[From a Broadcast, "A Challenge to the Churches," given at Perth, Western Australia, by Professor Walter Murdoch, of the University of Western Australia]

What I want to make clear at the outset is that anyone listening to this conversation will be disappointed if he expects to hear from me a diatribe on the failure of the churches. . . . When a man tells me, as men often do, that the churches have been a failure, I feel inclined to answer, very mildly, "Well, what exactly have you done to make them a success?" . . .

I think I can best explain what I mean if I ask you to look for a moment at the position in a country where the church seems to have fallen on evil days—I mean in Russia. . . . The Russian Government is doing its utmost to convince everybody that religion is a sham, and to train the young to be convinced and fervent atheists.

Now at first sight it seems strange that a government with so much on its hands should find time for dabbling in theology and for fighting theological dogmas. But I think there is plenty of evidence that the Russian Government is fighting religion, not because it cares much one way or the other what people may choose to believe about religion, but because by attacking religion it can best attack the church, which it regards as its deadly enemy. . . . They say that the churches are always and everywhere servile to the rich, on whose surplus wealth they depend, always and everywhere opposed to reforms in the direction of a more just distribution of wealth, always and everywhere preaching to the poor that they must be content with the position in life to which God has called them. In other words, they say that you are the servants of mammon.

Now I am not suggesting for a moment that this attack is fair. . . . But I do say that there are certain assertions made by these Russian propagandists which it is of no use for you to meet either with scornful laughter or with furious rage. You have to treat the assertions as a definite challenge—as a glove thrown down. Are you going to pick it up?

For instance, is it true that the churches today represent conservatism? Is it true that they are, on the whole, in favor of the status quo, that they accept without protest the enormous gap betweem rich and poor, and use their influence, not to make people conscious of the injustice of the present system, but to make them acquiesce in it? That is said of you; not in Russia alone. Is it true? . . .

I know the reply that some of you will make. You will say, "We are concerned with religion, not money; 'render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.' Our business is with spiritual values, not with material goods. We preach a change of heart, not a change of this or that financial arrangement. Are we to set up as authorities on production and consumption, on tariffs and the gold standard and so on? Our concern is that men should lead the good life, and that has nothing to do with riches or poverty. A church is a religious body, not a league of economists." . . .

But is it really a fact that the teachings on which you are based are in any strict sense noneconomic? . . . The medieval church, when it set its face against usury, was expressing its views on an economic question. The Church of England, in Elizabeth's time, regarded poverty as the result of injustice, and inserted in the Book of Common Prayer the candid statement: "Whereas thy gifts are made common to all men, we through our naughtiness, niggardness, and distrust, do make them private and peculiar." I do not know who it was that decided that this was too strong meat for the common people, and expunged it from the Prayer Book. Anyhow, the men who put it in were economists (and pretty sound ones too, I think).

But it is of course absurd to say that the churches can stand aside and take no part in economics. You are concerned, you say, with spiritual values: well, is not justice a spiritual value? You are concerned with the well-being of man; but the well-being of man must include some measure of material well-being. It is written that "man shall not live by bread alone;" but it is nowhere written that he can do without bread. Well-being must include a living wage, proper housing, security against unemployment, proper conditions of work, a fair chance of keeping his body in health, and adequate periods of leisure. Without at least these things, man is apt to fall below the line at which it is at all likely that he can lead the good life of which you speak. If the churches acquiesce in a system involving a poverty which degrads the soul of a man, I don't see how they can call themselves the guardians, of the people's spiritual interests. They are no shepherds, but hirelings. . . .

Are you the servants of the rich and powerful, or are you the champions of right and justice for all mankind? You stand today at the crossroads: which road are you going to take? . . . Are you going to continue wavering between the service of God and the service of mammon? To put it in a word, what the world is asking is whether the Christian churches have the courage to give Christianity a trial. For it is profoundly true that, as G. K. Chesterton says, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

[Rev. John McDowell, as quoted in the New York Times, New York]

The supreme need of the hour is spiritual power. Other needs, great as they are, sink into insignificance beside this challenging and imperative need. It is true that our age has more comforts, but it lacks satisfaction; it has more ease, but it lacks peace; it has more science, but it secretly hungers for God. . . .

The present situation constitutes a great trumpet call that is bidding all who care about the present world-wide crisis to rally to Christ, bidding them renew their hope, enthusiasm, and power at the one great source, and then go forth and throw themselves heart and soul into a deeper and larger spiritual ministry for the regeneration of the individual, the nation, and the world.

[Editorial in the Stevens Point Journal, Wisconsin]

Today, as always, the world needs the spirit of Christianity. It yearned for it for thousands of years before that spirit found expression. For two thousand years since then Christianity has influenced the world for its bettering.

Politically the world in this age gropes blindly among cults, isms, and theories, seeking the one most useful to the mass of mankind, and yet it has only to apply the Christian spirit to its politics to rid itself of the evils which infest the earth and institute the blessings essential to the people's happiness. Things have gone wrong with us because of greed, hatred, envy, and covetousness. Sane and happy living can be reached by turning to kindness, friendship, regard for the rights of others—the many traits which Christianity emphasizes. We need to pray more and quarrel less, to pray for wisdom and understanding.

Christ [Jesus] spoke for eternity rather than time. Yet never does the world go wrong if it applies to this life . . . the spirit he implanted in the hearts of men. To make use of it in everyday affairs would be to provide simple solution of every national and personal problem.

[From a sermon quoted in the Kensington News, London, England]

If we study Christianity at the beginning, nothing is more remarkable than its rapid growth. It grew in the form of churches, first in Asia, then in Europe. These churches were little communities of those who believed in Christ, and tried to follow the Master's teaching. . . . Paul was converted. . . . The world has not changed much. Principalities and powers of the air, rulers of wickedness in high places, were no more Paul's real difficulty than they are ours. The real difficulty was human nature. And the triumph of Paul was what he got out of it. His whole life was given to these mere handfuls of obscure men and women scattered through the world. He had them in his heart. He had brought to them a new faith, a fresh hope. He had opened up a glorious horizon. And so his mission:

He writes himself the servant of Christ. Jesus Christ is his Master. Did ever master have a more devoted servant? He founded these churches in the name of Christ. That is their common bond. They have been built on the hard rock of suffering and sacrifice. . . . Passionate loyalty must move them all to one purpose—a great task asking for the utmost effort. And the figures that he sets before them as examples are those of the athlete and the solider.

And they were ordinary men and women, liable to all human failings. There were rich and poor, clever and stupid, earnest and shallow. Here were all the difficulties that face any church today. And Paul found it very hard. That is the real value of the letters. . . . They are the writings of one with a fiery soul, whose heart is hot with scorn and indignation but full of yearning desire. He is often depressed, disappointed, almost despairing. He feels that some do not understand, others will not: some pervert his meaning, others willfully prevent his work. He sees it checked, thwarted, spoilt by petty passions, envies, suspicions, vanities, stupidities. And out of all this came the letters. That which nearly broke his heart gives them a passionate power today. For he was determined to go on, to win through. And he did. And Christianity triumphed. It may have been perverted since. I think that it has been. But through all the perversions Christianity has struggled—the light shone in darkness, and the darkness did not overpower it. And it is for that light that we are battling today. Do we look on our churches as anything less than centers of that light? In those ancient churches the accomplishment of the end was due to the devotion and activity of those groups of obscure people. Paul names some of them by name. Their names convey nothing to us. Unknown, unremembered, unrenowned, they showed themselves heroes, and proved more than conquerors. . . . Out of their service and sacrifice came the energy and glory of new life. . . .

Can anything but this spirit take us forward? Forward we must go. Faith looks forward, hope sees beyond, love is never satisfied with what is, but burns to what shall be. Such as we are, with all our limitations, if we believe in our course, we too shall overcome all obstacles, all poverties, all hostilities. Let us have no despair—