TRAGEDY IN CALIFORNIA AND ELSEWHERE

It has been a phenomenal news story, making the front pages of Los Angeles newspapers as well as a two-column spread in Newsweek, including a picture of the principal character. It has special interest for Churches of Christ since it concerns their most illustrious son, the man who occupies and has long occupied the most eminent positions the church has to offer.

The story has all the ingredients of raw drama. A fiery crash on a coastal highway. Two aged women burned to death, and the daughter of one of them injured. The man arrested for drunken driving was a renowned Church of Christ minister and the chancellor of its only university, as well as a director of Lockheed Aircraft. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was fined and sentenced, but under conditions that preempt a prison term.

The writeup in Newsweek underscored the raw edges of the tragedy, revealing that the minister had previously been arrested on a D.W.I., which made his conduct appear all the more inexcusable. It also pointed to the plight of the judge, who finally passed sentence after a long delay, noting that he was forced by public pressure to make a statement explaining why his judgment was lenient. Said Newsweek: “Predictably, this gingerly treatment of a prominent personality has fueled a fresh debate over a historic legal dilemma; should the punishment fit the crime or should it fit the criminal?” It further related that the daughter of one of the victims was displeased with the judge’s decision and that she and her husband have filed a lawsuit for civil damages against the minister. Then there was his picture, walking away from the court with a devoted daughter at his side. The judge had described him as “intelligent, sensitive and compassionate.” It is all a very sad affair.

But all this, calamitous as it is, may not reveal the deeper dimensions of the tragedy, which reach far beyond California. The Newsweek reporters learned that our brother was having doubts about his religion even before the accident. Conflicts and infighting at the university had shaken his confidence. He told the judge: “For years it has been increasingly difficult for me to accept the simplistic assumptions of the hell-fire and brimstone fundamentalism which most preachers in this church teach.” Then came two heart attacks and two minor strokes. Amidst all this trauma he turned to drink, having been an abstainer all his life. It must have been a heart-rending scene, our brother standing there before the university chapel, broken and remorseful, asking for forgiveness. Newsweek says the students sobbed and that Pat Boone wrote a letter to the judge, pleading for leniency. Now that he knows Jesus, Pat treats us as he would like to be treated, not the way we have treated him.

I have followed this sad story from the beginning, and while many of our papers have editorialized about it in one way or another, I have purposely withheld any comment until now. Receiving word of it from California only hours after it happened last September, I wrote to our brother of my love and concern. And I am praying that he will find healing amongst all the suffering. Our Father can and will minister to us in tragedy, and He can use suffering to make us more like Himself than ever before. This is what I want for our brother, as I wrote to him, even if it means starting all over in some humble ministry. In terms of eternity such sufferings can prove to be a blessing, certainly if in it all we turn out to be more like Jesus because of them.

I am, however, convinced that our people do not discern the true character of this tragedy — a tragedy that expresses itself in far subtler ways than highway accidents. Our people are victimized by a cruel and oppressive System that strips them of authentic individuality. They come to behave like robots rather than as men of integrity. One person, rather close to the California situation and one who loves and respects our troubled brother, summed it up poignantly: “His problem is that he has been leading a double life, really believing ont; way but having to practice something else.” He said as much to the judge. What a pity! And yet it is good, well-meaning men who become trapped by this religious austerity.

Before we become judgmental towards our brother and take pride in our own goodness (Are we tempted to find satisfaction in the ruin of others?), we would do well to take stock of ourselves and see if the “double life” syndrome is not evident all about us. It may not always lead to drink, but it is always tragic when a person’s profession is less than genuine. We have many a preacher who manages to appear “kosher” in the pulpit, while in his heart of hearts he’d like to dump the System and be a free man in Jesus. In his own conscience he errs in what he does not say that he believes he should say. College teachers among us soon learn to “take it easy” and not offend the party line, even if it means shortchanging the students in their education.

It filters down to the rank and file, with many of our members “going along” out of habit, or simply taking the course of least resistance, when in fact they buy but little of what they are subjected to. I’ve had brethren to say to me, once liberated from our exclusivistic, sectarian shell: “I never believed all that stuff anyhow!” Many more would like to make the break, but everybody is waiting for the rest of them! Many preachers would delight in being really free in the pulpit, but they are all waiting for a more seasonable time. Many, many there are who really believe in the ideals and principles set forth in this journal, that I know, but they dare not reveal it. Now, really, is that so different from the tragedy in California, in terms of cause, that is, if not in consequence?

Recently I sat in on a rap session of a gang of our kids from Abilene. An older brother, noting their fresh candor in free worship, confided in me, “These kids, once they’re running the churches, are not going to put up with all this nonsense that we’ve put up with.” Right! But what the brother did not realize is that many of the older ones do not really believe it either, including a lot of the preachers and elders, The young people are simply more honest than the rest of us. And a phony religion carried on by phony people is tragic, whether they turn to drink or not. They may not kill people on the highways, but what is their contribution in terms of conforming to the likeness of Jesus rather than to a party?

In God’s eyes there may be little difference between big tragedies and little ones. Rudeness may be as offensive as smashing someone’s automobile. Insensitivity may be as serious as a D.W.I. charge. A ruined reputation or a personal insult may be as bad as causing someone to bum to death. It certainly hurts a lot longer, even if not as intensely. Turning a cold shoulder to our divorcees, excluding our charismatics, branding our “liberals,” and firing those that do not say things just right may call for as many tears in heaven’s sight as anything drunken drivers ever do. How many sobbed over the way the Church of Christ treated Pat Boone, and his parents, and his sister, all among the sweetest and dearest people the church ever had? No confessions appeared in the Firm Foundation. Few, if any, letters were written in their behalf. What we do in the name of “doctrinal purity” may be more hideous in God’s sight than scorched blood on a blackened highway.

Our colleges seem to be the worst offenders in all this game playing, perhaps because they suppose they have more to lose if something happens to the System. It is evident in these lesser tragedies that I am always hearing about, and always from good authority. There is this good brother now serving on the faculty of one of our Texas state universities, but who previously taught at ACC (now ACU!), who was invited to participate on the program of the recent lectureship. The professor was previously an elder in a congregation from which he and more than 100 others, including other elders and deacons, left for the sake of freedom. He warned the brother from ACC who invited him that there might be some flak if he appeared on the program, in view of these recent developments, in his home congregation. The ACC man assured him that there would be no problem, so our brother was added to the program and made his plans accordingly.

Once the program was made public, a young preacher in this town fires a letter to the ACC officials, threatening exposure if the professor is not removed from the lectureship program, all of course in the name of sound doctrine. Phone calls were made, conferences were held, strategy was determined. Big deal! Finally the prof gets that inevitable call to discuss the problem. He immediately settled it with an “I’ll get you off the hook” acquiescence, and so his name was deleted and the status quo was maintained. And this brother had himself served on the Abilene faculty, is highly respected, and has the finest relationship with all concerned. His years of service at less than standard wages, his contributions to ACC in time and money since leaving the school, his exemplary life and professional reputation meant nothing in the face of a threat from a keeper of the System.

As I heard this story, one fact emerged that is strongly reflective of the tragedy in California. All those at ACC involved in handing this good brother, honored at his own university, a professional and personal insult did not want to do it and did not really believe they should do it. They knew the man, loved the man, respected the man, and wanted him on the program — and they knew that “it was because of envy that they had delivered him up” — but still they yielded, violating their own sense of what is right for the sake of the System. That kind of double-dealing and double-living makes tragedies of us all.

It is enough to make a man take to drink. I think I’ll close this piece and take one myself! —the Editor