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PAGE 14
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 19, 1986
The Asian shift is not limited to the United States. In 1985, for the
first time in history, the largest part of Australia's immigration was
from Asian, rather than European, countries.
(Until recent times
Australia had a •populate or perish" policy limited to European and other
Caucasian immigrants.> Also in Australia, the trendy "Aboriginal rights•
movement remains strong, despite the fact that many Aboriginals fear that
they are being forced to go backwards, to live once again under tribal
laws, including harsh taboos regarding marriage and sexual practices. In
New Zealand, a similar push is on for Maori rights, despite the fact that
this is leading to divisiveness in society.
In South Africa, the poor economy is producing a revival of a •poor white
class• reminiscent of the 1930s. TV reports have shown unemployed whites
digging ditches for $2 a day while black laborers, advanced under
legislative reforms, operate mechanical equipment at full pay.
Such
scenes, of course, add fuel to the extreme right Afrikaner Resistance
Movement. (It's not to say in all these cases that there was not cause
for changes favoring minority interests, but the scope and acceleration
of change has been dramatic.)
Reading the book of Lamentations, one has the distinct impression that
God is saying to sinning Americans, Australians and other descendants of
the House of Israel that if they despise their birthright He will open
the floodgates--•He has caused the rampart and wall to lament• (Lam.
2:8)--to other peoples, some who might better appreciate the blessings of
the· land.
Churches and Trendy Politics
Mainline churches today are becoming
increasingly involved in political activism, generally focused, in the
United States, against policies of the current administration (such as in
the case of the sanctuary movement). Stephen Chapman wrote the following
in the June 30 NEW REPUBLIC:
Sooner or later every churchgoer has to get used to the
politicization of worship•••• I have heard Presbyterian calls
for a nuclear arms freeze [and 1 Lutheran denunciations of
American policy in Central America•••• After the U.S. attack
on Libya, a statement of condemnation was issued jointly by
the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the
United Church
of Christ,
the
Unitarian Universalist
Association, the Church of the Brethren, and the Mennonite
Central Committee. It is presumably a tribute to the power of
the Holy Spirit that churches which cannot agree among
themselves on the most basic theological doctrines are led to
identical revelations on any question involving American
foreign policy••••
The pacifism is selective•••• If the church has condemned the
Sandinistas for answering violence with violence, this
Presbyterian missed it•••• Now a committee of the United
Methodist Church has decided that the hymnal must also be
brought into ideological conformity.
Hymns containing
militaristic or sexist imagery should be discarded or
rewritten.
Among those relegated to the memory hole were
•onward, Christian Soldiers,• which depicts the faithful
•
•