Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

comics."room"choice."state."Glimpses of the Religious WorldFrank E. Allen, D. D.Outlaw Crime ComicsThe city council of Houston, Texas, after a two-weekscampaign by religious organizations, school officials andnewspapers, all of which asked for action to stopthe saleof objectionable literature at the newsstands of the city,adopted an ordinance outlawing "crimeAppeal for Aid for SufferingAn appeal for aid has been made to the churches to helpmore than 9,000,000 people in Korea, mostly refugees, penniless and homeless, for millions in India who do not haveenough to eat, for a million Arab refugees in the MiddleEast, for eleven million in Europe many of whom have beenin camps for 6 years, and for 300,000 refugees in Hong Kongwho are refugees from Communist China and are living in thepoorest kind of huts.Universal Military TrainingAn editorial in The Watchman-Examiner (Baptist) tellsof the effort to introduce Universal Military Training underanother name.A stake which the churches will have in the forthcomingCongressional elections relates to Universal Military Training.If the supporters of UMT win, we shall undoubtedly be facedwith legislative enactments which aim at makingStates a garrison state.the UnitedAccording to U. S. News and World Report for August 13,there is a draft plan to catch all youths, both for active service and for service in reserve units. This plan will be pushedin 1955. The military proponents aim at three million men onactive duty, backed bya three-million-man reserve. The prospect for American youth is two years in Army life, plus sixyears in home reserve, with a drill every week. No one,ablebodied,is to escape service under the plan. The plan will notbe called Universal Military Training, but will be a continued draft. The change is evidently to overcome the politicalhurdle which UMT has created. A scheme to militarize thenation by another name, however, will not deceive the people. Few of us want a Prussianized America. But elected representatives ought to know what we do want. Tell them. In thepast eight years, since the end of World War II, the churcheshave lost multiple thousands of young men who grew up inthem and were called up. What became of them is no mystery.We need to prepare for peace as well as to prepare for war. Todo that we need men of peace. We need bigger and betterchurches rather than bigger Pentagons.order to enact the recent legislation. Presbyterians will beparticularly happy to know that their efforts in "taking thelead"will be of benefit to a large number of ministers of otherchurches for whom there has been no pension program of anykind.Participation to be VoluntaryParticipation by ministers is to be wholly "voluntary,"and each minister will have two years in which to "make uphismind."His decision to participate is not dependent uponany action of the local congregation, nor does it depend on thecoverage of lay employees of the church. This is an entirely"new"provision in the Social Security law, for it gives ministers the special privilege of "individualCalled Self-EmployedMinisters are to be allowed to participate on a "selfemployed"basis. It may surprise many to learn.presbyteriesthat some denominations, such as the Methodists, would havedifficulty, under their present polity, in determining whoreally "employed" their ministers. The Episcopalians refer toa minister's "salary" as a "stipend," because the rector is notto be considered a salaried employee. Because of such differences between denominations, the lawmakers decided it wouldbe wise to classify all ministersfor the purpose of the lawunder the "self-employed" category; and theyare thereforeto self-pay the same taxes and receive the same benefits asemployed people, such as farmers, retail merchants, accountants, and architects.Separation of Church and StateAnother important reason for establishing the "self-employed"basis for all ministers was to avoid difficult questionsthat arose concerning the "separation of church andIf the ministers had been included on an employee-employerbasis, there would have been direct taxation of the church onthe salary of the minister. The Southern Baptists and the Roman Catholics were two of the larger groups which were deeplyconcerned about these mattersalthough not for the samereasons. Even on a self-employed basis there are some important questions yet to be decided concerning what is to beconsidered as "earned income" and what value is to be placedfor example on "board andand "manse," especially inregard to those pastors, priests, and rabbis who may be serving without officially established compensation.Social Security Granted to MinistersPresbyterian Life publishes an article on the new plan toallow clergymen to participate in Social Securityfrom whichwe quote.In the past, ministers who served local congregationswere specifically excluded from Social Security; but with theamendments recently passed by Congress, all ministers will at1955. The Presbyterianlast become eligible on January 1,Church was one of the first of the denominations to take official action requesting that the law be changed so as to allowministers to participate voluntarily. When the Congressmen ofboth the House and Senate became aware of the desires of theclergy, they made every effort to satisfy the requests andeven went so far as to break a long-established precedent in258The General Assembly's AttitudeThe 1954 General Assemblypassed a resolution to theeffect that if the Social Security provisions were to be soamended as to allow the clergy to participate voluntarily,both ministers and churches were urged to arrange for suchcoverage in addition to continued full participation in theService Pension Plan. The combination of both pension programs will provide a much more adequate retirement incomefor ministers in the future. Studies made by the Board ofPensions show that the combined benefits will, in general, increase the retirement incomes of ministers who retire on orafter July 1, 1957, to an adequate level for the first time.(Continued on page 266)COVENANTER WITNESS