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AEER

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yr \H‘Let me spare with

qrmIsmIANITy,.v-JHAN

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you a few fihodghfs,zwhigh:will héée‘fb

bélwigiikgd‘i

h‘,ou¢ much more ffilly op o?her oc‘asiohs5usugfieé;efi by %h¢ coindidénéerthahr L‘today is not only thé Eve of thé Last 95y Hf Passover, by; flap gé飧r‘f Sundgy.

And the first thought,

\‘ih'ihh‘oaclurs‘ to‘

me

that

gnar‘lyivof

“:“

Ghrigtianwngigbbours,“gapecially in't5is éountry, have geen‘deigbyatifig

‘Easfier this year in a new framé of mindw To Which you will say: mah,v fl Nightannah — hqw is this Easter differefif from all firevious.3asters?



Well, the fact is that for many years, ifiaeed evefi since the 16th éegégry;

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Christianity hgs been losing ground. First the various Prbtestant gécfié ‘arose,anfi challénged the supremacy pf the Catholic Chufch, aha denied some';

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pf its doctrinés.

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mhen came men like Déscartes who esmablishefi a secdiar

'fihilosophy no longey subservient to the Chufch.‘ @hen dame the 18th

CEntury, thé Age‘of Reaépn, curing whiqh ifitellectuais likeLVolfiaiye

'

Christian

‘op’ehlyjrqepudi'ated

theolq. Then

:

the Unitariafl";

‘Church which rejecfied the Trinity and other fundafiehtal Cfirifitian éfictrines;

Ll~ihen.Scientific Hhmgnism. ‘

Then Marxism.

k

For many yeérg, théreforg,‘,

Christians have knowq that fiheir faith no lbnger dominates the world, that it has to contend against many powerful rival idéolbgieé. ‘But

Christian leadgrs still maintained that their religibn was souné, that it negced only to be expressed more convincingly; and that it woplg “ultimately regain the aliegmance of the masseé.

But that assuranégvyés ‘now been shéken, for in thé"1ast year Chriétian thinkers, 1eader§,af fihe‘Q r

Church, have publicly vonfessed that much firaditional Qhristian dogma is insecurély based and must be modified or rejectéfi.

I referiin

parfiicuiar to tfio recénfirbboks:f"fi;nest to God" by Dr John fiobinSon; Bishop of Woolwich; and "Objections to Christianity"'by fouf Cambridge theologians}

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fha‘b

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ASE a

result many: ‘orflinary Christians must be beginning to feel

Christianity has failed and thatfl

it‘é

future is uncertain.

failed in two reggec’as.

First, it has‘ fails

If ha‘é‘i‘ailed to prevent

v:a:t=;,

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_

It hag;

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socially and politically, ‘

It hag failed to-pravent persecution.

It has failed "to prevenfiwéojqial §mjustioe5; and‘t‘he rise. of Communiémg; an’dvtnlrflae‘

céusequen‘b divisiofi of tfié “for-1d into two hostile' camfis,

"t-hrez’xtens

130‘

“engulf humanity, is the direct. resultiof‘tvhéth failure.

And secondly it has failéd about

“the

‘ T} .



finaamenfal teachings

intellec‘tually‘.‘ uI‘hs

Virgin Birth, the Incarnation; the Resuxjrection

>

so ‘forth

anii

are now seen by gm évef grmving‘nxzmbrer of intélligend: penpgg to he so much irrational mythology which does not'bear sexievntiri‘ic or historical

scrutiny.

Millions of Chrisians, worshipping in their churches at this

~ véry moment, must be wondering what sort orf

should attach

Jésus which they 'I‘r

tic}

91;:t‘1fgusands‘will gise‘é‘n

the alléged histbrical

fiagé

amlfaica-gfferafiing:

supposéd

'lé-t

haw;

an aftic'Ie.‘by

td‘fbe'

fiewmen'pifqnyévs

:réad‘

9:111:15

“fierve” substantially "V‘Chfis-‘oian- dogm’a

'of

e‘ven-t

can

,

of the Resurréctioni‘of’

cfimm‘emora'bing. :O‘Y‘l‘lry‘

9%

sighificanoe they H

Afid

'le‘sflgt

you. t‘hinié‘

oné exampler,‘ tha‘b hundreas of OBSER‘WIER.

théy'

Téynbee entitle‘d "Have Christians

ag‘rqeing ytith“the Bishasp of Woolwiéh that

‘V'I'il‘lrhaixrvéaI

theirjgl‘f“ t‘rradi‘tixbna‘

has had its day, in otfielr wprds ‘fhat Qhristianity is

~¢r3tellectua11y bankrupt. :Anfl on tfié front pager of the

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’y'a'eekend‘Review‘,

expected a theoéogicak anticle félating to Easter V‘Sunday, tiiey will have Eead a diary about the Warsaw Ghetto Rising, the

_,1vhere they might

’20th éhniverdary

though

it.

haxfe

of. whrfic‘h

only deals

will occur later this wéekm This movinfi

firizfgrg

fine-brief episode, calls him mind thék whole

unépeakable horror- di‘vwhat happened under- the‘Nazi‘s,‘ in a country in '

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which Christianitg‘ had reigned for 1500 years;

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and with only desultoryppposition from the Christian churches

‘ ‘

leaders.

a'nd‘



What shatterng‘ evidence

What an indictmen’c of Christianity!

of its bankruptcy in terms of social anu political ethics!

Is this loss ‘of self-assurance on the‘par’a of Christianity to be ‘

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apylauded or regretted?

,

,

That‘depends on the consequences; In fihe'first;



h

instance'i't will create an».ever--growing> Spiritual Vacuum, and ‘thagreat

“a

‘question is how that vacuum will. be filled? ‘11; my bé filleé only With grga‘ber confusion, with a total lack of ideology in whichfi moral standards »

will be“ undermined; and the pursuit of pieasfir-e will become £11635; un‘re— strainea flan é‘vgr}. Tlha’a would Be a tragedy. flay bé filled 'wi'bh Sicieznfiific Humahirsm.

{that

would

be,

a great deal bétfier; But» Sgientific

HSjmanisxfi is Vague’rzvana' undefiinéd, and-it gah J

ive wfiich hurfian beings neec}

’60

s‘:2:—;(1:*ceil;,“,f

providevthe‘é inqent—

exercise se1f~oontr01 and £0 make sacri-

fices “for-moral kpri‘ncipiés and to

'pursue‘

the 368.1 of 'ethical‘ perfection.

Jufiaiem‘

‘But there is a third poséibiility, remote though it may séem. I

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901116 fill the vacuum.

:After' all; what remains of Christiénity when it is sifippé‘d of: i’cé



mytnélogiéal'uengnle? According‘tg‘ some thinkers, inciuding the

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hugizan’ pet‘s'on’

Bighop“ of Woolwiqh, thépé rerzainsafhieflj

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of Jegue ,1



his allegedhr rdéfignifiéent egamplé ‘of‘ a noble life, ahd his e'fihireiailw.“ {shei‘r Vsu‘premer emphasis 'on love ‘a’sr-th'é guiding prinéiple téachings







bfhuman

behaviour";

Altrinéham;1vrit ing I

uééma dughfi fio’be néighb'our.’

.I-fe

31.51%

in‘

the eésence of the

thé éuéfdian the other-V

réducec‘!

did not

in reality thei‘é remaifis

to

‘ftx‘lo

:lgxie

Lei-é

said thatrchri'Vctianr‘

of

(39:1

and love of '

principlefi cofiétitute in bhristianity." But there ishtuch

’rlgaii‘ge “thét

Je¥’zish»‘elémen1§

m

qssenyiials:

flaky,

muc‘h‘rriof-er

finese

an“§é. ‘1‘ 7



where

‘infia'ae.



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the whéle Jewish conteption

need‘ ‘of modificaiioAQ’Sifi ‘Iesé éusceptible

Chrisianiconcept‘i‘on érzeoa,

“lys‘he

0; man, of

nun-nan

«sf

Di‘vbinson': strictlireé

"an

theflJewisrh conce'pigiég‘

Tilers

There ié the‘nish‘

airmityanfl péfi’ectibili’cy.

conception‘of h1Story with ifis Meséianfl: hope.

,

“conception of the

GOG, perhags also in“

‘gondrrliféu, coz3xpi'ising not





Theré $5 the Jewish

only love' but

anc righteousness. And sojme; could continue.

gals-o

fiusfiiea

Prarc‘aicéilly evefi‘thing

in Christianity that i‘é‘Lethicaily gooqand inteile’c’suallg: reason‘able ‘is Hebrafié, stems @0131 Jufiaism. Thy, fihen,‘ shoqld not Jutlaism, in which



fully aha 'cnnsie‘tently apvelopea, fill' repudiate the gap? Why, if. Christians mmizzzss, after ‘ZOOO'years, those rvery’ originally _ "60‘ doctrines which/sepaba’cpd them,from‘the Jews, should they not

theée Hebraic elements are

=mOI'C

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Surely a full-blobaea Judaism is preferablto a chrisaianitg diluted by the rejeétibn 01‘ everything that at first male i'h disuhcfivea égdaiém.‘

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in:

There are 6f bourse mapy‘rcasohs

"will not be j

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v;

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‘i‘ofthinkong that thé vacuum

filléd‘ by Judaism: the ignoranc’e‘ of: it among Chrisfiiéha,

the pnefiaudice‘ Oxjt'hodéic

m

-

tn? aiis‘ions within Jewry, the reluctance acfiit'pro‘sely'bes. ‘But fliers: is nor doubt tha'fih,

against“v‘i§b‘,fi

Jufléism

fov

bf

J gamma—Ji’u‘be faced infihe year: to come with an oppbrizunity and a challenge u‘presuhiletea; in its binarmy. it is a

If it rises to the

big if ~ then whp knows fi’hat may not ‘hapjen.

occ’asiori

Perhaps in”“

years to come Bpitiéhfiufifiaypafirs at. this: season will carry cr‘ticles, not‘ about the‘myb‘h affine Itégurrectinn of an indivdual, “out aboufi the ‘Egoaus from Egzyptrwhich,‘ in its chnsequences! lain} the fgunaations of v

all rhhat isw‘no‘ble‘una redemptive in human civili’gation. ‘

.—

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