Moral Re-Armament

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29239, 24 June 1960, Page 3

Moral Re-Armament

Sir,—More than a world language, currency, or Parliament we need a world religion focusing human thought and deed above and beyond itself. R.S. says M.R.A. is not such. A pity! . . . that it “is not a substitute for Christianity.” If he refers to the ritualistic agglomeration coming under that heading as our churches . . . more, a pity!! Sectarianism as divided within itself can never lead a world to peace in unity. Therefore my warning. M.R.A. from its booklet has become partisan. It has. as R. R. Beauchamp makes clear already left its inception in high moral idealism. It could traduce tnese ideals further Above M.R.A. absolutes humanity must quickly learn one other, the urgent need not to fight amongst its species. It is embodied in each and all of M.R.A. absolutes. Communism could well be God’s lash on our own backs.—Yours, etc FRANCIS WM. HEAL. June 22, 1960.

Sir,—l should like to congratulate Mr R. R- Beauchamp on his fine article on M.R.A. and to thank ‘‘The Press” for printing it. The luxurious brochure, plus the expensive advertisements created suspicion in my mind. Miss Beryl Grey's statement in "The Press” was heart-warming. What a wholesome mind compared with Buchman's What an exquisite ambassadress for peace. She sees so many lovely things and lovely people in every country. The waste of money on these advertisements by M.R.A. appalled us. How much dried milk and other foods could have been bought with such a sum, for undernourished people? Communism thrives in underprivileged countries. Love and good food will do more to banish Communism than hate and fancy literature.—Yours, etc., G.S. June 22, 1960.

Sir.—“ King's Army” should remember that God our Creator and loving Heavenly Father (as he calls Him) made all His creatures to live by murdering and eating one another. The strength of Moral Re-Armament lies not in “God” but mainly in advertisement. However, they mean well, if only they were not so silly about it.—Yours, etc., WHITHG. June 22, 1960.

Sir,—“King’s Army” has unwittingly underlined that very part of Moral Re-Armament which makes it divide men instead of uniting them. A significant number of reformers and thinkers have been unable to reconcile the idea of a compassionate Creator with the spider and the fly, the cat and the mouse, earthquakes, plagues, and famines. Surely such a Creator would have made all animals herbivorous, have left a chart of earthquake areas, instead of ambiguous messages able to be interpreted so as to cause factional ill-feeling and bigotry. To claim that wise conduct can only develop from belief in a supernatural being existing outside the universe “before” its creation is too mystical and controversial to be made the working basis of a universally acceptable ideology.—Yours, etc., SECULAR. June 23, 1960.