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THE MAROON TIGER
Page Forty-seven
Special Articles
Ut Omnes Unum Sint
Wm. H. King, Jr.
“All the world is one”—was the greatest motto
of the National Student Conference, which truly
was a great gathering and truly a momentous oc
casion. Dr. A. Bruce Curry well said of the Na
tional Student Conference: “It represented a will
ingness to see the right way and a willingness
to begin following the right way as soon as we
see it—a willingness to throw off the ‘excess bag
gage’.”
The conference was a great communion—we
were seeking a way out. “What Resources Has
Jesus for Life in Our World?” This was the great
question. How can Jesus’ principles function in a
world of race prejudice, imperialism, unfair com
petition, war, nationalism and a host of other
things? Such problems were heavily on our
minds. We sought for “the way out.”
Some of the most outstanding scholars of the
day were present. Dr. Reinhold Nilbuhr spoke on
“The Practical Unbelief of Modern Civilization.”
He stated that there are four enemies to faith:
(1) Cynicism of the strong man; (2) Cynicism
of the weak man expressed in communism; (3)
Cynicism of the observer who looks on in dis
gust as others try life, and (4) Hypocrisy of the
man in ordinary life.
Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, president of Union
Theological Seminary, spoke on “How Jesus
Found Fellowship With God.” Lie compared the
conditions this student generation faces today
with those that Christ faced in His day, finding
these conditions very similar.
Rev. Howard Thurman spoke very convincing
ly on “Finding God,” or the “Quest For Fulfill
ment,” as he preferred to call it. Dr. G. A. Stud-
dert-Kennedy was another high point man. He
spoke on “Modern Science and the Accessibility
of God.” Dr. Studdert-Kennedy was perhaps the
most sought for man in the entire conference.
His view was practical and yet so lofty—always
poetic. Dr. Timothy T. Lew, Yenching University,
Peking, China, spoke on “How Christians Make It
Difficult for the World To Belive in Christ.”
Dr. Mordecai W. Johnson, president, Howard
University, Washington, D. C., spoke very fluent
ly and convincingly on “The Meaning of God’s
Universal Fatherhood in the Relations of the Rac
es.” He gave a very thorough analysis of the so-
called race problems,” and offered solutions not
Utopian, but simply civil.
Prof. Robert A. Millikan, California Institute
of Technology, Pasadena, California, spoke on
“The Changing Conception of God and Duty,” in
which he traced the conception of God from a
being of caprice to one of scientific methods. He
stated that the only effective preacher in the
world preacher in the world today is modern
science.
Just what has it all meant?
Milwaukee meant the revelation of the way,
the truth and the light for some. Certainly there
were some who didn’t get the point, so encrysted
were they in the conventions of the time—in the
prejudices and maladjustments of an age, whose
prosperity allows it to shut out God. Christ’s pro
gram can be found in the relations of races, na
tions, classes, sects, creeds, etc. Just what has it
all meant to students on this college campus? I
have expressed my ideas of its effect in the fol
lowing article sent to the “Intercollegian” of the
Y. M. and Y. W. C. A., on request:
“A statement as to the actual results of the
Milwaukee Conference on my college campus
would lead to a statement of the questions asked
and the currents of thought stimulated.
“There are those who prefer to think of Mil
waukee as an ‘absolutely vague and inaccessible
idealism—a real Utopia.’ ‘Who could ever believe
that the dominating white races of the world
would ever recognize the darker races as their
co-equals?’ ‘Don’t let them deceive you,’ they say,
‘they all have a point to cary.’ ‘Who could be so
ignorant of the economic and political status of
the world as to believe that war can be outlawed?
And to talk about actual production for use with
the elimination of production for profit on the
large scale, is simply absurd.’
“There are the cynics—the misanthropes. You’re
fools,’ they say. ‘Poor creatures trying to bring
an impracticable philosophy of life as a solution
to these great problems of the day. Christ has
no place in the great world of real affairs.
“And then there are those who are less vehe
ment—those who might be called agnostic if this
were a purely theological question. ‘I don’t know,’
they say. ‘Can it be possible that these men and
women are sincere? Do you actually think they
are conscientious?’ ‘When over two thousand
said they were willing to give to the members of
other races equal opportunities—do you think
they were sane and meant it?Do you think they
STILL mean it?’
“And finally there is that small group that sees
Milwaukee as the way out—the door to the new
social order of peace—of brotherhood—of fair
play—of justice. They would say along with me:
Some how, some day
Though it’s black as the night of day
I shall know that Truth from Thee
That leads 7>te on my weary way.
Somehow, some day
I shall behold the light that gleams
Along my road—
Along highways and in the rings
Of Social Brotherhood
There is a God whose fragrance givei
There is a One who reigns and lives
Whose Light the Heathen sees with me,
Beholds it, though we distant be.