Religion: Words & Works

¶Christianity must purge itself of "accidental Western accessories" and of its feeling of uniqueness if it is to be accepted in the future, said Historian Arnold J. Toynbee at Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary. "We treat Christianity as if its virtue were not derived from being Christian, but from being Western . . . One can believe that one has received revelation without necessarily believing he has received exclusive revelation. Exclusive-mindedness is one of the most fatal sins ... the sin of pride ... I suggest that we recognize all higher religions as revelations of what is good and right."

¶An eight-month controversy between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. ended when the Soviet government issued a visa to the Rev. Louis F. Dion of Worcester, Mass., a Roman Catholic Assumptionist priest, who will replace a fellow Assumptionist expelled by the Soviets in March (TIME, March 14). Father Dion will minister to American Catholics in Moscow. Less than 24 hours after his visa was issued, the U.S. granted a visa to Archbishop Boris of the Russian Orthodox Church, who was forced to leave the U.S. earlier this year when his temporary visa expired.

¶In Mobile, Ala., Dr. Frederick H. Olert, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va., raised a religious storm by telling a Reformation Day gathering that "the Roman Catholic Church is not at home in America. It wants to make this country predominantly a Roman Catholic country. [It] can and will win America unless Protestants heal their divisions and get together." Retorted the Very Rev. Andrew C. Smith, Jesuit president of Alabama's Spring Hill College: "If there ever was a time when all Christians ought to stand together, regardless of recognized differences, this seems to be the hour . . ."