Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
4 HOP Vol XX Sp eciaL - IJqjriber 1968 No 2- 127 -(07908) b) The Temptation of Ecclesiastical Objectivism Inxorder to make their really appropriate and timely contributions in the aforesaid spirit to the struggles for the realization of peaceful coexistence^ it is-indispensable that the churches assess, interpret and appraise the events of the world in their actual reality» The so-called "ecclesiastical impartiality" might imply, on the one hand, Christian "hybris", and, on the other hand, might lead to an unrealistic assessment of the situation which would then render the churches contribution, even if governed by the best intentions, impracticable ard oy.t**of~step with the events concerned,-. f * To avoid misunderstandings, we should like to stress; we are not against the implementation of the principle of the so-called Christian or ecclesiastical impartiality in our work of analyzing the events of the world in the interests of coexistence, if this impartiality is meant to express the endeavour of the churches to free themselves of subjective prejudices reflecting either their cwn national interests, their political convictions, their self-defence as an essential viewpoint in seising up the events of history» But we should like to emphasize that the Christians? unwillingness jfco "absolutize" certain ideologies and historical situations (the report df Section III of the World Conference on Church ard Society repeatedly calls attention to this tendency) cannot at all mean a kind of Christian "superiority" in their relation to the events concerned, neither an "impartiality" which studiously overlook^ certain facts, or, for instance, in assessing a certain conflict in an unrealistic way, apportions blame equally on both of the contending parties (we believe that this is the defect of the statements made by Section, HI of the World Conference on the Vietnam war)« The cause of coexistence pun only be furthered by the churches if their striving for "impartiality" actually means their attention to theiir tasks iss>iing from a realistic and sober assessment of the situations concerned and their effort to carry out these taskrso Such an "impartiality" actually reflects the profound solidarity of the church with suffering mankind© It is only in this spirit and with such an attitude that the churches can actually cooperate-with "all men of good will" in the interests of coexistenceeWhat the world needs today is not a paternalistic church but a church that suffers and travails together with mankind seeking together with all moi of good will the right' solutions to the existing problems© c) Seeking the Theological Foundations Our warning against the "spiritualizing" of the conception of coexistence ard against the ecclesiastical attempt to monopolize this conception, does not at all mean that v/tj are disinterested in the theological clarification and formulation of those ultimate principles which determine the churches re—
