Protestant and Catholic Condemnation of Hitlerism in “the Voice of Religion”

Editorials from the religious press of more than fifteen Christian denominations and statements by lay and religious leaders of Christian opinion on the persecutions of the Jews in Germany are gathered in a booklet published today by the American Jewish Committee under the title, “The Voice of Religion.” Bishop William T. Manning of the diocese of New York; Hilaire Beloc, noted Catholic; Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, former president of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America; Michael Williams, editor of the Catholic weekly, Commonweal; the Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Dean Inge are among those who have spoken for the religious conscience of America and England on the oppression of hundreds of thousands of Germans who have worshipped or whose ancestors have worshipped in the Jewish faith. The pamphlet also prints the text of a protest against these persecutions written by Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick and signed by 1,200 Christian clergymen of the United States and Canada.

A section devoted to the comments of the Christian religious press prints editorials from the Adult Bible Class Monthly (Methodist Episcopal), the Baptist Courier (Baptist), the Christian Advocate (Methodist), the Christian Century (Undenominational), the Christian Herald (Interdenominational), the Christian Leader (Universalist), the Christian Register (Unitarian), the Churchman (Episcopalian), the Congregationalist (Congregational), the Epworth Herald (Methodist), the Extension Magazine (Catholic), the Living Church (Episcopalian), the Lutheran (Lutheran), the New Outlook (United Church of Canada), Our Portion (Catholic), the Presbyterian Banner (Presbyterian), the Reformed Church Messenger (Reformed Church), the Religious Telescope (Church of United Brethren in Christ), Revelation (Undenominational), the Sabbath Recorder (Seventh Day Baptist), Southern Churchman (Protestant Episcopal), the Sunday School Times (Interdenominational), Truth (Catholic), the Presbyterian (Presbyterian), the Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), the World Tomorrow (Interdenominational), Zions Herald (Methodist.

“The Christian religion,” Bishop Manning declared in his statement, “calls upon men not only for justice but for brotherliness toward all, and in these days of world crisis we see clearly that we must sweep out the spirit of hate and fear and banish war and draw all nations together in brotherhood and fellowship if civilization is to be saved.

“Race prejudice, oppression, religious persecution, have no right to exist anywhere in this world, and we have no right to condone or countenance them.”

Hilaire Belloc points out the flagrant injustices that have been committed by the Nazi rulers. “I am not speaking,” he states, “of the atrocities committed. . . . But I am here speaking of what has admittedly been done and that, it seems to me, is definitely opposed to good morals. Men who have passed their lives earning their living by their professions in a particular trade have been reduced, through no fault of their own and merely by the accident of birth, to penury at a moment’s notice. How can that possibly be excused?

VIOLATION OF CONTRACT

“What excuse is it to say that in such and such a profession such and such a majority was Jewish? The Jews attained their position in that profession in open competition; everybody knew that they were Jews; they worked under the handicap of their unpopularity (which always attaches to their race in that part of Europe where they lived, though it does not yet attach to their race in this happier society to which we belong). I should have thought that the proposition was elementary; when a profession is thrown open to such and such candidates, when they pass the required tests, when they advance in their careers after passing these tests, what possible right can you have to go back on your word and deprive them of that which you have promised them by the social contract into which you have entered?

“But there is more than this there are very many cases in which not only an implied social contract is involved, but also a direct personal contract. For instance, I read of one distinguished professor, to mention only one out of very many, who had a definite contract to occupy the position which he held and to draw the salary of it for so many years, presumably with a pension thereto attached. Without compensation, without warning the man is suddenly thrown onto the streets. If that is not theft, what is?”