Magyar Egyház, 1958 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1958-01-01 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES The National Council of Churches spoke out on refugees, race relations, the moral crisis in labor, the age of the sputnik, and dozens of other matters as the triennial General Assembly convened in St. Louis, Mo., December 1-6. Admitted to the Council at this Assembly was — with three others — the Free Magyar Reformed Church! This brings to 34 the number of Protestant and Orthodox Churches in the Council membership. Newly elected president of the National Council of Churches is the Rev. Edwin T. Dahlberg, pastor of the Delmar Baptist Church in St. Louis. In the six-day assembly, 800 official delegates and 1,200 others heard a score of speakers including the Rev. Martin Luther King, noted civil rights leader and organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott to gain equal treatment for Negroes, and General Maxwell D. Taylor, chief of the staff of the United States Army. Concerning Refugees The General Assembly, in a resolution concerning refugees, emphasized that its member churches in the last decade had helped provide placement for 150,000 refugees in the United States. It said: “The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches calls upon its member churches to give public endorsement of the position that the United States Government has an obligation to support effectively the United Nations programs for refugees without necessary limitations to percentage of support by other governments. In this connection, the National Council of Churches stresses the urgency of adequate support for the United Nations Refugee Fund and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and the need to replenish immediately the now tragically-depleted funds for the transport of European refugees in the Far East to the countries which are offering them asylum.” Archdean Béky addresses 2,000 delegates and visitors at the General Assembly of the N.C.C.C. “Since the manifold problem of ministering to refugees is so integrally related to our basic Immigration Law, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches calls to the attention of all its member churches the importance of amending the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to eliminate discrimination based on race, color and sex, to revise the national origins quota system, and to provide more adequately for the admission of relatives, and of refugees, as well as of other immigrants who qualify for admission to the United States.” Concerning Race Relations A statement on the churches and segregation said: “Many of the member communions of the National Council of Churches have carried forward within the churches active programs of social education and action aimed at the elimination of segregation in all spheres of life. Despite these activities, the churches must do far more to live up to the responsibilities of Christian brotherhood.” “The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches reaffirms at this time its renunciation of the pattern of racial segregation, both in the churches and in society, as a violation of the Gospel of love and human brotherhood.” The Moral Crisis in the Labor Union Movement and in Labor-Management Practices A telegram sent to George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO which was meeting concurrently in Atlantic City, New Jersey, expressed encouragement to the labor organization for ridding itself of “various corrupt and racketeering elements that seek to benefit by association with decent labor unions.” A resolution stated that “To corrupt the practices of either labor or management is to sin against God and cheat all men.” “We believe the labor unions are responsible for the situation that has been revealed; but so is management; so also is the Christian Church. The degree and kind of responsibility may differ but we all share in the responsibility for what exists and also for what is done to correct it.” International Aid and Trade “This Assembly advocates balanced, expanding programs of international aid and trade to the end that in this interdependent world its various people, all created and cared for by God, may have a more abundant life, with more well-being, knowledge, justice, freedom and peace.” Alien Properties “The General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, in light of moral considerations involved in the issue of the retention or return of alien properties in the United States seized during World War II, expresses its concern that the moral issue be clearly set forth.” The General Assembly, as reported in the December issue of Magyar Church, was attended by the Rev. Zoltán Béky, Archdean, the Rev. Stephen Szőke, Recording Secretary of the Diocese and the Rev. Gábor Csordás, Dean of the Eastern Classis.
