The Way of Michael Scott
SIR,—I have only just seen the prolonged denunciation of the Reverend Michael Scott by Mr. Alport in your issue of June 19th. I assume that you wilt not have space in the current issue of the Spectator for a full reply. But, on behalf of a great many people in this country and Africa who have intensely admired the work of the Reverend Michael Scott for Christian understanding over a number of years, I would like to pay my tribute to one of the purest of spirits and one of the best of men.—Yours faithfully, PAKENHAM. 14 Cheyne Gardens, S.W.3.
SIR,—To save Mr. C. J. Alport's attack on the Christian responsibility of the Rev. Michael Scott from going by default, I may draw attention to the inadequacy of his Scriptural ground. The text " Render unto Caesar . • ." was a reply of our Lord to those who tempted Him- i.e. to those who were not seeking His guidance. It is to be turned inward as self-discipline, not outward as critical attack.
What Christians have to render to God is fellowship with His other children of their generation. Mr. Scott has found himself com- pelled to agree in the main with a, political attitude of a body of Africans, who dissent from the views of a majority of the present British Government. He could have stood aside when a notable African took the action of withdrawing his service and support from the representatives of that government; he would thereby simply have added to the general African conviction that no white man, however sympathetic, will stand by a black man at the expense of .his comfort. Politically, the action Mr. Scott took may call for restraint by administrators in their own sphere of concern. Morally, it has out- raged no human right. As a matter of religion, it raises questions of the relation of Caesar's claims to Caesar's dues on which Mr. Scott is as likely to be sound as Mr. Alport. Europeanism is in grave danger of assuming in African eyes the horrifyingly unimpressionable " monolithic structure " that Communism has for those outside it. It is an effective short-term defensive device, but no contribution to the Partnership that Mr. Alport advocates. Mr. Scott has taken the
risk of cracking the monolith.—Yours faithfully, T. PRICE. Department of African Studies, University of Glasgow.
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