Churches: Catalyst of Conscience

Black Militant James Forman has been spectacularly unsuccessful in attaining his goal of $3 billion in reparations to be paid to U.S. Negroes by American churches and synagogues. Since Forman first issued his arrogantly worded "Black Manifesto" in Detroit last April, only an estimated $22,000 has trickled into the coffers of his National Black Economic Development Conference. Forman's demands have been successful, however, as a catalyst in moving churches to examine their consciences. Last week another church group demonstrated that the manifesto has not fallen on entirely deaf ears. Meeting in Canterbury, England, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches rejected the concept of reparations, but voted to distribute $500,000 — not to Forman but to organizations of oppressed racial groups whose purposes are "not inconsonant" with those of the World Council.

The Central Committee's action was a retreat from the determinedly avantgarde position adopted last May by the council's own international Consultation on Racism (TIME, June 6), which favored church support of antiracist revolutionary movements and compensation for those "exploited" by capitalism. But in addition to its $500,000 allocation, the committee did call on member churches to give "a significant portion of their total resources to orga nizations of the racially oppressed." One way that churches might help was to make land available "free or at low cost" for community development.

Generous Response. Like the World Council, U.S. churches and synagogues are tending to react to the reparations demand by reviewing and enlarging their social-work programs. Thus, the American Jewish Committee rejected the "Black Manifesto" but is considering a national ad hoc group to help the poor.

The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), meeting last week in Seattle, similarly denounced reparations but requested that the church redeploy funds to make more than $30 million available to fight poverty and racial discrimination. Earlier, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ created a new Commission for Racial Justice and guaranteed it a minimum of $500,000 for 1970.

After pointedly taking issue with the threat of violence posed in the manifesto, the United Presbyterian Church nonetheless invited Forman to speak be fore its General Assembly last May. And in the most generous response yet to Forman's complaint, the Presbyterians authorized a drive to obtain $50 million for general works against poverty.