Among the things that both our religions and our civic conscience hold to be important are such simple things as elementary justice, religious toleration and respect, and the right to be considered innocent until proved guilty. These things, to us, are at the heart of our basic moralities, underlying whatever religious beliefs we may hold.
An incident that has been brewing for some days now seems to put both justice and religious tolerance in jeopardy. Simply stated, the facts are these: Wolf Ladejinsky is a Russian-born Jew who has for years been a naturalized American citizen. He served the Agriculture Department as an attaché in Japan under Gen. MacArthur, and it was due largely to his ability and efforts that fundamental land reform were brought about in that country during early occupation years. He has three sisters still living in Russia. Despite that fact, he has over the years contributed scholarly articles to American journals attacking communism for the deadly thing that it is. Formerly he worked for the Department of State.
Several days ago a zealous security officer in the Department of Agriculture decided that Mr. Ladejinsky, despite his years of meritorious service, is a security risk, and should be removed from his position. This was done at the order of the head of the Department of Agriculture. The only explanation that has been made is that the man has three sisters living in Russia; that he is of Jewish extraction; and that while he has written articles against communism, it is believed by the security officers that these articles are really a blind to his secret adherence to communism. Curiously enough, the State Department still considers him no security risk, and nobody has yet accused the security officer in the State Department of being soft on suspected security risks.
The injection of the anti-Jewish factor was done by the executive secretary to the head of the Agriculture Department, and while Mr. Benson has decried the use of the letter containing the anti-Semitic sentiments, the incident was serious enough to bring protests from our ambassador in Japan, from officials of the Japanese government who recognize the splendid work the man has done there, from politicians as wide apart as Republican Walter H. Judd of Minnesota and Senator Humphreys from the same state.
The letter has been denounced by the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-defamation League of B’nai B’rith. In the meantime, Mr. Ladejinsky has been offered a place in our FOA, who some months ago tried to get him to work in Vietnam to bring about much the same reforms in land holdings that he did in Japan. Also, should he seek employment in the State Department, he would, at present at least, have no difficulty in getting security clearance.
Thus we have the spectacle of one department firing him as a security risk when his job was not sensitive from the standpoint of national defense, while another department is willing to take him when his work would probably be far more sensitive, while still another agency would send him into an area where his opportunity, if he chose to use it, to work with communists would be much greater than it is in Japan.
These are the facts, as thus far revealed. People with religious and moral convictions may well ask themselves such questions as these: Have we come to the place in our hysteria today where not only do we apply the idea of guilt by association, but go even further and insist upon guilt by the simple fact of relationship? Another, is it not curious that one would be considered a security risk, when his whole career has been one of a nature opposed to communism, of which the security officer suspected him? And a final one, since when has mere adherence to a given religion, whether it be Jewish, Protestant, Mohammedan, or any other, become a basis for attacking the good faith and loyalty of a citizen who has shown no evidence of bad faith or disloyalty? If there is such evidence, it should be presented and, if sufficient, should result in his removal. So far that evidence has not been revealed. Mr. Ladejinsky is only one out of 160 million people, a not very significant number as an individual, but his case should remind us of the basic fact that no religion is safe from attack unless all religions are safe; no one can be sure that justice will be done in his case unless every effort is made to see that justice is done in all cases. The public still waits to see what or whether justice will be done in the matter.
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The Christian Science Monitor for Wednesday of last week devoted an editorial to what it called “heroes unsung,” and the ideas presented coincide with the basic idea underlying this program, namely, that religion is a matter of everyday practical concern, rather than something merely to be paraded on the Sabbath. An 8-year-old in NYC found two broken parking meters, took out the money and gave it to his mother, who in turn gave it to the city. The mayor had the wisdom and courtesy to thank both child and mother. A famous New York newspaper ran the story on page 1. New services and radio picked up the story and gave it prominence. The editorial goes on to commend the mother for her use of this instance to teach the youngster honesty. Among the other unsung heroes mentioned are those who stop at red lights late at night, even though there are no other cars in sight and the woman who returned the article more expensive than the one she ordered from the department store when it was delivered by mistake. Some may call these heroes “Casper Milquetoasts,” but they are the ones who give honesty an everyday meaning and keep our society fit to live in.
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An encouraging report with an Atlanta dateline was released this week showing that the economic gap between Negro and white family income is narrowing and that business men are recognizing the potentialities in the expanding Negro consumer market. Farm mechanization is reducing the low wage agricultural employment, an area where the proportion of Negro workers is very high. The Negro has been migrating out of the South, or, like the white farm worker, has been moving into urban centers in the South, where economic opportunity is greater than it is for him in the country.
This report highlights not only the tremendous changes taking place socially and economically in Southern thinking, but it underscores the fact that we are finally recognizing that we can pull one race up without pushing the other down; that as we provide greater income opportunities for Negroes and whites alike, we are making possible better housing, better health, more purchasing power, and the likelihood of better citizenship and morality. Good citizenship and high moral standards are difficult to maintain where there is nothing but poverty, disease, overcrowding, and illiteracy. These, money can remove, and by such removal make it easier for the individuals affected to lead better lives.
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Here is a roundup of the week’s religious news, by United Press Radio.
Vatican City: Pope Pius XII received his third blood transfusion in ten days yesterday (Friday). The transfusion was administered by a specialist from Rome University. The Pope’s physician says the transfusion is part of the routine treatment prescribed by specialists who have been attending him.
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It was Christmas yesterday (Friday) for many Christians throughout the world. They are the members of the Orthodox churches that still measure days by the old Julian calendar, 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar of other parts of the world. Thus, it was Christmas in Russia for members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Americans and other foreigners joined Russian believers in crowded churches for the Christmas Eve Mass observed as midnight tolled on Thursday. Many young Russians, including soldiers, took part in the observance.
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Jews in the Soviet Union have become the fifth religious group in Russia to oppose the projected rearmament of West Germany. In a statement published by the government newspaper Izvestia, they call on Jews throughout the world to support the Moscow European security plan. Religious groups in the Soviet Union earlier denouncing rearming West Germany are the Russian Orthodox Church, the Baptists, Moslems, and the old believers, or dissenters from the Orthodox Church.
But in the U.S., a congressional committee has been told that persecution of the Jewish minority continues in the Soviet Union and its satellite states. The House Committee on Communist Aggression notes that twelve Moscow doctors, including some Jews, have been released from charges of murdering high Soviet officials. But the congressmen said that no victims of anti-Jewish measures have been publicly rehabilitated. Hundreds of former Zionist leaders in satellite countries remain in jail.
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New York: The Rev. Daniel Poling has left on a round-the-world trip to study the Christian climate in Europe and Asia. Dr. Poling, who is editor of the Christian Herald, will visit Hawaii, the Fiji Islands, Japan, Korea, Formosa, India and Europe. During the trip he will arrange for a conference of religious leaders to be held in Suva (soo’-vah), the Fiji Islands, in July 1956. He also will arrange for a World Christian Endeavor Union Convention to be held in Lebanon in 1957. He is president of the World Christian Endeavor Union.
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London: American Evangelist Billy Graham will return to London for a series of religious meetings May 9 -21. The meetings will be held in London’s Wembley Stadium. The evangelist drew a total audience of 1,740,000 persons during a two-month crusade in London last summer.
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Nandi (nahn’-dee), the Fiji Islands: President David McKay of the Church of Latter Day Saints is on a 45,000-mile tour of the Church’s missions in the South Pacific. McKay, of Salt Lake City, arrived in the Fiji Islands with Mrs. McKay this week. The plane carrying them was three hours late after having been delayed on Canton Island by a typhoon.
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New York: Dr. Francis Carr Stifler is retiring at the end of this month as a public relations man for the Bible. He has served for many years as secretary for public relations of the American Bible Society. As such, he has written pamphlets, books, and magazine articles and made hundreds of broadcasts for the world’s best-selling book, the Bible. Dr. Stifler, who has just turned 70, will retire to his home in Summit, New Jersey.
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Rock Island, Illinois: A pulpit campaign against an alleged communist-dominated union has paid off. Employees at the International Harvester Farmall Tractor Works at Rock Island, Illinois, have voted to switch allegiance from the Independent Farm Equipment Workers Union to the CIO Auto Workers. The tally was 1,740 to 760. Catholic priests throughout the area had urged Harvester employees to make the switch in sermons last week. An estimated one-third of the Harvester workers in the area are Catholics.
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New York: The nation’s largest Protestant organization is campaigning to put Christianity on a seven-day week. The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. says Americans should practice at work what is preached to them on Sunday. Everyone, says the council, which represents 35 million churchgoers, should work overtime at his religion by taking it to his job. The Rev. Cameron P. Hall, executive director of the council’s Department of the Church and Economic Life, offers this slogan: “Put Christianity to work where you work.”
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Washington: Plans for the eventual union of three branches of the Presbyterian Church in this country were discussed this week with President Eisenhower. A group of six Presbyterian leaders told the chief executive of their discussions, which they hope will lead to unity of the three branches. Mr. Eisenhower is a Presbyterian.
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New York: Protestant churches throughout the nation will observe January 30 – February 6 as Youth Week. The observance is promoted by the United Christian Youth Movement and the International Society of Christian Endeavor. This year marks the 12th annual observance of Youth Week by the two organizations.