The Center For Spiritual Leadership
“Those people not governed by God shall be ruled by tyrants”....Wm Penn
PRESENTS
Christian Soldiers Of America
MEMBERS AREA
COMMUNISM IN THE CHURCH
Instead of persecuting Christians in America, an act that would surely bring unwanted attention to the Communist Party, it was decided that
the best way to get Christians to accept a communist government was to infiltrate the seminaries, slightly change the message of the New
Testament, and send out thousands of graduating ministers to teach the masses a Social Religion instead of Revealed Religion. The new
message would no longer separate those who were “no part of this world” (believers) from those who were “of this world” (non-believers). To
those who did not individually study the Bible but got the bulk of their Biblical education from sermons, this would make the socialist ideology
appear to be the righteous Will of God; a doctrine Christians could be deceived into accepting and vote for. In this way the socialist ideology
would eventually result in a communist government in America.
After a hearing by the United States Committee on Un-American Activities was completed, the National Council and the World Council of
Churches denied that communism had infiltrated the clergy, the transcript of the hearing was released to the public. But who knew it was
released? We have published below some of that transcript.
Hearing Before The Committee on Un-American Activities
House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, First Session
July 7 and 8, and July 13 and 14, 1953
Read the testimony of Mr. Manning Johnson, formerly a top member of the Communist Party, and other communist witnesses. The questions
are asked by Robert Kunzig, chief counsel for the committee, and other members of the committee.
Page 2266:
Mr. KUNZIG: Mr. Johnson, before we leave this point I note that the name Harry Ward has appeared in so many of these various organizations
and groups. It seems as if there is almost an interlacing tie-up of one to the other and, not in any one particular religious sect or denomination,
but through various sects and denominations. Have you any comment to make on this situation?
Mr. JOHNSON: Yes, I have. Dr. Harry F. Ward, for many years, has been the chief architect for Communist infiltration and subversion in the
religious field.
Page 2082:
Mr. KUNZIG: Do you attach any special significance to Dr. Ward's lectures in China?
Mr. GITLOW: I only presented Ward's lectures delivered in China in 1925 because they were discussed at length in Moscow and at the
Comintern. The Comintern leaders were of the opinion that clergymen, with Dr. Ward's point of view, using the cloak of religion, could render
service of inestimable value to the Communist cause in China and to Soviet interests. Besides, the missions and church institutions of China
could be used, in the opinion of the Comintern, to cover up Communist espionage activity in China. Clergymen, who served in various capacities
in China, and who deliberately followed the Communist Party line or who were duped into following it, formed an important branch of the
conspiracy to turn China over to the Communists. They not only gave assistance to the Communists in China but they also carried on effective
propaganda in the United States to influence public opinion for their point of view. Later in my testimony I will show how the Methodist
Federation for Social Action was tied into the Communist conspiracy.
Pages 2084 and 2085:
Mr. KUNZIG: What kind of an organization was the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and how did it differ from a Communist-front
organization?
Mr. GITL0W: The Methodist Federation for Social Action, originally called the Methodist Federation for Social Service, was first organized by a
group of Socialists, Marxist clergymen of the Methodist church headed by Dr. Harry F. Ward. Dr. Ward was the organizer, for almost a
lifetime its secretary and actual leader. He at all times set its ideological and political pattern. Its objective was to transform the Methodist
Church and Christianity into an instrument for the achievement of socialism. It was established in 1907, 12 years before the organization
of the Communist Party in the United States in 1919.
Mr. KUNZIG: What were the connections between the Methodist Federation for Social Action and the two Communist-front organizations you
mentioned that played such an important role in the Communist infiltration of religion?
Mr. GITLOW: In the first place the Methodist Federation for Social Action was affiliated with and collaborated more closely with the American
League Against War and Fascism, and the American League for Peace and Democracy, and the American Youth Congress.
Mr. KUNZIG: Did Dr. Ward use his position as chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism to aid the Communist conspiracy for
the infiltration of the churches?
Mr. GITLOW: He did.
Page 2092:
Mr. GITLOW: ...To detail the extent of the Communist infiltration of the Methodist Church -- the people who served the Communists in the
church consciously and those who were its stooges -- would take several hundred pages of testimony. ...
Mr. GITLOW: The principal individuals involved in the Communist conspiracy to subvert the Methodist Church for Communist purposes are: Dr.
Harry F. Ward, Rev. Jack R. McMichael, Rev. Charles C. Webber, Rev. Aslo J. Smith, Dr. Willard Uphaus, Margaret Forsyth, and Rev. Lee H.
Ball.
Mr. KUNZIG: What organization, in your opinion, played a most important part in the Communist infiltration of religion?
Mr. GITLOW: In my opinion the Methodist Federation for Social Action. First, it set the pattern for setting up similar organizations in the
other Protestant denominations. It, in fact, assumed the leadership of the so-called social action movement in the Christian churches,
and greatly influenced their ideas and the programs they adopted and their activities. It maintained the closest relations with all of them and
often collaborated with them.
Mr. Kunzig asks Mr. Johnson about the methods which the Communist leaders in the United States used to win over church people.
Page 2170:
Mr. JOHNSON: I would first like to read to you what William Z. Foster has to say on this matter:
“Communists must ever be keen to cultivate the democratic spirit of mutual tolerance among the religious sects and the people's mass
organization. A still greater lesson for us to learn, however, is how to work freely with religious strata for the accomplishment of democratic
mass objectives, while at the same time carrying on our basic Marxist-Leninist educational work.
“A very serious mistake of the American left wing during many years, and one it would not have made had it understood Marx and Lenin, has
been its attempt arbitrarily to wave aside religious sentiments among the masses. Reactionary forces [concerned Christians and
conservatives] have already known how to take advantage of this shortsighted sectarian error by instigating the religious masses against the left
wing.
"In recent years, however, the Communist Party, with its policy of ‘the outstretched hand,’ has done much to overcome the harmful left-
wing narrowness of former years and to develop a more healthy cooperation with the religious masses of the people in building [a]
democratic front.” ...
Mr. KUNZIG: Was deceit a major policy of Communist propaganda and activity? -
Mr. JOHNSON: Yes, it was. They made fine gestures and honeyed words to the church people which could be well likened unto the song of
the fabled sea nymphs luring millions to moral decay, spiritual death, and spiritual slavery. An illustration of this treachery, I might point out, is
smiling, sneaky Earl Browder, for example, who was vice chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism, greeting and praising
ministers and other church workers participating with him in the united-front, antiwar activities, while secretly harboring in his heart
only contempt for them and for the religion they represented....
Pages 2201 and 2202:
Mr. JOHNSON: The Methodist Federation for Social Service or the Methodist Federation for Social Action, headed by the Rev. Harry F. Ward,
whom I have already identified as a Party member, was invaluable to the Communist Party in its united-front organizations campaign. It was
invaluable because through it the Party was able to get contacts with thousands of ministers all over the country.
...quite a few ministers, for example, participated in the united front known as the American League Against War and Fascism, and later called
the American League for Peace and Democracy, in which many ministers were involved. In fact, they were so deeply involved through Harry
F. Ward that they became the spokesmen -- the advocates, the builders, and the leaders of this most important Communist front that engaged
in everything from simple assault on a government to espionage, sabotage and the overthrow of the Government of the United States.
Page 2278:
Mr. KUNZIG: At the conclusion of your testimony here, Mr. Johnson, could you give us a summary of the overall manner in which the
Communists have attempted to infiltrate and poison the religious organizations of America wherever possible?
Mr. JOHNSON: Once the tactic of infiltrating religious organizations was set by the Kremlin, the actual mechanics of implementing the
“new line” was a question of following the general experiences of the living church movement in Russia, where the Communists discovered
that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the church by Communist agents operating within the
church itself.
The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to
American conditions and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces
available it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries and divinity schools. The practical conclusion drawn
by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future
clergymen in the paths most conducive to Communist purposes.
In general, the idea was to divert the emphasis of clerical thinking from the spiritual to the material and political—by political, of course, is
meant politics based on the Communist doctrine of conquest of power. Instead of emphasis towards the spiritual and matters of the soul, the
new and heavy emphasis was to deal with those matters which, in the main, led toward the Communist program of “immediate demands”
PRESENTS
Christian Soldiers Of America
MEMBERS AREA
COMMUNISM IN THE CHURCH
Instead of persecuting Christians in America, an act that would surely bring unwanted attention to the Communist Party, it was decided that
the best way to get Christians to accept a communist government was to infiltrate the seminaries, slightly change the message of the New
Testament, and send out thousands of graduating ministers to teach the masses a Social Religion instead of Revealed Religion. The new
message would no longer separate those who were “no part of this world” (believers) from those who were “of this world” (non-believers). To
those who did not individually study the Bible but got the bulk of their Biblical education from sermons, this would make the socialist ideology
appear to be the righteous Will of God; a doctrine Christians could be deceived into accepting and vote for. In this way the socialist ideology
would eventually result in a communist government in America.
After a hearing by the United States Committee on Un-American Activities was completed, the National Council and the World Council of
Churches denied that communism had infiltrated the clergy, the transcript of the hearing was released to the public. But who knew it was
released? We have published below some of that transcript.
Hearing Before The Committee on Un-American Activities
House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, First Session
July 7 and 8, and July 13 and 14, 1953
Read the testimony of Mr. Manning Johnson, formerly a top member of the Communist Party, and other communist witnesses. The questions
are asked by Robert Kunzig, chief counsel for the committee, and other members of the committee.
Page 2266:
Mr. KUNZIG: Mr. Johnson, before we leave this point I note that the name Harry Ward has appeared in so many of these various organizations
and groups. It seems as if there is almost an interlacing tie-up of one to the other and, not in any one particular religious sect or denomination,
but through various sects and denominations. Have you any comment to make on this situation?
Mr. JOHNSON: Yes, I have. Dr. Harry F. Ward, for many years, has been the chief architect for Communist infiltration and subversion in the
religious field.
Page 2082:
Mr. KUNZIG: Do you attach any special significance to Dr. Ward's lectures in China?
Mr. GITLOW: I only presented Ward's lectures delivered in China in 1925 because they were discussed at length in Moscow and at the
Comintern. The Comintern leaders were of the opinion that clergymen, with Dr. Ward's point of view, using the cloak of religion, could render
service of inestimable value to the Communist cause in China and to Soviet interests. Besides, the missions and church institutions of China
could be used, in the opinion of the Comintern, to cover up Communist espionage activity in China. Clergymen, who served in various capacities
in China, and who deliberately followed the Communist Party line or who were duped into following it, formed an important branch of the
conspiracy to turn China over to the Communists. They not only gave assistance to the Communists in China but they also carried on effective
propaganda in the United States to influence public opinion for their point of view. Later in my testimony I will show how the Methodist
Federation for Social Action was tied into the Communist conspiracy.
Pages 2084 and 2085:
Mr. KUNZIG: What kind of an organization was the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and how did it differ from a Communist-front
organization?
Mr. GITL0W: The Methodist Federation for Social Action, originally called the Methodist Federation for Social Service, was first organized by a
group of Socialists, Marxist clergymen of the Methodist church headed by Dr. Harry F. Ward. Dr. Ward was the organizer, for almost a
lifetime its secretary and actual leader. He at all times set its ideological and political pattern. Its objective was to transform the Methodist
Church and Christianity into an instrument for the achievement of socialism. It was established in 1907, 12 years before the organization
of the Communist Party in the United States in 1919.
Mr. KUNZIG: What were the connections between the Methodist Federation for Social Action and the two Communist-front organizations you
mentioned that played such an important role in the Communist infiltration of religion?
Mr. GITLOW: In the first place the Methodist Federation for Social Action was affiliated with and collaborated more closely with the American
League Against War and Fascism, and the American League for Peace and Democracy, and the American Youth Congress.
Mr. KUNZIG: Did Dr. Ward use his position as chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism to aid the Communist conspiracy for
the infiltration of the churches?
Mr. GITLOW: He did.
Page 2092:
Mr. GITLOW: ...To detail the extent of the Communist infiltration of the Methodist Church -- the people who served the Communists in the
church consciously and those who were its stooges -- would take several hundred pages of testimony. ...
Mr. GITLOW: The principal individuals involved in the Communist conspiracy to subvert the Methodist Church for Communist purposes are: Dr.
Harry F. Ward, Rev. Jack R. McMichael, Rev. Charles C. Webber, Rev. Aslo J. Smith, Dr. Willard Uphaus, Margaret Forsyth, and Rev. Lee H.
Ball.
Mr. KUNZIG: What organization, in your opinion, played a most important part in the Communist infiltration of religion?
Mr. GITLOW: In my opinion the Methodist Federation for Social Action. First, it set the pattern for setting up similar organizations in the
other Protestant denominations. It, in fact, assumed the leadership of the so-called social action movement in the Christian churches,
and greatly influenced their ideas and the programs they adopted and their activities. It maintained the closest relations with all of them and
often collaborated with them.
Mr. Kunzig asks Mr. Johnson about the methods which the Communist leaders in the United States used to win over church people.
Page 2170:
Mr. JOHNSON: I would first like to read to you what William Z. Foster has to say on this matter:
“Communists must ever be keen to cultivate the democratic spirit of mutual tolerance among the religious sects and the people's mass
organization. A still greater lesson for us to learn, however, is how to work freely with religious strata for the accomplishment of democratic
mass objectives, while at the same time carrying on our basic Marxist-Leninist educational work.
“A very serious mistake of the American left wing during many years, and one it would not have made had it understood Marx and Lenin, has
been its attempt arbitrarily to wave aside religious sentiments among the masses. Reactionary forces [concerned Christians and
conservatives] have already known how to take advantage of this shortsighted sectarian error by instigating the religious masses against the left
wing.
"In recent years, however, the Communist Party, with its policy of ‘the outstretched hand,’ has done much to overcome the harmful left-
wing narrowness of former years and to develop a more healthy cooperation with the religious masses of the people in building [a]
democratic front.” ...
Mr. KUNZIG: Was deceit a major policy of Communist propaganda and activity? -
Mr. JOHNSON: Yes, it was. They made fine gestures and honeyed words to the church people which could be well likened unto the song of
the fabled sea nymphs luring millions to moral decay, spiritual death, and spiritual slavery. An illustration of this treachery, I might point out, is
smiling, sneaky Earl Browder, for example, who was vice chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism, greeting and praising
ministers and other church workers participating with him in the united-front, antiwar activities, while secretly harboring in his heart
only contempt for them and for the religion they represented....
Pages 2201 and 2202:
Mr. JOHNSON: The Methodist Federation for Social Service or the Methodist Federation for Social Action, headed by the Rev. Harry F. Ward,
whom I have already identified as a Party member, was invaluable to the Communist Party in its united-front organizations campaign. It was
invaluable because through it the Party was able to get contacts with thousands of ministers all over the country.
...quite a few ministers, for example, participated in the united front known as the American League Against War and Fascism, and later called
the American League for Peace and Democracy, in which many ministers were involved. In fact, they were so deeply involved through Harry
F. Ward that they became the spokesmen -- the advocates, the builders, and the leaders of this most important Communist front that engaged
in everything from simple assault on a government to espionage, sabotage and the overthrow of the Government of the United States.
Page 2278:
Mr. KUNZIG: At the conclusion of your testimony here, Mr. Johnson, could you give us a summary of the overall manner in which the
Communists have attempted to infiltrate and poison the religious organizations of America wherever possible?
Mr. JOHNSON: Once the tactic of infiltrating religious organizations was set by the Kremlin, the actual mechanics of implementing the
“new line” was a question of following the general experiences of the living church movement in Russia, where the Communists discovered
that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the church by Communist agents operating within the
church itself.
The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to
American conditions and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces
available it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries and divinity schools. The practical conclusion drawn
by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future
clergymen in the paths most conducive to Communist purposes.
In general, the idea was to divert the emphasis of clerical thinking from the spiritual to the material and political—by political, of course, is
meant politics based on the Communist doctrine of conquest of power. Instead of emphasis towards the spiritual and matters of the soul, the
new and heavy emphasis was to deal with those matters which, in the main, led toward the Communist program of “immediate demands”