BILLY GRAHAM IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28869, 14 April 1959, Page 7

BILLY GRAHAM IN BRITAIN

“Calamitous Failure Of Campaign” (N.Z. Press Association -Lonunqhl i LONDON, April 12. The campaign of Dr. Billy Graham had failed calamitously in its declared aim to engulf Britain in a wave of religious revival, said the Rev. C. O. Rhodes, director and secretary of the Modern Churchmen’s Union, addressing the annual general assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian churches in Leeds. Mr Rhodes, who was discussing modern methods of mass communication and their effect on people’s lives, said the Billy Graham campaign was a test case. Billy Graham had the benefit of all media. He made religion into headline news.

A number of people had been converted but as a proportion of the total population the results were negligible. Critics had suggested that by forcing upon the attention of the public an obsolete symbolism devoid of meaning for them, Billy Graham had only emphasised the gulf between traditional orthodoxy and the general public. That might be true but if so, the more efficient and persuasive his publicity, the more harm he would do.

Beggars To Be Arrested.— The Prime Minister of Thailand, Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, has ordered the arrest of beggars, prostitutes and lepers in Bangkok. The Government will send the prostitutes back to their homes, the beggars will be taught trades and the lepers will be put in hospitals.—Reuter.