Magyar Egyház, 1960 (39. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1960-06-01 / 6-7. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9 George E. K. Borshy Convention Secretary The Rt. Rev. George E. K. Borshy, President of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America has been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Republican National Convention. He is one of 12 outstanding nationality leaders of fraternal, civic, and cultural organizations appointed to these posts. He is the only Hungarian among them. Timor Church Takes Stand on Communism (Djakarta) — The Protestant Church on the Indonesian island of Timor has been asked to clarify its stand on Communism by people concerned about the activities of the Indonesian Communist Party among church adherents. In a statement stressing the Church’s positive role in spreading the Gospel to Christians and non- Christians, the Timor Synod says it will discuss whether to expel from the church members who join the Communist party, but that even if expelled, ex-church members will continue to be served by the church. The Synod warns that pastors who take a Communist position will lose their standing in the church because “the Communist conviction is contrary to the testimony of Scripture”. The methods of Communism are also described by the Timor statement as incompatible with the Gospel and the “forgiving love” of the Cross. The spread of Communism in Indonesia has caused a number of churches there to make statements for the guidance of their members. EPS, Geneva CHURCH STUDY ASSAILS SEX AND VIOLENCE IN MASS MEDIA (New York) — A National Council of Churches study commission has assailed what it calls “a pathological preoccupation with sex and violence” in films and television and “revelations of dishonest practices within the industries”. The commission also was critical because the “image of man” projected by TV, radio and films is “often poles apart from the Christian understanding of man and his purpose”. There is “the assumption in both the content of the media and the policies which govern them that man’s end is material advantage, power and pleasure to be achieved through competing with, manipulating and exploiting his fellow man”, it declared. “We recognize that this is symptomatic of a moral disease in our society, reflected in the mass media and we confess that the churches themselves share in the responsibility for this moral disease”. The 4,500-word statement was based on a two-year study made by a 34-member Protestant and Eastern Orthodox group. It was presented to the NCC’s policymaking General Board at its quarterly two-day sessions. The Board sent it on to its affiliated denominations for udy and comment. HUNGARAN WOMAN DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY Union Theological Seminary, New York, granted the degree of Th. D. to Miss Aurelia Takacs, a Hungarian theologian, at its last commencement ceremony at Riverside Church. Miss Aurelia Takacs completed her secondary school education in Hungary and after leaving the country she studied theology at the University of London and at Oxford University. She obtained the B.A. and M.A. degrees at Oxford and having been elected to the English Fellowship at Union Theological Seminary, she came to the United States in 1956. While doing her research work she had the privilege of working as tutor assistant to the courses of Professors Reinhold Niebuhr and John C. Bennett. The fields of her studies were systematic theology and Christian ethics; her dissertation was very well received and the examining professors suggested its publication. Dr. Takacs will begin teaching in September at the well-known Presbyterian College of Wooster, Ohio. As far as we know Miss Aurelia Takacs is the first Hungarian woman doctor of theology. TEENS MARRYING YOUNGER SAYS UCYM LEADER More than half the nation’s girls are married before their 21st birthday, according to the youth work director of the National Council of Churches. The Rev. Donald O. Newby believes that the general instability of society is a factor in prompting marriages by more than 500,000 teen-agers annually. He said the fact that 20 to 25 per cent of America’s families move every year “is pretty devastating to the teen-ager dependent on his peer group relationships for his stability.” Teen-agers go steady, he explained, in an effort to find someone they can count on. Other reasons for early marriages, he said, have been the pressures of military service, the fact that young people are not needed as much in their homes in an urban society as they are in a rural society, and because families are more prosperous and willing to support their children even after they are married. Mr. Newby added that the churches have pretty much neglected the older teen-agers, having concentrated their ministry on the senior high-school group. Some youth rebellion is due, he said, to the fact that young people feel they have no constructive, useful function to fill while they are waiting for acceptance into adulthood. Executive secretary of the United Christian Youth Movement, Mr. Newbv addressed church youth directors at a recent meeting sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Churches.------------oOo-----------The Institute for the Study of Confessions, Bensheim, Germany, has published a 490-page volume entitled “Mixed Marriages — Handbook of Spiritual Care”. The volume contains advice on mixed-marriage problems by eminent Protestant authorities and includes a summary of secular and Roman Catholic marriage law, and a survey of the Roman Catholic position on mixed marriages.
