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True to expectations, the main theme, "Christ—the Hope of the World," caused the most fuss. The report prepared for discussion by an advisory commission of 32 theologians found little support among the delegates. Some felt that the original document was too pessimistic, some that the non-Christian religions were slighted, some that it was too "Western" in tone.
New York's Greek Orthodox Archbishop Michael felt that the commission report was too lenient to Communism, and Anglican Layman George Goyder, director of a British paper firm, rose to criticize it as lukewarm. "Simple people all around the world," he said, "are waiting for a simple declaration as to where this assembly stands on the question of the Second Coming. I'm not a Seventh-Day Adventist, and I'm not a German theologian. But I believe we must preach the Second Coming."
Sometimes the debate recalled the wor ries of platform writers at political conventions. Some delegates, for instance, deplored the absence of any reference in the report to the eventual conversion of the Jews in "fulfillment of God's promises to the people of ancient Israel." Delegate Charles Taft (lawyer-brother of the late Senator) led the attack on this position: "I think it would jeopardize my friendships and my relations with my Jewish friends." Middle Eastern delegates objected on the ground that the implication of special favors for Jews in the Christian scheme of things must further arouse the Arab world against the Christian churches in the Near East.
Apart from being an ancient and meaa-ingful question of theology, the issue of the Second Coming often has practical, worldly consequences. Emphasis on the next world has given many a neutralist a spiritual justification for accommodating himself to Communism. On the other hand, the "activist" view, which insists that the Christian hope is to be realized in time and place, has informed much of the social conscience of capitalism.
The delegates finally sent the commission report, unapproved, to the member churches for further study, but hopefully suggested that perhaps the disagreements were more superficial than at first appeared. Said an assembly statement: "But even our difficulties provided us with a common bond, as, confronted by this great theme, we saw our differences and disagreements become diverse insights into its richness."
The Race Question. Pointed exchanges were commonest in commission meetings that were closed to press and public. Among the liveliest were the sessions on race relations, for here the delegates were reminded again and again of the churches' mission in Asia and Africa, where Communism is the competition. Said the Rev. Peter K. Dagadu of the Gold Coast: "Africans regard most white people as their masters and bosses, not their friends. Only when the offer is sincere enough to prove to the African that he is being regarded as a brother in Christ will he be willing to share religious experience."
In the end there was little doubt as to where the assembly stood on race relations. Said one report: "Wherever Christians find themselves separated by caste, class, racial or other barriers, they will boldly cross them . . ."