CHRISTIANITY AND COMMUNISM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
•• 1-c..,.orr. elsPondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitabte. length is that of One of our "News of the Week" paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preferenCe over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of the author, which will be treated as confidential.—Ed. THE SPECTATOR.] - [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—When Dr. Balker compares Communism - with Christianity I presume that he is thinking of the latter as a religion and not as an institution. He ought, then, to compare it with Communism as an ideal and not with State institutions in Russia, which- are merely instruments for realising that ideal. State and Stalin worship is not a Communist ideal any more than Pope worship should be a Christian one. On the contrary : Communism aims at abolishing the State, and Stalinism is considered to be merely a means to that end. The end may be a long way off, but one- cannot expect much -after only twenty years when the. Church has accomplished so little in two thousand. The doctrine that the labourer is worthy of his hire, to which Dr. Barker takes exception when it is practised in Russia, is Christian and not Communist, but it is a necessary compromise in the present stage of evolution towards the Communist ideal of economic equality. It may be true that today the Communist is sacrificing that equality " on the altar of material efficiency," but Christians have never ceased to sacrifice it-on the altar of material property.
It seems to me that any English Christian who sets out to
criticise a new faith (Dr. Barker admits that Communism may be a faith) may soon find himself in a serious dilemma. As a Christian he must believe that the soul is the supreme reality, and that if you first seek the kingdom of God other things will be added. Conversely he must also believe that if the whole body is full of darkness the eye must be evil. Now, whether the body of England is full of darkness may be a matter of opinion, but there are already many who think so, and thlse among them who are Christians will hold the Church, the guardian of the nation's soul, responsible'. The rapid decay Of standards, codes and values, of" old English virtues," healthy instincts and sound taste, they will attribute to previous spiritual death.
To such people it will appear axiomatic that the nation will not find its feet again until it finds its soul. There is, however,
a grave danger (from the Christian point of view) that it may find that soul outside the Church. This has already happened in Communist and Fascist countries, where, as a result, the Christian Churches have been persecuted or absorbed. I know that it may be objected that these political movements are not true faiths, or that they are anti-Christ in the guise of Christ. Space does not permit an answer to these objections, and I can only record a belief that these great movements, which are now swaying millions of the mpst virile inhabitants of our globe, owe much of their vitality to a Spiritual awakening. Should something of a like nature happen to us it is just possible that we might then- say to our Churches and even to Christianity : under your spiritual guidance we lost our good name, our poetry, our countryside, our belief in eternal values, our physical health and beauty ; so we have no further use for you. If the Christian Church does not awaken England, England may wake up outside the Christian Church.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, LIONEL H. TRIPP, 85 Canterbury Avenue, Ilford.
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