in Interlaken and elsewhere, they headed for the United States in 1939. Just before this, however, the Group was re-named. Frank Buchman tells about it: “ In 1938 the guidance came to me— ‘Moral Re-Axmament,’ a movement where the moral and spiritual would have the emphasis. The need of the age is the moral and spiritual. Our task was to bring back those realities to the nations that needed them. We initiated this thinking in London’s East Ham Town Hall. We took it to the nations. MRA was bom that year.” * This marked a definite change of method, if not of purpose. The Group aimed for huge crowds, and had them. There was a brief setback when in 1941 Moral Re- Armament asked for deferment of some of their actors, but they quickly recovered. W ith the political insight that has marked the Group from the beginning, they jumped on the bandwagon, and patriotism and hero- worship became the order of the day, with the usual fanfare and press notices. So with a sincere war effort they outrode that storm. World assemblies gathered in capitals of the world; books, plays, pictorials, magazines poured from their presses; MRA motion pictures and plays were shown in all the large cities to great audi ences. Some Hollywood personalities were said to have been “ changed” by the group, among them Mae West, who had her picture taken with Dr. Buchman. No prob lem is too great for Moral Re-Armament to tackle: labor and management differences, communism infiltration in any country; racial disputes; the difficulties arising from the establishment of new, independent nations. Assuredly these projects cost huge sums of money. Inquiries in regard to finances are met with the claim: “We do not ask for money” and Frank Buchman’s oft-repeated slogan: “Where God calls, God provides.” Walter Huston Clark’s comment is enlightening: “ Not without significance is that fact that by this time (1941) the Group had become so huge that the machinery of an organization was forced on it, whether it wished for it or not. Following this incorporation in England (as the Oxford Group), it has also been incorporated in Canada and the United States (as Moral Re-Armament). Scat tered in various parts of the world, at Caux, Switzerland, London, Los Angeles, and Mackinac Island, Michigan, are various pieces of real estate with housing facilities for administrative activities and staff as well as for its guests. Though it still holds to its principles of never literally asking for funds, hints have been getting broader; nevertheless it has supplemented the spontaneous, free donations of the olden days with provisions for regular gifts promised over a period of seven years or longer. A solid foundation of vested interests is being laid in a good income. It must be remembered that workers receive no salaries but only subsistence if that is necessary, yet the faithful can see the movement, which has long boasted that it is not an organization, growing daily more institutionalized before their very eyes.” ** The tragic aspect of Moral Re-armament’s “mass movement” is that it can no longer be considered truly Christian, for the reason that non-Christians of many peoples and tongues are convinced and loyal followers. As we examine the techniques and teachings of the Group next month, we will be able to see more clearly “what’s wrong with Moral Re-Armament,” and how all “ faiths” are welcomed into this fold. {To be continued) *Remaking the World, speeches of Frank Buchman, p. 141. **The Oxford Group, Its History and Significance, by Walter Huston Clark, p. 80. Used by permission of Twayne Publishers, Inc., New York.
A U T U M N Soft, golden sunshine halos hill and dale, Sun-splashed the grass beneath the scarlet trees; Red-ripe the apples in the mist-wrapped vale, Where dances goldenrod in scented breeze. Summer has fled; and nature with deft brush Tints gaily waving branch and feathered fern. Scarlet the maples, where the song of thrush; Is broken by the blue-jay's scolding stern. High up on crimson-tinted vines that run Their (woody dingers 'round the sturdy oak, Wild grapes, deep purple, hide from noonday's sun Their tempting clusters in some leafy nook. Gold-hued the pumpkin lies on barren field, Where once the cornstalk hid its sly retreat, And with its rustling green was wont to shield The growing pumpkin from the summer's heat. Now gather feathered songsters into flocks Prepared to wing their way to warmer clime, Now waves the withered corn in tousled shocks;... Now fades the glory of the summertime. Oh, changing year? What beauties greet our eye, f Yetfall too soon your glories fade away. Your gay, pigmented canvas winter shreds, And earth's each glory crumbles in decay. But Thou, O Christ, art still the Changeless One: No passing season dims Thy precious face. No winter chill, no blighting summer sun Thy warm, sweet tenderness can e'er efface. —William Ward Ayer
19
NOVEMBER, 1961
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