Interesting comment followed the publication in the Jewish Daily Bulletin yesterday of the proceedings of the International missionary conferences held last April in Budapest and Warsaw under the auspices of the Protestant International Missionary Council with the participation of leading American churchmen, members of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America.
The report as published by Dr. John Stuart Conning in The Presbyterian Magazine threw light on the proceedings of these missionary conferences concerning which no report was hitherto published in this country has hitherto published in this country and disclosed the fact that the international Missionary Council has undertaken to make a study of Jewish conditions throughout the world with a view to increasing missionary propaganda among the Jewish pupulations in Eastern Europe, taking advantage of the disorganized condition in which the Jewish communities find themselves following the post-war crisis.
It was pointed out that while these conferences have been apparently outspoken against anti-Semitic propaganda, their stand in this matter was in reality another approach to the missionary propaganda for which unbelievable success has been claimed. The statement that 40,000 Jews in Hungary have embraced Christianity since the war, thanks to the efforts of missionaries, is a contention which has not been proved by statistics.
The revelation concerning the plans for the future adopted at these conferences by the International Missionary Council is of particular interest in view of the controversy which developed last winter between the Central Conference of American Rabbis and certain members of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the two organizations which have entered the Commission on Goodwill between Jews and Christians.
When the announcement was made that the International Missionary Council would hold its conferences in Budapest and Warsaw, the Executive Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which met in Cleveland on January 19 in connection with the annual conference of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, directed a plea to Alfred William Anthony, chairman of the Joint Commission on Goodwill in which the American Rabbis asked, in view of the covenant between the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Federal Council, that missionary activities among Jews be refrained from.
The appeal, which was signed by Dr. David Philipson, Dr. H. G. Enelow, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Rabbi Louis Wolsey and Rabbi Abram Simon stated: “We are advised that at the coming Christian conference in Budapest the question of the conversion of Jews will be considered, and we most respectfully invite your attention to the covenant of our Joint Commission on Good Will, adopted in New York City on December 30, 1924 to the effect that “because of our natural respect for the integrity of each other’s religion and our desire that each faith shall enjoy the fullest opportunity for its development and enrichment, these committees have no proselytising purpose.”
The appeal urged the representatives of the Federal Council Committee on Good will to “represent strongly that this American compact which opened a new chapter in the relations between Jews and Christians, be not weakened in spirit and vigor.” It urged that “your representatives on our Joint Commission of Good Will take such a position as will not jeopardize the continuance of our amicable relations.”
The objections raised by the Central Conference of American Rabbis were partly met by a statement issued in April by Dr. John W. Herring, secretary of the Committee on Goodwill between Jews and Christians. In his statement to the Jewish Daily Bulletin Dr. Herring made public the text of a cablegram addressed by the Council to Dr. John R. Mott, who presided over the missionary conferences. In this cablegram Dr. Mott was urged to “recommend” that the missionary conferences issue “a call to Christians everywhere to purge the world of the curse of anti-Semitism” and to “accord to the Jews that highly respected place in the brotherhood of peoples which they richly deserve on the basis of their sacred literature and history and which is their inalienable right.”
The same cablegram also contained the following paragraph: “We further hope that the congress will express disapproval of any enterprise that utilizes or implies patronage, majority pressure or disrespect for a borther’s faith.”
Dr. Herring in his statement to the Jewish Daily Buletin made the point that the initiative for the conferences came from abroad, that the several American Protestant delegates were attending the conferences in a semi-official capacity as members of the Home Missions Council, a national Protestant missionary organization. The Home Missions Council was not the sponsor of the International missionary conferences, but aided them to the extent of helping to secure a few American delegates. Dr. Herring also disclaimed responsibility either direct or indirect of the Committee on Goodwill between Jews and Christians or the Federal Council. The Committee on Goodwill is cooperating with Jewish organizations on a strictly non-proseltising basis and has observed both the letter and spirit of the agreement with scrupulous care, he stated.
The reason for the discussion which developed concerning this matter was explained by Dr. Herring by the fact that the General Committee of the Federal Council of which the Committee on Goodwill between Jews and Christians is a part expects in the near future to establish organic connections with the General Missions Group.
It was pointed out in Jewish circles that from the proceedings of the Budapest and Warsaw conferences, as disclosed by Dr. Conning, it appears that the request of the Federal Council to disapprove of any enterprise that utilizes or implies patronage, majority pressure or disrespect for a brother’s faith has not been heeded by the leaders of the missionary conferences and is indicated by their plans for a more extensive missionary propaganda in those countries where the Jewish population suffers most from disorganized conditions and from economic and political pressure.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
