The Inland Wheelman from Topeka, Kansas • 4

vvvs AUGUST 30, 1974 PAGE 4 THE UNITED METHODIST REPOHTEK Stalwart women crusaders paved way for social change traveling alone, established Travelers Aid. In 1885, the Union spoke out against women's fashions which they felt deformed the body by the constriction of the waist and compression of the trunk. As many as 60 years ago they petitioned the governments of the world to outlaw opiates. In addition, they attacked abuses at correctional institutions and often effected changes in them. They fought for the hiring of policewomen to deal with children and women and they supported the League of Nations, the International Court of Justice and other means of arbitration for settling international disputes.

Not a bad record to build on for the next 100 years as United Methodists as well as others continue the work begun by those in the Great Crusade (Mrs. Boche is editor of the Minnesota edition of the United Methodist their friends meeting at Chautauqua, New York, with the National Sunday School Assembly decided to organize the anti-liquor movement to make permanent the grand work of the last few months. One hundred and thirty-five women answered their call to "hold the ground already won and move onward together to complete victory" over alcohol, They met November 18-20, 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. Officers were elected, a constitution was framed, a statement of principles adopted and the Womens Christian Temperence Union was born! United Methodist women have been a part of this organization from the very beginning. In fact, one of these, Annie Turner Wittenmyer of Pennsylvania, became the first president.

Mrs. Wittenmyer was known to nearly everyone at the convention for her work during the Civil War in originating special diet kitchens for the army and, later, for her efforts on behalf of the Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By BEVERLY BOCHE Without plan or forewarning the women gathered. Singing hymns to help quell their fears, they began their march on the saloons of America. The year was 1873, and the Great Crusade had begun.

Before it ended hundreds of saloons across the country would be closed down because of the efforts of this group. Although the liquor problem had been of concern to many since early in the 19th Century, it was in the aftermath of the Civil War that great numbers of people became aware of it as a serious threat to society. This was particularly true of American women who saw their families endangered by husbands and fathers, who, having returned from long years of fighting, could not control their drinking. With the Great Crusade, women for the first time saw that they could force action when they banded together. No longer need they be restricted to merely influencing men to take proper action.

They had power which they, themselves, could make use of. A year later, some of the crusaders and Under her leadership 23 state auxiliaries to the national WCTU were organized. Mrs. Wittenmyer traveled hundreds of miles in the cause of temperance and delivered lectures as often as six times in one week. In 1879 another member of the Methodist Episcopal Church became the second president of the organization.

Frances E. Willard of Illinois, a noted educator and organizer, had been corresponding secretary during the Unions first few years. It is she who is generally credited with having authored the Declaration of Principles for the newly formed group. This Declaration included an affirmation of the coming of His Kingdom, of the gospel of the Golden Rule and of several positions which would be considered forward looking even today. One paragraph, for example, states, We believe that God created both man and woman in His own image, and, therefore, we believe in one standard of purity for both men and women, and in the equal right of all to hold opinions and to express away from their struggle to gain the vote.

Miss Willard recognizing that not everyone or everything was in the temperance movement nevertheless believed that the temperance movement should be in everything. A one-sided movement," she said, "makes onesided advocates. Total abstinence is not the crucial virtue in life that excuses financial crookedness, defamation of character, or habits of impurity. We have known persons who (because they had never touched a drop of liquor) set themselves up as if they belonged to the royal line, but whose tongues were as corroding as alcohol itself and whose narrowness had no competitor save a straight line. In 1974, as the Women's Christian Temperance Union celebrates 100 years of effort to alert people to the problems created by alcoholic beverages, it can look back on a number of other accomplishments unrecognized by most people.

The termperance group, for example, acting on its concern for the protection of women and children the same with equal freedom," The statement continues in the economic realm by declaring the belief in a living wage, the eight -hour day and in "justice as opposed to greed of gain. The final paragraphs contained the pledge to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in these alcoholic beverages. Miss Willard was a strong advocate, also, of extending the right to vote to women, and she never wavered from her conviction that to settle the question of liquor in the United States women must obtain the right to cast the ballot on this issue. She recognized long before most other women and men that the power to change society lies in organized efforts by voters. Some historians have speculated that the strength of the WCTU effort on behalf of womens sufferage added to the determination of Congress to pass the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, hoping it would take much of the impetus St 'W i Churchs global ministries will be examined in regional meetings f) NEW YORK (UMC) Conference and district leadership related to the United Methodist Churchs Board of Global Ministries, nearly 1,000 strong, will gather across the nation in five jurisdictional events to grapple with the issues involved in global mission today.

Theme of the three-day coast-to-coast conferences beginning in September is Why Global? Being launched along with the current ecumenical mission study on global consciousness, the events are designed to help leaders understand tough issues concerning North American assumptions, values, practices, and theology that shape mission in the global community. It is hoped, according to planners, that changes and tensions can be faced honestly by the participants as they explore past and present relationships, pain and joy, and emerging responses to global realities. The initial meeting will be held in the Southeastern Jurisdiction at Lake Junaluska, N.C., September 10-12. It will open with an address by Board president, Bishop Paul A. Washburn of Chicago, and will be followed by Ten Tough Questions, introduced by the Rev.

H. Claude Young of Thomasville, N.C., dealing with questions the local church has about global ministries and mission today. Mr. Young is president of the Boards Education and Cultivation Division, which is sponsoring the events. Third World speakers from the U.S.

and abroad, update sessions on different parts of the world, and missions in the United States are features of the program. Other events on somewhat similar models are planned for the North Central Jurisdiction Oak Brook, Illinois, September 17-19; Northeastern Jurisdiction Chicopee, Massachusetts, October Central Jurisdiction Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, November 20-22; and Western Jurisdiction December 2-4 at a place to be determined. Planned by conference representatives and staff from the Board of Global Ministries in each jurisdiction, the consultations grew out of the recognition that following structural changes made at the 1972 General Conference local congregations need a better understanding of the concerns now grouped together in the biggest of the four program agencies of United Methodism. Mr. Young, pastor of Memorial United Methodist Church in Thomasville, N.C., says that the underlying purpose of the five consultations, involving 150 to 200 persons each, is to increase understanding of mission and global ministries and to help local churches realize how they relate to the global community.

In addition to the events, resource materials are being prepared including a basic process manual by Mr. Young, filmstrips, an animated film, and other materials. They will be tested during the conferences and released for local congregations in early 1975. In addition to emphasis on global interdependence the events will attempt to understand Gods intention for life in the world community and the particular role of the Board of Global Ministries in that global context. Identifying ways the Board of Global Ministries and local churches are mutually participating in mission in the global community is also a principal purpose, according to the Rev.

David W. Briddell, assistant general secretary of the Education and Cultivation Division, who heads a staff planning team. The meetings will deal with such questions as the meaning of commitment to Jesus Christ in various cultures, how to cope with diversity in mission, power relationships between Third World and North America, and the role of persons in missions today. The conferences also are designed to help conference and district leadership understand the reasons why national and world missions, overseas relief, United Methodist Women, Health -and Welfare ministries, and ecumenical and interreligious concerns are grouped together in a Board of Global Ministries. Plans for itineration of international teams will be made.

The local church participation in the Why Global emphasis is planned to extend from 1975 through the 1976 General Conference in Portland, Oreg. UMC agency goes to bat for hospitals JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (RNS) A friend of the court brief is being entered in a hospital tax exemption case by the Health and Welfare Ministries Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. In a decision announced April 17, the Kansas City Circuit Court ruled that three non-public hospitals were no longer eligible for tax exemption. The decision is being appealed to the state Supreme Court here.

Though the status of only three hospitals in Kansas City, is immediately at stake, the exemption of church-related and other non-public hospitals throughout the state would presumably be affected if the lower court decision were upheld. The hospitals immediately concerned were Baptist Memorial Hospital, St. Lukes Hospital (Episcopal) and the Research Hospital and Medical Center, a private institution. If these hospitals become taxable, it will have ramifications throughout the country, said attorney Eugene T. Hackler, who is representing the Health and Welfare Ministries Division.

In denying the exemptions, the judge of the Circuit Court emphasized the following points: The hospitals showed substantial net operating profit. All potential patients are questioned about their financial resources, and are billed for the services they receive, with about one per cent of these billings written off as bad debts. The hospitals had no established program to aid the indigent, and such aid was rendered in only token amounts. Exemptions granted in past years were based on a desperate need for hospitals at a time when they were infant industries. In order to merit tax exempt status, he said, a hospital should have care of the indigent as its primary purpose.

Commenting on the decision to submit a friend of the court brief in support of the appeal, John A. Murdoch of the Health and Welfare Ministries Division said, Since the taxation of hospitals would weaken the care of all people at current rates, and would especially threaten care of the indigent and low income people who can barely afford to pay their own ways, the Division sees the suit as having possible broad and grave repercussions. United Methodists have four hospitals in Missouri: Methodist Medical Center in St. Joseph, Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Lester E.

Cox Medical Center in Springfield and Freeman Hospital in Joplin. Church union high on agenda of new Anglican archbishop Watergate guard receives King award PHILADELPHIA Frank Wills right the security guard who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal, receives the 1974 Martin Luther King Award from the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, during the SCLCs annual meeting in Philadelphia. The King Award is the top honor given by the civil rights organization founded by the late Nobel Peace Prize winner. Mr.

Wills, 26, was a security guard at the Watergate complex in Washington in the Summer of 1972. It was he who discovered the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. His discovery led eventually to the Watergate investigations and the resignation of President Nixon. RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO Amnesty call lauded by churchmen Presidents proposal welcomed; more leniency sought LONDON (RNS) Church union will be high on the list of priorities of Archbishop Donald Coggan of York when he takes over as next Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England in November, he said in a televison interview. Dr.

Coggan was asked specifically whether he would pursue the unsuccessful but still much sought after organic union with the Methodist Church. He replied, Oh yes, very much so. The general union of the churches will be very high on my list of priorities. You have singled out the Methodists presumably because of the debacle (in the Anglican General Synod) in May 73 when what the present Archbishop of Canterbury and and many others had greatly hoped for, didnt come off. (This was a reference to the Synods failure to vote in favor of a scheme of reunion between the two churches) I think therefore, he said, we ought to have a particularly tender approach to the Methodists.

Nevertheless, we must see this as a much wider movement towards union, reaching from the Roman Catholics to the Methodists, to the United Reformed, etc. etc. This is a vast operation which we must pursue with great zeal. Elsewhere in the interview, Dr. Coggan intimated he intends putting evangelism before ritual when he is Archbishop of Canterbury.

What do you preach? he asked. What do you teach? What is it youre trying to get across? This is terribly important and this is where I direct all my interests, my study, my thought. ditional and unconditional amnesty are not currently as important as the fact that the President has opened public debate on amnesty. He said the Chief Executive took a most positive step by moving the issue from whether amnesty should be granted to what its nature and scope should be. Many observers considered it courageous on Mr.

Fords part to make his amnesty statement to the VFW, which has consistently condemned amnesty proposals. Ray R. Soden, the VFW national president, said the 1974 anti-amnesty resolution would not be recinded. Were upholding nothing more than what every citizen is expected to uphold the law, he said. at least for those who resisted military service because of their conscientious convictions.

Rabbi Hertzberg of the American Jewish Congress said that the President has made it clear to all that the conscience of America cannot rest until we make possible the return of those thousands of young Americans now living abroad whom the President rightly described as casualties of the war. He welcomed the inclusion of deserters in those considered for amnesty, but Rabbi Hertzberg said his organization disagrees with Mr. Ford on the issue of alternative service, that is, earned amnesty. Rabbi Hertzberg said, however, that differences between stands on con National Fire Protection Association says Churches constitute fire hazard NEW YORK (RNS) Top Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish officials warmly welcomed President Fords call for conditional amnesty in dealing with Vietnam war draft resisters and deserters. The Rev.

W. Sterling Cary, president of the National Council of Churches, New York; Bishop James S. Rausch, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D. and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, New York, were among those hailing Mr. Fords initiative.

Each of the three, however, suggested in separate statements that the Presidents proposals be made more lenient in the direction of unconditional amnesty. Mr. Ford, speaking to the Veterans of Foreign War in Chicago on Aug. 19, said he wanted a second chance for young men who fled the country to escape induction and those in legal trouble for resistance and desertion during the war. But he felt that the second chance must be earned, and the new Chief Executive rejected unconditional amnesty.

Meanwhile in Chicago, Sen. Edward Kennedy also speaking to the VFW, praised the President for calling for mercy, healing, leniency in regard to resisters and deserters. He appealed to the veterans group, which passed a resolution opposing any amnesty, to reconsider its position, which he termed narrow. In hailing Mr. Ford's call, Mr.

Cary of the National Council said, This is an hour when understanding and compassion are vital to the healing of our countrys wounds of spirit and purpose. We can thank God that President Ford is leading the way. Bishop Rausch said that the Presidents remarks to the VFW were a welcome sign of his detennination to bring about reconciliation in our country. He noted that the Catholic hierarchys position on amnesty appears to be fully supportive of the approach suggested by the President. Yet the bishop said that consideration should be given to unconditional amnesty But it says many congregations nonetheless refuse to put them in.

"They consider it an unnecessary drain on their building funds, and rationalize their decision on the grounds that their local fire department is capable of taking care of any fire that might occur, says the report. However, as most people know, the facts indicate otherwise, it continues. A fire that starts in an unoccupied, unprotected building, especially at a time when most people are asleep, is bound to gain headway before it is discovered. Such headway puts it beyond the capabilities of any fire department to control before a major and often a total loss occurs. A chart showing the percentage of church fires by month reveals that the most hazardous months are January (19 per cent) and May (11.7 per cent), and the least hazardous month is June (3.7 per cent).

But no suggestions are given regarding the reason for this distribution. (Copies of the report are available at $2.25 each from the NFPA, 470 Atlantic Ave.t Boston, Mass. 02210.) tains statistical charts and general analysis of the fire hazards peculiar to churches. Out of a total of 325,000 churches and synagogues in the U.S., the report says, some 4,300 were damaged by fire in 1972, with a loss of over $28 million. Arson has become the single leading cause of church fires for which a cause could be determined, according to the report.

This figure is now 36.5 per cent, a sharp increase from the 16.8 per cent that the 1965 study found attributed to arson. Other principal causes are defective heating equipment (25.1 per cent), defective wiring (22 per cent) and lightening (6.6 per cent). About 3 per cent of church fires start in the organ, and the remainder are attributed to a variety of causes. Nearly half of all church fires occur between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., according to the study, and more than three-fourths while the building is unoccupied.

Automatic sprinklers have proved to be the most effective fire protection system now available, says the NFPA. BOSTON (RNS) The way churches are built and used makes them particularly vulnerable to fires, according to a newly-published study by the National Fire Protection Association. A principal reason for this vulnerability, says the report, lies in the fact that they are unoccupied a large part of the time. Since many of them are customarily left unlocked at all times, whether occupied or not, it says, "they are open not only to legitimate, well-intentioned visitors, but also to arsonists, thieves and vandals And once a fire starts, it is likely to attain considerable headway before it is discovered. The NFPA, which has headquarters here, also points out that churches usually have large open spaces and highly combustible construction and contents, but are seldom provided with fire protection features like sprinklers.

In summary, the NFPA study concludes, churches are built to burn. The bulk of the 20-page study consists of capsule repots on particular fires that have occurred since the NFPA published a similar study in 1965. But it also con-' Woman at prayer SEOUL Rain trickles down the face of a Korean woman as she fervently prays during the second night of EXPLO 74 in Seoul. More than 650,000 persons attended the rally. The night before a record crowd of 1.3 million gathered to open the five-day conclave sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ International.

RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO AUG -2 9 974 1 XJ.