Moral Re-Armament

Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was an international moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, grew out of the Reverend Frank N. D. Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman headed the movement for 23 years, from 1938 until his death in 1961.

History

The movement, in its early years, was made up of Buchman's personal followers, and so the name change was incremental rather than abrupt and formal. The present name of the movement was coined by Buchman in Germany in 1938, but he had used it as early as 1925 on trips to Australia while MRA was still known as the Oxford group. Although some think the first uses of the term was in the literary world was in 1938, when the British tennis star H. W. Austin edited the book Moral Rearmament (The Battle for Peace), which sold half a million copies.^[1] Buchman and his fellow Oxford Group leaders liked the new phrase, and the former Oxford Group developed into Moral Re-Armament. Buchman used the phrase when on May 29, 1938 he stated, "The crisis is fundamentally a moral one. The nations must re-arm morally. Morally recovery is essentially the forerunner of economic recovery."^[2] The origin of the name lay in the military re-armament which at that time was proceeding apace in many European countries.

When war broke out, MRA workers joined the Allied forces in large numbers, and were decorated for valour in many theatres of war. Others worked to heighten morale and overcome bottlenecks, particularly in war-related industries. Senator (later President) Harry Truman, Chair of the Senate Committee investigating war contracts, told a Washington press conference in 1943: 'Suspicions, rivalries, apathy, greed lie behind most of the bottlenecks. This is where the Moral Re-Armament group comes in. Where others have stood back and criticised, they have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work. They have already achieved remarkable results in bringing teamwork into industry, on the principles not of "who's right" but of "what's right".'^[3] At the end of the war, they returned to the task of establishing a lasting peace.

In 1946 MRA bought and restored a large, derelict hotel at Caux in Switzerland, and this became a centre for reconciliation across Europe, bringing together thousands including German Chancellor Adenauer and French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman.^[4]. Its work was described by historians Douglas Johnston and Cynthia Sampson as an 'important contribution to one of the greatest achievements in the entire record of modern statecraft: the astonishingly rapid Franco-German reconciliation after 1945.'^[5]

In the following decades MRA's work expanded across the globe, particularly into the African and Asian countries moving towards independence from colonial rule. Many leaders of these independence struggles have paid tribute to MRA's contribution towards bringing unity between groups in conflict, and helping ease the transition into independence. In 1956 King Mohammed V of Morocco sent a message to Buchman: 'I thank you for all you have done for Morocco in the course of these last testing years. Moral Re-Armament must become for us Muslims as much an incentive as it is for you Christians and for all nations.'^[6] In 1960 Archbishop Makarios and Dr Kucuk, President and Vice-President of Cyprus, jointly sent the first flag of independent Cyprus to Frank Buchman at Caux in recognition of MRA's help.^[7]

Initiatives of Change International

In 2001, the MRA movement changed its name to Initiatives of Change (IofC) and formed a non-governmental organization, IofC-International, for purposes of cooperation with organizations such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe.^[8]

Initiatives of Change International is a non-governmental organization based in Caux, Switzerland. It is the legal and administrative entity that federates the national bodies of Initiatives of Change in its cooperation with the United Nations.

National initiatives include Hope in the Cities, in the United States, Caux Forum for Human Security, in Switzerland, the Centre for Governance, in India, and Hope Sierra Leone.

Beliefs

The movement had Christian roots, and grew into an informal, international network of people of all faiths and backgrounds. It was based around what it calls 'the Four Absolutes' (absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness and absolute love) and encouraged its members to be actively involved in political and social issues. One of the movement's core ideas was that changing the world starts with seeking change in oneself.

Spin-offs

In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was formed through people, notably William Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, who recovered from their alcoholism through a combination of the Oxford Group, the forerunner of MRA, and medical treatment. Before adopting the name "Alcoholics Anonymous," AA was called "the alcoholic squadron of the Oxford Groups." The twelve steps of AA are, in part, a derivation of Oxford Group principles, with significant changes, including abandonment of the "four absolutes" in favor of the principle of "progress not perfection" and opening the AA movement to many alcoholics, including some non-Christians, by use of the term "a power greater than ourselves." In contrast to the Oxford Group/MRA, AA also explicitly limited itself to helping alcoholics to recover, avoiding outside issues, and declined to associate itself with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution.

In 1965, Up with People was founded by members of and with support by MRA.

In 1965 The National Viewers and Listeners Association was set up by pro-censorship advocate Mary Whitehouse, who wrote that "without its (MRA's) ideals I cannot see that I would have been interested in starting this campaign"."^[9]

Controversies

At the beginning of the Thirties, Buchman kept in close touch with Germans active in the Oxford Group. It was the time when Churchill and Karl Barth were ready to give German National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus) a chance to prove itself as a democratic political movement, despite its obvious and repeated denunciation of democracy. Hitler had, at first, presented himself as a defender of Christianity, declaring in 1928: 'We shall not tolerate in our ranks anyone who hurts Christian ideas.'

Buchman was convinced that without a change in the heart of the National Socialist regime a world-war would become inevitable. He also believed that any person, including the German leaders, could find a living Christian faith with a commitment to Christ's moral values.^[10]

So he tried, unsuccessfully, to meet Hitler. Buchman was, however, able to meet Himmler three times, whom he recommended to members of Parliament as 'a great lad'^[11], the last time in 1936. To a Danish journalist and friend^[12] he said a few hours after that final interview that the doors were now closed. 'Germany has come under the domination of a terrible demonic power. A counter-action is absolutely necessary.'^[13]

In fact, as Gestapo documents have revealed, the Nazis watched the Oxford Group with suspicion from 1934 on. A first detailed secret Gestapo report about 'The Oxford - or Group Movement' was published in November 1936 warning that the Oxford Group had turned into a dangerous opponent of National Socialism'^[14]; it is important to note in this wise that both the Stalinist version of Bolshevism and non-Nazi proto-fascist groups such as Catholic Action were also classified as dangerous to Nazism^[15].

Returning to New York from Berlin, Buchman gave a number of interviews. One has been widely quoted by critics as representing Buchman's views on Hitler. The article quotes Buchman as saying 'I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defence against the anti-Christ of Communism.'^[16][17] The Rev. Garrett Stearly, one of Buchman's colleagues from Princeton University and who was present at the interview wrote, 'I was amazed when the story came out. It was so out of key with the interview,' though Time^[18] noted Buchman's overall-favourable opinion of dictatorship---if only of the right people--that pervades the entire body of the interview. Buchman chose not to respond to the article, feeling that to do so would further endanger his friends in Germany.^[19]

After the Second World War, further Gestapo documents came to light making clear that the Nazis viewed the Oxford Group as their enemy. A document from 1939 states: 'The Group preaches revolution against the national state and has quite evidently become its Christian opponent.'Another, from 1942, states: "No other Christian movement has underlined so strongly the character of Christianity as being supernational and independent of all racial barriers.^[20]

Some from the Oxford Group in Germany continued to actively oppose the Nazi regime during the war. In Norway Bishop Fjellbu of Oslo, who was imprisoned for his resistance, said in 1945: 'I wish to state publicly that the foundations of the united resistance of Norwegian Churchmen to Nazism were laid by the Oxford Group's work.'^[21]

In Britain the Oxford Group was active throughout the country. The novelist Daphne du Maurier published 'Come Wind, Come Weather', stories of ordinary Britons who had found hope and new life through the Group. She dedicated it to 'Frank Buchman, whose initial vision made possible the world of the living characters in these stories,' and added, 'What they are doing up and down the country in helping men and women solve their problems, and prepare them for whatever lies ahead, will prove to be of national importance in the days to come.' The book sold 650,000 copies in Britain alone.^[22]

C.S. Lewis had also voiced opposition to the Moral Re-Armament movement saying "If you try to suppress 'it' you only make martyrs" referring to the Oxford Group formed by Frank Buchannen later known as Moral Rearmament. C.S. Lewis has always attacked the practice of Sacremental confession whenever he found it, which probably explains his distaste for the Oxford Group's custom of sharing 'guidance' including the confession of perceived errors or wrongdoing.^[23]

About 30 Oxford Group workers were exempted from military service to continue this work. However, when Ernest Bevin became Minister of Labour in 1940, he decided to conscript them. Over 2,500 clergy and ministers signed a petition opposing this, and 174 Members of Parliament put down a motion stating the same. Bevin made clear that he would resign from the Government if he was defeated, and the Government put a three-line whip upon its supporters. As a result the Oxford Group workers were excluded from the Exemption from Military Service bill. Among Bevin's supporters was Tom Driberg, who described Buchman as a "soapy racketeer who never repudiated his admiration for Hitler and Himmler.")^[24] It may be worth noting that Driberg's politics (he was left-wing, though anti-Communist, going so far as to spy on the Communist Party for MI5) his lifestyle (he was homosexual), and his religious beliefs (he was an High Church anti-evangelical) put him at odds with MRA.^[25].

In the 1950s MRA was regularly attacked by Moscow Radio's overseas service. For instance, in November 1952 it stated that 'Moral Re-Armament supplants the inevitable class war by the "permanent struggle between good and evil",' and 'has the power to attract radical revolutionary minds.'^[26]

The Swedish entertainer Tage Danielsson made a satirical song about the organisation in 1962 that he performed at the variety show Gröna hund.

Buchman was a pioneer of multi-faith initiatives. As he said, 'MRA is the good road of an ideology inspired by God upon which all can unite. Catholic, Jew and Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Confucianist - all find they can change, where needed, and travel along this good road together.'^[27]

This was sometimes misunderstood. The Catholic theologian John Hardon claimed that the movement's political ideas were naive, since they simply assumed that moral awakening would solve "social problems that have vexed humanity since the dawn of history". He also criticised the emphasis on personal revelations on the grounds that "if each member of society is allowed to hear the voice of God through personal revelation, the variety of interpretations of the divine will becomes infinite."^[28]. However, many Catholics took a different approach. In 1993 Cardinal Franz Koenig, Archbishop of Vienna, wrote that 'Buchman was a turning-point in the history of the modern world through his ideas.'^[29]

Former CIA officer Miles Copeland said that in the early 1960s, the CIA supported and used MRA.^[30]

References

External links

MRA

• Religious Movements (U Virginia)
• Preliminary Guide to the Albert Heman Ely, Jr. Family Papers, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library Materials in the collection document the 1930 meeting of Ely and his wife, Constance Jennings Ely with Frank Buchman, and their subsequent involvement in the Moral Re-armament movement.

Initiatives of Change

• Initiatives of Change homepage successor of MRA
• Timeline of MRA and related organizations