MORALITY WORKING IN AMERICA

Some years ago, Dr. Charles Malik addressed a dedication ceremony with these words.
"NOTHING IS AS IMPORTANT in the world today as for the Christians of America to grasp their historic opportunities and prove themselves equal to them. I say "the Christians," but I must add also "the Jews," because what is fatefully at stake today is the highest spiritual values of the Judeo-Christian tradition. If the highest Christian values are overturned, so will the highest Jewish values. Perhaps never since the Twelve Disciples and Saint Paul has any group of Christians been burdened by Providence itself with the responsibilities now devolving upon the Christians of America. By "Christians" I mean at once the Protestants, the Catholics, and the Orthodox. The intensity of conviction, suffering, and witness being evidenced today in the Orthodox world, especially in Russia, is something for which the Living Lord must be profoundly thanked. The Catholics, under the eminent leadership of that remarkable man, John Paul II, are manifesting an immense vitality all over the world."

Dr. Malik addressed the same topic in one of his book, "Christ and the Crisis." This was published way back in 1962--the "Cold War" was in full flower, and the good doctor told of his concerns.
"Surely every conceivable weapon should be employed in self-defense - military, political, diplomatic, economic, psychological. Now there are limits to self-defense, because mere self-defense could become self-defeating, and because, precisely in self-defense, one must at times pass to the offensive. What concerns us most here is the moral and spiritual weapon. And here too this dialectic of the defense and the offense is most apparent. Morally and spiritually the Communists put you and me on the defensive; they make us feel guilty, and we supinely accept the terms of their debate. They talk in terms of capitalism," "imperialism," "colonialism," "monopolies," "profits, "exploitation," "means of production," - all purely economic, purely materialistic terms. And in answering them usually all we say is that the exploiting, capitalism of the nineteenth century no longer exists, imperialism has been liquidated, monopolies are now owned by the people, and as to profits, everybody now shares in them.
There is about this response a pathetic air of apology, a ring of feebleness, a sickly note of timidity....This will not do. They should be answered, not apologetically, not on a materialistic basis, but in human, moral, and spiritual terms."

"MORAL, AND SPIRITUAL TERMS"?---ISN'T THAT RESTRICTED TO CHURCH?

WHO IS DR. MALIK ANYWAY?

(If you are not acquainted with Dr. Malik, Charles Malik was a University Professor at The American University in Washington, D.C.. He received his B.A. from the American University of Beirut, and his M.A.and Ph.D. from Harvard. He was a Lebanese ambassador to the USA before his becoming president of the UN Security Council. Following that, he was elected as the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations.)