Religion: Marching to Armageddon

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But the real villains for the convention were the leaders of organized Christianity. "They are most responsible for world conditions," declared Vice President Fred W. Franz. He even specified which churchmen are most responsible by virtue of supporting the U.N.—Pope Pius XII (or "the pope of Vatican City" as Knorr calls him), Monsignor Thomas A. Donnellen, vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the Rev. Dr. John Sutherland Bonnell, pastor of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Overwhelmingly, the assembly approved a resolution denouncing such leaders who "turn their backs on Jesus Christ." These leaders, said the resolution, "have not directed the people to the only means of salvation ... All the blind peoples who follow these blind religious guides will suffer execution with them at God's hands."

In a windup exhortation to a record crowd of 253,922, President Knorr asked what seemed merely a rhetorical question: "God's kingdom rules—is the world's end near?"Answer: Yes, very near. Eagerly the faithful flocked back to their little churches across the earth, the Kingdom Halls, more than 16,000 of them, where shelter is assured when Armageddon strikes.