THE RIGHT REASON

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I appreciate your drawing your readers' attention to the debacle which takes place within Protestantism when the principle of authoritative divine revelation is allowed to decline and is replaced by the mood of secular society. Unfortunately I believe that your reporter has left a mistaken impression in the minds of some readers, for many have already commented to me. I cited the statement, "You're talking to Harvard and Radcliffe students. If you want them to listen you can't talk about God," as a perfect example of the utter failure of some Protestant clergy to do the very thing for which they exist, i.e., to proclaim the word of God.

Furthermore, I am in favor of the civil rights movement. But I feel that the rush of clergy to join it in the 'sixties can be, and in many cases is, of purely secular origin. For a Massachusetts Baptist to be pro-integration, as for an Alabama Baptist to be prosegregation, may be nothing more than a response to what the society around him expects of him. Sociologist Peter L. Berger develops this theme at length in The Noise of Solemn Assemblies, Doubleday, 1961. The whole raison d'etre of Protestant Christianity lies in obedience to an authoritative divine revelation. Doing the right thing (supporting civil rights) for the wrong reason (because James Baldwin says to) may be better than not doing it at all, but it does make the seminary degree and Protestant ordination rather superfluous. Harold O.J. Brown, '53, B.D. '57,   Th.M.'59   Associate Member, United Min-   istry to Students at Harvard and   Radcliffe