Church Lacks Courage to Speak Truth

If a church claiming to be Christian should be able to do anything at all it should be able to tell its people what is right and what is wrong. Complaining that the Baptist Church of Scotland is unable to do this in regard to the question of war because of its lack of courage is John McKendrick, one of its clergymen. According to him, war is absolutely antagonistic to the redemptive purposes of Christ, and his church will not come into the fullness of its power until it has the courage to say what it ought to say about war. He further stated: “I have exercised a ministry—a ministry going out to men and including the open air—and I find again and again I have to say with my tongue in my cheek that the Church has no word to say in this matter. I am sorry that our social service committee’s report is going out without a word about the present situation.” Perhaps John McKendrick would feel more at home in the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses, for it certainly does not lack the courage to speak out as to what the Bible has to say about war!—Glasgow Herald, October 25, 1957.