Ghana: Christianity versus Africanism

A tense battleground between Christianity and a new religion called Africanism may be shaping up in Ghana led by a brilliant, brooding man whose power is well nigh absolute and whose intentions are far from clear.

Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, who calls himself a non-sectarian Christian but patronizes the fetish priests, has placed no roadblocks in the way of the Christian evangelist and pastor since he led Ghana to independence two years ago.

But, when Christian leaders protested against a sacrilegious slogan underneath Nkrumah’s statue in front of the parliament building, they were told in effect to mind the church’s business and let the politicians take care of public affairs.

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added unto you” was the headline of an editorial which belittled Billy Graham’s African tour and called Nkrumaism “the highest form of Christianity.” Most other press comments were friendly and the reports, although politically conscious, accurate.

Nkrumah himself was very cordial when Graham closed his Accra visit with a 20-minute visit to the prime minister. Graham told the Ghanaian that every great nation has cherished religious liberty. Nkrumah replied that such freedom is one of his country’s goals.

A diplomat in Accra said the good outweighs the bad in Nkrumah’s program. That point of view undoubtedly underlies the American and British policy of pouring millions of dollars into Ghanaian investments and loans.

Others see handwriting on the wall. They remember what happened in other lands when government of men replaced the rule of law. They read the government newspapers with sorrow and alarm.

“The church may face a choice between Christ and the nation,” said one African who was in Germany during Hitler’s rule. “If I spoke out strongly, I would likely be deported in three days,” said an influential European. Many fear that the days of non-African missionaries in Ghana are numbered.

Billy Graham’s visit was perhaps most significant in that it called together for pre-crusade training many keen African minds. It provided a stimulus for recruiting and briefing a sizable group of able counselors in several centers. Some of these soul winners are students; others are lay preachers, several of whom got their first clear grasp of the Gospel in the counseling classes.

The crusade also challenged the upper class, educated Africans, a number of whom were among the 3,000 inquirers. A wealthy African woman who heard part of a sermon over Radio Ghana sent her servant for a decision card so she could register her commitment to Christ.

Unprecedented crowds, totaling 45,000 in three cities, served to encourage lonely pastors who serve remote stations with little chance to sense the fellowship of the Lord’s hosts. These men returned from pastors’ meetings and crusade gatherings with a renewed grip and a fresh hope in their coming Lord.

The Christian population is estimated at about one-fourth of Ghana’s six millions. Of these, Catholics number 400,000; Presbyterians, 250,000; Methodists, 175,000; Anglicans, 40,000; Apostolics (similar to Assemblies of God), 20,000; Salvation Army, 10,000, and Baptists, 3,000. Exotic sects are numerous.

There is some liberalism among educated ministers and university students, but churches are largely evangelical, if somewhat formalistic. Most English-language sermons are read. Denominational rivalry is so intense that counselors for the Graham meetings were trained by their respective churches.

The danger inherent in the adulation heaped on Nkrumah is potential. A battle already has been joined between fetish priests and discerning Christians. Sometimes entire communities are asked to take part in purchasing and pouring libations. Church councils have refused to take part in ceremonials where libations were poured. On the local level those who take a forthright stand often are left alone while temporizers are hounded. Something like the Japanese Shinto shrine controversy may be in the making.

Nkrumah may promote a recrudescence of pagan rites in his search for the roots of African culture. Or he may be hailed as a sort of deity by his inner circle. One of them has said he would choose Nkrumah instead of Christ if he could have only one. Others call him Africa’s “messiah” and speak of him as “son of man”. His picture sometimes bears a halo. Women visit his mother chanting “blessed art thou among women.” He has crushed most of his political opponents. If the church opposes him openly, will its leaders be next?

All of this pan-Africanism is competing with the church for the attention of the ablest young people. Materialism, power and total devotion to a temporal goal tend to obscure vital spiritual vision. Billy Graham’s message on the Lordship of Christ and his emphasis on the hard demands of the Gospel were never more relevant than at the beginning of what he has called Africa’s “year of decision.”

Evenings of Music

Vocalist George Beverly Shea and pianist Tedd Smith, members of the Billy Graham team who are remaining in the United States during the evangelist’s African crusade, will appear in a series of evening concerts across the nation in coming weeks. Here is their schedule:

Eyeing the Mark

More than a billion dollars will be spent on church construction in 1960, according to a Department of Commerce forecast. A year-end estimate by the Census Bureau said church construction in 1959 hit an all-time high of $935,000,000.

Korean Reunion

A general assembly to reunite rival factions of the Presbyterian Church in Korea was scheduled February 17.

The church has been split since last fall when its 44th general assembly broke up in disorder. A minority party set up an assembly of its own.

Planners of the reunion assembly called upon the Board of World Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. to dispatch a representative to conduct a pre-assembly spiritual conference. The board commissioned one of its members, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Executive Editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Dr. Bell’s assignment took him to Korea for the second time in little more than two months. In December he spent 12 days in Korea to try to effect a reconciliation. He returned saying the chances appeared good that dissidents would reach agreement. At that time he was accompanied by Dr. S. Hugh Bradley, the board’s Far East Secretary. This time he was scheduled to travel alone. Dr. Bell is a veteran of 25 years’ missionary service in China.

The call for reunification came from a reconciliation committee composed of representatives of both sides of the dispute. Neutrals and Americans and Australian Presbyterian missionaries also were on the committee.

A group of extremists in the minority faction are still holding out. The International Council of Christian Churches set up an office in Seoul to support this group.

Hospitals for Asia

World Vision is currently engaged in seven hospital building projects in Asia: In Korea, a children’s convalescent home near Seoul, an addition to a children’s hospital in Taegu, a children’s clinic in Taejon; in Formosa, a hospital for tuberculars in Po-li, a hospital for crippled children in Pingtung; in Hong Kong, a nursery school and clinic; in India, an in-patient ward for a hospital in Kattanam, Kerala.

World Vision’s support, in most cases, includes purchase of land, architectural service and cost of building materials.

Evangelical Protest

Five hundred clergymen belonging to what is generally known as the evangelical wing of the Church of England signed a protest in London last month against a movement toward Roman Catholic practices.

The protest was sent to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. It called for the use of vestments to cease and recommended that the Bible be again established in fact and theory as “the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith and doctrine.”

Swedish Precedent

Swedish Lutherans will ordain their first women ministers in the spring, according to Archbishop Gunnar Hultgren, primate of the state church.

Three women are ordination candidates, all educated at Uppsala University, principal Swedish theological faculty.

Ordination of women was made possible under a bill passed by the legislature and the state church assembly in 1958 despite much protest.

Scoring Films

Two local chapters of the National Religious Publicity council, one in Los Angeles and the other in Washington, D. C., adopted resolutions last month which score overemphasis on sex and violence in motion pictures.

The NRPC is an interdenominational organization made up largely of religious writers and publicists.

‘Bible Storyland’

Businessmen in Cucamonga, California, are investing $15,000,000 in a 220-acre “Bible Storyland” scheduled to open Easter Sunday, 1961. Projected as a tourist attraction to compete with Disneyland in nearby Anaheim, “Bible Storyland” will include replicas of the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, Jonah’s whale—even the “Pearly Gates of Heaven.” Visitors will be able to “sail down the Nile,” ride biblical animals, browse in exotic shops, and watch chariot races in a simulated Circus Maximum.

Old Testament Theater

A new theater for presentation of biblical and other historical plays is planned for Jerusalem. The project is under the patronage of Mrs. Rahel Ben-Zvi, wife of Israel’s president.

Protestant Panorama

• Some 70 delegates representing congregations which have defected from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod over its refusal to sever relations with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod held a three-day meeting in Mankato, Minnesota, last month to plan a new church organization. The dissidents, who feel that the Wisconsin Synod erred in not breaking with the Missouri Synod, expect to consider a constitution for their group in August. They charge the Missouri Synod with “unscriptural conduct.”

• The Augustana Lutheran Church’s Superior Conference, comprising 15 congregations, became last month the first Lutheran synod ever to join the Wisconsin Council of Churches.

• Southern Baptists plan to organize their 43 churches in seven Northeastern states into an association.

• The world’s largest cast bell carillon, made at the Petit and Fritsen bell foundry in Holland, will be installed in the new Kirk-in-the-Hills Presbyterian Church of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The church is a $5 million reconstruction of Scotland’s Melrose Abbey, cradle of Presbyterianism.

• Methodists spent $986,278,000 on church construction in the last 10 years, according to Dr. B. P. Murphy, Methodist national missions official.

• A $5,500 disaster loan to Shiloh Baptist Church of Murphysboro, Illinois, which was damaged by a tornado, was announced by the Small Business Administration last month. A similar loan of $4,000 to the Holiness Church of Christ in Dale, South Carolina, which was damaged by a hurricane, also was disclosed.

• Evangelist Jimmie Johnson, vocalist Ed Lyman, and pianist-organist Merrill Dunlop will appear in three interdenominational evangelistic campaigns in New England this spring: April 3–17 in the Municipal Auditorium, Springfield, Massachusetts; April 24–May 8 in Foot Guard Hall, Hartford, Connecticut, closing out in Bushnell Auditorium; May 15–29 at Frye Hall, Portland, Maine.

• A 52-week television series is being filmed as a congregational project of the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The series, “Herald of Truth,” will be seen this year on 43 television stations across the United States. The same church has sponsored a “Herald of Truth” radio series for eight years.

• The interdenominational Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, is the beneficiary of the $1,500,000 estate of the late Alice M. Gayman. The school will receive the legacy after the death of several relatives who were bequeathed income from the estate.

• Church World Service, relief arm of the National Council of Churches, has established a goal of $11,418,000 for 1960.

• The Episcopal Church will introduce a new family magazine in April called The Episcopalian. It will replace Forth (current circulation: 51,000) as the monthly for more than 3,000,000 Episcopalians.

• Radio minister Dale Crowley of Washington, D. C., conducted his 13,000th broadcast this month.

• KADX, located in Naha, Okinawa, was dedicated February 7 as the twelfth station of the Far East Broadcasting Company’s Gospel radio network. The new station broadcasts in Japanese for the Ryukyuan population of Okinawa. The first FEBC station on Okinawa, KSAB, will now be programed in English for U. S. servicemen and their families stationed there. Still another transmitter is being erected, this one with a power of 100,000 watts to carry programs in Chinese.

• More than 6,000 Southern Baptist churches plan to conduct week-long schools of missions during 1960.

• A Hollywood producer says he is cancelling plans to shoot a new movie about campus life at Wake Forest College (“parts of the action are not in consonance with the school’s traditions”). Wake Forest, a Baptist school, does not permit dancing.

After 72 Years

Dr. Charles E. Fuller, 72, whose “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” is in its 36th year on the air, underwent a minor operation this month, the first he has ever had. He was expected to be hospitalized for about a week.

Six-Point Searchers

Evangelical editors and radio broadcasters absorbed some searching criticism out of their own ranks last month.

At Minneapolis—A. W. Tozer, editor of the Alliance Witness, among the 142 publications representing 29 denominations which go to make up the Evangelical Press Association, aired his dislikes in Christian journalism before the group’s 12th annual convention. He protested: (1) Preoccupation with externals which starve the hearts of readers; (2) the “revolt against the cult of ignorance and ugliness that ruled in fundamentalist circles” which has given rise to too much pseudo-intellectualism; (3) sensationalism (“gospel journalism gone sexy”); (4) excessive illustration (“no great Christian concept can be set forth pictorially”); (5) commercialism that promotes gimmicks ranging from “moonlight cruises for Christians” to tracts featuring “15 easy ways to win souls”; and (6) the how-to-do-it (“religious popular mechanics”).

At Washington, D. C.—Dr. Charles Hostetter, “Mennonite Hour” preacher called upon National Religious Broadcasters delegates to uphold their 17th annual convention theme (“Preserve Positive Preaching”) by (1) going back to the basic objectives and philosophy for being in the work, to give spiritual help rather than woo fan mail and contributions; (2) depending upon the power of prayer and God, rather than upon the arm of flesh; (3) taking care that material responsibilities do not crowd out desire for program quality; (4) avoiding excessive interest in gimmicks, mail counts, monies received, ratings, and reputation; (5) displaying transparent honesty (“we are constantly tempted to slant the facts and to distort the truth”); and (6) remembering that radio is “just one of the tools that the church should be using,” not necessarily the most important one.

Dr. Oswald C. J. Hoffman, speaker on the “Lutheran Hour,” most widely-heard broadcast of any kind in the world, told NRB delegates that paid-versus-free time was no longer their “big issue.” He said the chief concern was “much larger” now, that it involved freedom of religion on the air plus quality of programming.

Pointing the Way

Not since “The Ten Commandments” has a religious motion picture received as much attention as “Ben-Hur,” now appearing in theaters across the country.CHRISTIANITY TODAYasked one of its contributing editors, Dr. Harold J. Ockenga, pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, for a report. Here are Dr. Ockenga’s impressions:

Ben-Hur is more than a popular spectacle. It is the story of the spiritual experience of one man, Judah Ben-Hur, in his personal conquest of prejudice, hate, vengeance and racial pride.

The religious issues are handled with reverance, respect and restraint. No Jew or Christian could take offense at it. Moreover, though the story is tenderly romantic, it is totally without the usual Hollywood touch of sex. The biblical scenes are geographically and historically accurate, the photography is superb, the massive scenes such as the chariot race, the sea battle and the triumphal procession are interesting and authentic, and the pictures of Christ, whether teaching or suffering, are restrained and chaste. Commendable is the practice of only portraying a figure of Christ without showing his face.

If we are to have biblical stories and events presented to us on the screen, then Ben-Hur, which while not in itself a biblical story is closely attached to it, points the way to better presentation.

The Pendulum’s Swing

Dr. Melvin M. Forney, executive director of the Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States, told delegates to its 71st annual meeting last month that the “flagrant desecration” of Sunday by business enterprises “is fast coming to an end.”

“The pendulum has swung about as far as it can in the direction of the Commercialism of the Lord’s Day,” Forney said. “A majority of good citizens are beginning to realize the peril we face as a nation should we lose the Lord’s Day as a day of rest and worship.”

Olympic Church

A 150-seat chapel whose architectural lines reflect the sweeping grandeur of surrounding ridges and valleys stands ready to serve participants and spectators in this week’s Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California.

The United Church of Squaw Valley, built with $140,000 donated by national home missions boards of the Congregational Christian and Evangelical and Reformed Churches, will hold four Sunday services plus prayer meetings each evening. Snacks will be served in a fellowship room which adjoins the sanctuary.

In charge of services is the Rev. J. Hood Snavely of Woodside, California. He will be assisted by the Rev. Mitchell Whiterabbit, American Indian pastor from Wisconsin who is a skilled winter sports enthusiast.

The chapel, flanked by the 300-seat Queen of the Snows Roman Catholic Church on a nearby slope, is the only Protestant congregation in the valley. After the games, it will serve valley residents and the thousands who will visit the area when it is eventually turned into a year-round resort and recreational retreat as a state park.

Dibelius to Resign

Bishop Otto Dibelius, most noted of German clergy leaders, says he will resign all his church posts at the end of 1961.

Dibelius, 79, is head of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, and a co-president of the World Council of Churches.

He made the announcement on the eve of a meeting of the Berlin-Brandenburg synod, which covers West Berlin and part of the Soviet Zone.

Delegates subsequently gave Dibelius a resounding vote of confidence. The vote came after a debate on a recent controversial booklet by the bishop in which he declares that neither the East German regime nor any other totalitarian government has a claim to the status of “supreme authority” in the biblical sense of the term. The “supreme authority” issue was known to have divided the synod into pro-Dibelius and anti-Dibelius groups. The bishop formally retracted one example used in the booklet, but reaffirmed the principles cited therein.

Dibelius has said that “when, under the Nazis, euthanasia, crimes and the killings of Jews became known, I realized that the conventional interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (concerning the supreme authority of the state) could not be applied to a state which wants to decide itself what is good and bad.”

Dibelius has been under the attack of Communists repeatedly. One of the latest criticisms appeared in an East Berlin newspaper, which attributed anti-Semitic statements to the bishop. Dibelius admitted writing statements against German Jews in the late twenties and early thirties, then explained: “These utterances date from a time now 30 years past and can be explained as part of completely different conditions. Since then I have always, under jeopardy of my own freedom and life, emphatically stood up for Jewish fellow citizens.”

Exchange of Letters

Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras sent a letter to Pope John XXIII last month announcing that an all-Orthodox synod to be held later this year should determine whether the Eastern Orthodox communion takes part in the coming Ecumenical Council summoned by the pontiff.

The patriarch’s letter was in reply to one sent by the pope last Christmas. The pontiff appealed to Patriarch Athenagoras to contribute to Christian unity.

The Patriarch said the Orthodox synod would probably be held in September.

Japanese Tally

Latest statistics released in Tokyo last month show 678,258 Christians in Japan, a gain of approximately 35,000 over figures compiled in 1958.

According to the Japanese Christian Year Book for 1960, these include 376,267 Protestants, 266,608 Roman Catholics, and 35,293 Eastern Orthodox.

Candidate for Moderator

The Rev. Edler G. Hawkins, moderator of the New York City Presbytery, will be its candidate for moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.

If elected at the assembly’s 172nd meeting in Cleveland, May 18–25, Hawkins would become the first Negro ever to head a major, predominantly-white denomination in this country.

Since his graduation from Union Theological Seminary 21 years ago, Hawkins has served as pastor of St. Augustine Presbyterian Church in the Bronx, a congregation of mostly Negroes, but with some Puerto Ricans and whites.

Tale of a Fortune

The U. S. Internal Revenue Service this month filed a $5,990,648 income tax lien against the estate of Charles Manuel “Daddy” Grace, Negro cult leader who died January 12.

The action, according to a spokesman, involved one of the largest sums from a single estate in the history of the Internal Revenue Service.

The value of the Grace estate has been estimated as high as $25 million.

Worth Quoting

“While politicians dicker over the matter of a man’s religious denomination, let us not fail to inquire into his business associations. It would be the height of stupidity for Methodists, in the name of ecumenicity, to help elect a president whose source of wealth comes partly from whiskey. Or for churchmen to help elect to office men who would encourage the further growth of the menacing gambling racket.”—Dr. Caradine R. Hooton, in the general secretary’s report to the annual meeting last month of the Methodist Board of Temperance.

Shift of Emphasis

Despite several years’ discussion, including two national gatherings of the Committee on Religion and Public Education, the NCC Division of Christian Education has been unable as yet to formulate a guiding policy statement on religion in the public schools.

Due to lack of unanimity on key issues, the Commission on General Christian Education and the Executive Board of the Division of Christian Education, meeting February 18 in St. Louis (where the project launched in 1955), were expected to shift NCC emphasis—for the time being at least—from policy formulation to “approval” of the committee report as a “study document” to stimulate further discussion at the level of denominations, church councils, and local churches. (The word “approval” carries ambiguous overtones. The chairman and secretary of the Committee on Religion and Public Education [in its Progress Report No. 9] 1. asked the Executive Board of NCC’s Division of Christian Education for “approval for wide distribution and study” and 2. notified members of the Committee that the Commission and then the Executive Board were being requested “to approve the document and to authorize its distribution for study.”) Subject to future editorial revision in details, the present “study document” still retains difficulties to which CHRISTIANITY TODAY has already called attention.

The report insists that 1. Public schools should recognize the function of religion in American life (“most Americans approach the basic values of life,” the report notes, “in the light of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man”). 2. Public schools should maintain a climate friendly to religion. 3. Public schools should assure a person’s right to choose his own beliefs. But what of the role of Christianity in public education? The answer thus far—and it is not without its critics—is: “Christian citizens … should steer clear of any attempt to force their particular religious viewpoint upon the public schools; on the other hand, they should not be a party to a policy of silence which would permit an anti-religious point of view to characterize our schools.” This position—some observers protest—virtually reduces Protestantism to a “pro-religious, non-Christian” front in public education.

In lieu of an opening statement of theological affirmations, the study document begins with a comment on “theological differences” and then deviates to subjective religious “convictions” and “attitudes.” The report asserts that “a pluralistic society” precludes teaching “a sectarian faith” in public schools. But it seems indifferent to the fact that a religion-in-general credo is also, in its own way, partisan. The report champions the desirability of “spiritual values” achieved through “functional” rather than “sectarian” religion. The public school should emphasize that “religion is important” but leave “indoctrinating a belief in God” to home and church, c. F. H. H.

A Clergyman’s Ouster

The Rev. Harold J. Quigley, minister of the Central Presbyterian Church in Haverstraw, New York, was removed from his pastorate last month and stricken from the membership rolls of the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.

He was deprived of his standing by a vote of 46 to 7 of the Hudson Presbytery. The action was taken after Quigley had appeared voluntarily before the presbytery to report that he had theological differences with his denomination. He has denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the divine authorship of the Bible.

Maine’s Refusal

In Maine, where public transportation of parochial students has been a perennial issue, the legislature defeated an enabling bill last month.

The state Senate voted down, 18 to 15, a bill which would have permitted public transportation of parochial school pupils on a local option basis. A similar measure in the House was rejected by a 76–69 vote.

The Maine Supreme Court has ruled that use of public funds for private and parochial school bus service is illegal under present laws.

The court has said, however, that it sees no constitutional barrier if the legislature should ever choose to pass an enabling act.

People: Words And Events

Deaths: Dr. Frederick W. Burnham, 88, noted Disciples’ pastor and administrator, past president of the United Christian Missionary Society and International Convention of Disciples of Christ, in Richmond, Virginia … Dr. John Henry Strong, 92, son of the influential Northern Baptist theologian, Augustus Hopkins Strong, in Santa Barbara, California … Dr. Walter S. Davidson, 75, dean emeritus of Auburn Theological Seminary, in East Hampton, New York … Dr. John F. B. Carruthers, retired Navy and Air Force chaplain, organizer and past president of the United Nations Chaplains League, in Pasadena, California … Dr. Clarence W. Hatch, 57, executive secretary of the executive council of the Church of God, in Anderson, Indiana … Dr. J. E. Lambdin, 70, retired secretary of the Training Union department of the Baptist Sunday School Board, in Nashville, Tennessee … Dr. J. Andrew Hall, 92, for 35 years a medical and evangelistic missionary to the Philippines.

Retirement: As vice president of Trinity Seminary and Bible College, Dr. T. Berner Madsen.

Appointments: As pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Ramsey Pollard, president of the Southern Baptist Convention … as associate executive secretary of the Division of Home Missions of the National Council of Churches, Dr. H. Conrad Hoyer (to take the new post, he resigned as executive secretary of the Division of American Missions of the National Lutheran Council) … as chaplain-general of Protestant chaplain services in Canada’s armed forces, Air Commodore the Rev. Dr. Frank W. MacLean … as president of Southwestern Bible Institute, Dr. Klaude Kendrick (succeeding the Rev. M. E. Collins, who is retiring from administrative responsibilities to accept an instructional post with the school) … as managing editor of The Christian Century, Dr. Kyle E. Haselden.

Elections: As president of the Evangelical Press Association, Joseph Bayly, editor of His … as Protestant co-chairman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Carrol M. Shanks, president of the Prudentail Insurance Company of America … as bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan, Canon William H. H. Crump … as president of the New York Bible Society, John J. Dahne … as president of the Interdenominational Religious Work Foundation, the Rev. Robert R. Sala … as chairman of the Ministers Life and Casualty Union, Dr. Armin G. Weng, president of Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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