CHRISTIAN POLITICS

...Voorhis' only answer to all this is that not all Christians "carry their conscience with them as their principal guide when they enter the ballot booth...

...Two of the most devout and active Christian members of the U. S. Congress during Voorhis' ten years there voted consistently on the anti- Voorhis side of every issue Voorhis selects as an example...

...Congress...

...As a veteran campaigner, Voorhis offers some pretty good tips on what it takes for a man of conscience to win elections...

...This is too pat...

...Voorhis argues that there could be coherent Christian policy—soil conservation and slum clearance, adequate old age pensions and honesty in government, a better money system, vigorous enforcement of anti-trust laws, and the "greatest issue"—achievement of world peace through limitation of national sovereignty...

...It is fantastic to expect even dedicated Christian people—with the enormously diverse parental, educational, economic, intellectual, and social backgrounds of the citizens of a free society such as ours—to have an identical conscience on any issue...

...Secondly, Voorhis' notion that a firm belief in the gospels predisposes a man toward any particular position on specific political issues is flatly contradicted by the all too familiar splits among good Chris- tions on political issues—splits on the very issues Voorhis enumerates...

...He foresees a moral reawakening as Christians move in on school boards and local councils and unite to select from among themselves dedicated followers of Christ to take over state legislatures and the U.S...

...In a totalitarian, omnicompetent, monolithic state where a single, absolute authority firmly controls the educational, social, and economic institutions, then indeed the true believers may speak with one voice, with a single conscience...

...Throughout this book there is too little emphasis on the importance of plain Christian tolerance and open-mindedness in politics and of the quintessential need for an avid curiosity about all the pertinent facts on political issues and an eagerness to chase truth and follow wherever she may lead...

...Even on an issue which seems as morally transparent as McCarthyism, churchmen who have devoted their lives to the teachings of Christ have taken both sides...

...As Voorhis says, "The word Christian is used in no formal or narrow sense...

...As a dedicated Christian, Voorhis contributes a brief but excellent insight into the Christian conscience at work in the soul - searching task of deciding whether to vote a grossly simple "aye," or a grossly simple "nay" on bill after bill which is neither black nor white, but gray all over...

...But there are certain contradictions, all too apparent, in Christian theory as well as in American political life, of Voorhis' thesis...

...Voorhis' answer: Let the Christian become a truly political animal...

...For instance, Voorhis seems to envision America as split into dedicated gospel - following Christians and non-Christians...

...Voorhis charts a detailed course for human salvation...

...Aside from the gross psychological oversimplification of this vision, it contradicts a cardinal tenet of the Christian religion, its all-inclusiveness...

...Here, in fact, is the fundamental difference between the tremendous diversity of our Christian American society as expressed in Congressional splits and compromises, and the non- Christian Communist society expressing itself as a single voice through the Supreme Soviet...

...Reviewed by William Proxmire THE QUESTION is: With hos- tility between the Communist world and the free world whirling humanity faster and faster towards the desolation of atomic and bacteriological desolation, how can we find the spiritual power to halt the race to suicide and begin the climb to peace on earth...

...As a ten year veteran of Congress who has dedicated his life to the political application of the principles of the gospel as he sees them, Voorhis merits our respectful attention...

...It means a person who, regardless of what his particular church membership may or may not be, is so devoted to the principles and teachings of the gospels that he seeks with all his strength and intelligence to pattern his life after them...