BILLY GRAHAM

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Billy Graham was with us last week and it was a pleasure to have him in the Harvard community. Yet I think it, should be clearly understood that he does not represent Protestant thinking and speaks only for himself. I say this because personally I have always felt that Dr. Graham combines a most appealing sincerity with an incredible understanding of Christian thought and theology. I say incredible because I don't know of any reputable Protestant seminary that teaches the kind of theology that he represented here last week.

For one thing, I am troubled by his insistence that the Bible was a kind of magical authority. His oft-repeated statement, "The Bible says," leaves the impression that a simple reading of the scriptures will provide all the answers to life. Never a word is said about biblical criticism or the contemporary understanding of textual material. In the matter of authority, the teachings of the Church or the development of theology are never mentioned. Billy Graham gives to the Bible a kind of authority that would make even Martin Luther uncomfortable.

I am also troubled by the insistence on instant decision for Christ. As a young faculty friend of mine remarked to me at one of the Burr B sessions, "Dr. Graham makes a sacrament out of the decision for Christ." It becomes immediately apparent that there is no other way to religious commitment and any other pilgrimage is unacceptable. By any standards, this is a gross distortion of the nature of Christian commitment.

But my principal criticism of Dr. Graham is the oversimplification of the gospel which makes his pronouncements about contemporary social issues practically worthless. For example, I waited all week long to hear what he would say about two important issues on the campus today: race and sexual morality. Concerning the race question, he said that we should change our hearts and was critical of demonstrations. And to the Boston press he made the statement that there was more genuine understanding of the race issue in the south than in the north. But never a discussion of the meaning of social justice or a serious grappling with the roots of prejudice. As for sexual morality, he offered a re-affirmation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." I kept wondering if he felt that adultery was the issue on college campuses. Nothing whatsoever was said about what is happening to human beings in our world and of the moral dilemmas that face every one of us.

As one of the CRIMSON editors noted last week, Billy Graham and Barry Goldwater have more in common than their initials. Interestingly enough, their appeal is often to the same people. A great many Americans want their religion like their politics to be simple and "from the heart." We can admire Billy Graham's warmth, but let's not confuse his message with the historic understanding of the Faith. Rev. James R. Blanning   University Pastor at Harvard,   United Church of Christ