Mr. Abell constantly maintained a flow of printed information to his congregation. When he came to the Sacramento Society he began a mimeographed monthly bulletin, Sacramento Unitarian, with Vol. 1, Number 1, dated January 1946. The typical format was a front page message of inspiration, meditation or poetry, followed by reports, announcements, news and exhortations. In the early days of his ministry he wrote, edited and typed the mimeograph stencils on his own typewriter.
Since his first job in the office of a brass manufacturer in Waterbury, Connecticut, he had been proud of his skill with the typewriter. That talent was useful in his early ministry in Sacramento, when the Society could not afford to provide him adequate secretarial service. So his publications were a labor of love; carefully preserved copies were permanently bound and stored with the Society. He then expressed the opinion that in the future, the Society would achieve such importance that it would have its history written.
The October 1951 issue contained articles reflecting the response of some of the Unitarian ministers of California to political and ethical ideas of the times. The front cover was given to this statement
At this time of world upheaval when men’s loyalties are called into question, we the members of the Central Pacific Branch of the Unitarian Ministers‘ Association feel our duty before God and man to re-affirm the faith and responsibility which we hold in common:
We hold that mankind is one; that people are more important than property, institutions, or ideologies; that the human dignity of each person is our trust; that all men are created equal in rights and, since wisdom, truth and virtue rest in no individual or group, freedom to disagree must be protected and encouraged; that good ends should not be sought through bad means; that it is better to educate and persuade than to coerce and punish; that loyalty and respect cannot be compelled but must be earned; that love and cooperation are the creative processes by which the human spirit grows and in which life finds fulfillment; we therefore dedicate ourselves to the common defense and promotion of these principles.
(Signed)
F. Danford Lion, President
Theodore C. Abell, Secretary-Treasurer
(and eleven members)
On the following page was a copy of a statement given by Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, to the Committee of UnAmerican Activities1 at a hearing in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, on 12 September 1951.
I am profoundly shocked at this first example to my knowledge of the Committee’s calling before it of a parish minister... As a churchman and a citizen I am appalled and indignant at this invasion of my duties and privileges as a minister of religion...
Representative Jackson said on Monday at this hearing that the purpose of these hearings was to “determine the extent of infiltration of Communism into the film industry.” This being the case, I can see no reason whatsoever for my being subpoenaed by the Committee. I have no knowledge whatsoever of the matter. My opinions are an open record, being expressed in the pulpit and on the air with predictable regularity... I happen to be a birthright Quaker now serving the Unitarian denomination which has officially taken a position of disapproval of the work of this Committee. Many of my fellow ministers in the Unitarian churches... have frequently protested the work of this Committee. Now, with this subpoena you actually seek to invade the realm of religion. The churches will not, I predict, accept such an effort to achieve among the clergy a deadly uniformity through defining what are dangerous thoughts...
We in the church have no tradition of docile conformity to other men's statements of loyalty and sound patriotism. If this Committee should succeed in subpoenaing the ministers of this country and intimidating them, both American democracy and unfettered religion, as we have known them for 165 years, will vanish. I wish to have no part in such a disaster, and I shall do all I possibly can to prevent it from taking place.
1 This was a committee of the United States House of Representatives from 1938 to 1975, often known by its acronym HUAC. The Committee was notorious in the 1950s for its repeated violation of some rights granted by the first ten amendments of the Constitution.
« PREV | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | NEXT » “The Way We Were” &mdash 1951