in the process of secularization and are more open to pluralistic society and to a more universal dimension of Christianity." The bishops not only listened to these words, but approved them for inclusion in the Conclusions.

The Assembly was quite aware of its unity with Protestantism. Bishop Ruiz of Mexico quoted freely from the Methodist Consultation on Evangelism and concluded with an invitation to an ecumenical proclamation of the gospel. The non-Roman observers were invited to partake of the Communion during the closing days of the Assembly. According to Emilio Castro, the implications of the Assembly for Protestantism in Latin America are evident: it too must engage in a comparable honesty and a similar ecumenicity. Protestantism in Latin America can do one of three things: become or continue to be a religious movement concerned only about its own identity, security, and institutional growth; become a new Christianity in Latin America by working at forms of society informed by Christian concepts, categories and values; or participate in the construction of a new Latin America society by proclaiming the gospel which will create new men who "stand face to face with their new environment, in a responsible attitude with his neighbors."

According to a report from Dr. James E. Goff, Protestant fraternal worker in Bogotá, the implications of the Conclusions of the Medellin Assembly have created considerable controversy and disorder in Colombia. "The Golconda Priest Group" consisting of a Catholic Bishop, Msgr. Gerardo Valencia-Can, of Buenaventure, and forty-eight priests, issued a statement calling for "a revolution which will overthrow the ruling classes of our country, through whom our foreign dependence is maintained." Priests are accused of being "communists," "rebellious," and "disturbers of order." Older prelates are pleading for prudence and patience. However, Dr. Goff comments, "The controversy developing within the church seems destined to continue, indeed, to grow more acute. The meaning of Conclusions which the Latin American Roman Catholic Church

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adopted at the II General Conference of CELAM in 1968 is only beginning to be understood by the traditional or 'folk' Catholicism of Colombia. As the younger priests push to have the Conclusions implemented, increasing friction will result." One Bogotá writer put it this way, "Previously priests were criticized for being more concerned with the life to come than with this one. Now, when they realize that the kingdom is of this world also, they are called communists. There is no way out for the poor priests. This is what they get for living in a clerical country."

A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WITH BARTH

I first met Karl Bath in June, 1933. I began to read about him ten years earlier and had developed an eager desire to meet him personally and attend some of his lectures. My interest in him had also been aroused because the Reformed Church in the United States, to which I belonged at the time, had helped to support him when he first went to Goettingen as a young privat dozent.

I was a delegate to the Presbyterian World Alliance held in Belfast, 1933. During the meetings, I came in contact with the German church crisis. The representatives from the German church reported on their situation, and I sensed the growing conflict that was brewing. Hitler had come to power early that year, and Christians in the German churches were being put to a test that would result in persecution and martyrdom.

After Belfast, I went to Bonn and met Barth for the first time on a Sunday afternoon in his study. We talked at length about the tense situation. He handed me the galley proofs of a document that was in the process of publication, Theologische Existenz heute! (Theological Existence Today!). I read a few paragraphs and became quite excited. The more I read, the more disturbed I became. Finally I turned to Barth and asked , "Did you write this?" To which he replied, "Ja, Ja!" I continued, "Do you intend to publish this?" And the reply was the same, "Ja, Ja!" To which I responded, "Do you know what this means-for you?" To which he replied with an even firmer "Ja, Ja!" Something like goose pimples went up and down my spine, and I became silent. I knew I was in the presence of

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what the New Testament calls a "Witness" or a "Martyr." I was face to face with a Christian in Kierkegaard's sense. Or, a Christian like Luther at Worms, who affirmed, "Here I stand!" Or, like The Faithful Witness before Pontius Pilate!

Often I go back in memory to that Sunday afternoon and to reading that historic document. It was a memorable experience. In that context I often read the "proclamation" of Barth's "witness" to that situation and apply it to the situations in which I live and work. Those were exciting times because the Word of God was precious, and the dangerous issues we confronted made us think and speak clearly from Christian perspective.

Barth had been challenged to say something about the church situation. The language of Theologische Existenz heute! is passionate. And while it deals with the complicated issues of church and state in 1933, the whole document is a proclamation that penetrated to the heart of the situation and issued out of the Word of God as the ultimate authority of the Christian community.

From the first, Barth declared that he is a Christian theologian. He affirmed that in a popular nationalistic situation, Christians and especially pastors must not lose their theological existence in their zeal for what may seem to be a good and going thing. In the church the Word of God must be proclaimed and heard, cost what it may. God is not in the world for us except in his Word which is Jesus Christ as he is found in the Old and New Testaments. Upon all these things the church is united, or it is not the church. Pastors and teachers in the church are called to preach and teach the Word of God in the church and in the world. They stand or fall in fulfilling their calling according as they are faithful to this task. No concern is more urgent and no hope more moving than the concern for this service. No friend is dearer and no enemy more hated than the one who helps us or hinders us in this service to the Word.

"Our theological existence, our bondage to the Word of God, and the integrity of our calling to serve the Word of God can be lost today." And Barth cautioned that the great temptation at that time was that other interesting claims may make the claims of his service no longer understood. Then absolute trust in the Word is compromised; hearts are divided between God's Word and other words; and in these stormy times we seek elsewhere because of the appeals of certain "principalities, powers, and high places." When the defec-

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tion takes place, we are no longer preachers and teachers of the church; we have become politicians or church politicians.

Barth wrote that if there are to be church reforms, they must issue out of the life and nature of the church, and not from the secular political power or situation. And when the church is concerned about serving the nation and its people, as the German Christians had proposed, Barth protested by saying that absolute loyalty to a certain form of the state must not be made a part of the Christian faith. The church must not in the future become the church of German Christians, that is, a church of the Aryan race.

Through nine theses, Barth hammered away at the integrity of the church in face of the pressure to make it serve the nation-state. The church is not to serve men or the German people primarily; it is to serve God's will and work. The church believes that God wills a state, but it does not believe in a definite, or a national socialist state. The church proclaims its message in the Third Reich, but not in or under its spirit. The fellowship of the church is not based upon blood or race, but upon the Holy Spirit which is vouchsafed through Baptism. The education of pastors is not to be concerned about bringing them closer to people for nationalistic purposes, but to be concerned for their greater discipline and theological integrity in fulfilling their obligation to proclaim the Word of God.

A memorable experience! And at a time when the church and the world encountered each other; a time when the church had to be itself; a time when the church had to be for the world by being against its pretensions to godalmightiness; a time when the church discovered its ultimate authority; a time when the church was called to live authentically as a "witness."

BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS

"Black consciousness" has always been a reality in the United States. From time to time it has erupted only to be put in its place by coercive methods of one kind or another. It has been consciously or unconsciously dominated by white culture and power and regarded as inferior, if not dangerous. For the most part, it has been tolerated and even encouraged on an inferior level.

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Through evangelism and education, benevolent whites have tried to integrate black people into their moral, economic, and religious style of life. But to change the black man into the acceptable style of the white cultural community is now regarded as a form of tokenism that offers the black man the dubious hope of integration and acceptance-if he becomes like the white man.

Black power is a militant revolt against the status of inferiority, against absorption into white culture, and against token integration. It is the black consciousness become aware of itself and in search of its identity. It may express itself in many ways and through many groups. Some are militant and resort on occasion to violence; others are followers of the late Dr. Martin Luther King's non-violent methods; but the vast majority of black people feel deeply about their black consciousness but hesitate among the various methods by which they may come into their own.

There was a time when the alternatives for the black man were: back to Africa, extermination, submission, or passing into white culture if the shade of skin or the welcome of white culture would permit the passage. Today these alternatives are rejected. Many integrationists, whether black or white, have been puzzled by the move toward black separatism. But this separatism does not necessarily want permanent segregation. It aims at a higher "integration" based upon a new relationship of acceptance and equality between blacks and whites. It is a temporary interim apartness for the purpose of building a sound togetherness.

This black consciousness has reached the churches, the colleges and universities, and the theological seminaries. At the St. Louis Convocation of Black Churchmen, the question was raised whether black Christians should remain in white churches if the paternalism persisted, and if racism and the distribution of power were not changed. (There are two million Negroes in white churches.) This pullout from white churches is not imminent; "it all depends upon how things go," if it is or is not to take place.

Black churchmen feel that they are not only expressing their own "thing" through such a proposal, but they are challenging the white churches as to what constitutes faithfulness to the gospel and the requirements for honest renewal. Dr. Edler Hawkins, former Moderator of the United Presbyterian Church, and immediate past president of the Black Caucus, put it this way: "The main thing now is to

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find out whether denominational structures will bend to give black churchmen a voice in policy and decision-making."

To date, black churchmen through their caucuses have succeeded in bringing about changes in several, mainly white, denominations. They have brought about the election of a Negro, Joseph H. Evans, as national secretary of the United Church of Christ. Through their efforts, the Unitarian-Universalists appropriated $250,000 for Negroes to spend as they please on ghetto projects. The American Baptist Convention created a new post: Associate General Secretary without Portfolio, a Negro post.

Black churchmen are not at home in white Christianity. A prominent leader wonders whether churches whose faith is rooted in the sixteenth century and whose morality is shaped by Puritanism can help black Christians to express their own piety, worship, preaching, and theology. Black Christianity has a unique soulful ness that is closely related to the "heart" religion of the Bible. Its preaching has always been dialogical, for it elicits responses from the congregation. Its worship is profoundly communal and colloquial. Little wonder, then, that black churchmen want a black theology and a black theological base for power in the churches. Black churchmen are also concerned about a white theological education which educates ministers for black congregations without sufficient concern for the Christianity and the culture of these churches.

Dr. C. Shelby Rooks, Executive Director of the Fund for Theological Education, remarked at the Boston meeting of black seminarians, "White seminaries try to convert black students into bland, middleclass white ministers, even in the way they preach. . . . If a black student were to get up and preach in a homiletics class as he is going to have to preach when he goes out to serve a black church, he would flunk the course." This caucus is concerned about including studies in black church history, black culture, and black Christianity into the seminary curriculum. It is also concerned about recruiting the best candidates for the ministry, increasing the number of black scholars, adding black members to boards of trustees of seminaries, and calling for hard work on the part of black seminarians to provide competent leadership for black churches.

This development poses many theological problems. However, its practical thrust probes to the heart of the gospel and the church. The gospel has no truck with Christian churches that do not release

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persons into their true humanity. Nor is it compatible with churches that separate themselves from other Christian churches. Perhaps black churchmanship is a goad to both black and white churches. For example, once white Christians were missionaries to black people; now black Christians are missionaries to white churches. There is a particular Christianity and ecumenical Christianity; both must go beyond themselves into a higher Christianity that embraces both the ethnic and the ecumenical. Both are united in the church. But, it may be that non-theological factors in the Christian community are more theological than we think.

THE BIAFRAN TRAGEDY

Nigeria, the largest nation in Africa, was regarded as a model African state when it became independent on October 1, 1960. It embraced peoples of quite different cultures and customs. The northerners, the Hausas, were Muslim, theocratic, and feudal; the south westerners, the Yorubas, were paternalistic and autocratic; the south easterners, the Ibos, were Christians, industrious, literate, and with strong qualities of leadership. How could the boundaries drawn by the colonial power hold these diverse people together? Even before independence, the Hausas threatened to withdraw because they feared domination by the better educated Yoruba and Ibo people of the west and south. Only a last minute compromise kept the Hausas from withdrawal.

In 1966, a military coup ended the regime of Prime Minister Balewa, which the northerners regarded as an lbo plot to suppress them. This was followed by a counter movement in which 200 Ibo officers and men were killed by the northerners, and Colonel Gowon was made military chief in Lagos. Then, in the fall of 1966, 50,000 Ibo civilians were slain in the north, and one million more became refugees and fled to their homeland in Biafra. Northern soldiers did nothing to stop the tragedy; in fact, many participated in the slaughter.

Biafra seceded and became an independent state on May 30, 1967. To date, four African states have recognized its sovereignty. Its people have been besieged by Nigerian forces through weapons fur-

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nished by Russia and England. Russia feared another Congo and supported Nigeria with migs, torpedo boats, and technicians; England moved in to protect her vested financial interests. Nasser saw in the conflict a threat to his fellow-Muslims. France favored the Biafrans in order to gain oil advantages, for Biafra is rich in oil. The United States maintained a questionable neutrality because the whole conflict had become involved in the world power struggle. Ironically, Colonel Ojukwu, military leader of Biafra, has accepted Portugal's offer of help through telecommunications and an airlift. The result is that Biafra is isolated, its children are dying of starvation and strafing. And Biafran people, one of the most cultured, literate, industrious, and Christian groups in Africa, are in danger of decimation.

Nigeria maintains that Ibos are living in peace in the north and in Lagos; that an Ibo is ambassador in Brussels, and another is ambassador to India. Nigeria argues that if Biafra gets away with independence, this may trigger a move for independence among tribes in other new nations in Africa. And if cutting off food supplies to Biafra will end the rebellion, Nigeria believes the strategy is justified.

On the other hand, in spite of the way in which Biafrans have publicized their awful condition, they are afraid that the Nigerian government is carrying on a policy of genocide against them; it is employing an inhuman strategy of starvation which is causing the death of thousands of children and innocent people. Biafrans plead the right of self-determination. And they vow they will not surrender their freedom and their culture by a forceful humiliation by and subordination to an unfriendly central government.

The tragedy is made worse by the fact that the great powers who should be giving massive relief are paralyzed by their own diplomatic rules and their international power politics. Their priorities are to the rules and politics, and not to raw human need.

It is good news to hear from James McCracken, director of Church World Service, that Protestant and Roman Catholic joint efforts in America, Canada, and western Europe are largely responsible for the "miracle" of averting mass starvation in Biafra. "They have stopped death in its tracks." And Jewish groups have joined in the effort. Together, these groups are caring for one million refugees. Even so, the churches are not doing enough.

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The story of Ibo martyrs will be written into the history of African Christianity. But this tragedy is not resolved. The terrible reality about it all is that innocent children and civilians are made the victims of conflicting political powers; and that such a large group of African Christians is suffering because of ruthless nationalism and callous indifference to the human cry for survival.