Preacher Has a “Brain Stor
I I
99
That’ll Iiou some folks described Rev. John
A. MaeLean’s idea u ben he first began talk¬
ing about it. but non it lias grown into an
international project.
ON SUNDAY. January 6. 1946,
exactly five months after an
atomic bomb had been
dropped from a United States
Army plane on the city of Hiro¬
shima. a voice was raised in Rich¬
mond, Va.. which in its way was to
make as wide a reverberation as
the bombing itself. But with this
vast difference:
The bombing resulted reportedly
in the death of 75.000 Japanese and
the serious injury of half as many
others, while the words of Dr. John
A. MacLean. pastor of Richmond's
Ginter Park Presbyterian Church,
have resulted in the implementa¬
tion of an idea that may in time
bring intellectual life to thousands
of Japanese youth.
One reason we feel that readers
of The State will be particularly
interested in this matter is because
John MacLean is a native of this
state. He was born and reared in
Maxton and attended the Universi¬
ty of North Carolina. His brother
was the well-known Angus Dhu
MacLean. attorney of Raleigh and
Washington. N. C.. member of the
Legislature in several sessions, and
Assistant Solicitor General of the
United States about fifteen years
ago.
While at the University, John
studied law and started practicing
in Fayetteville. Then he decided to
go into the ministry, so he entered
Union Theological' Seminary and
for many years has been living in
Richmond. He is recognized as one
of the outstanding members of the
Southern Presbytery and has many
friends throughout North Carolina.
In his church bulletin on that
first Sunday of 1946, Dr. MacLean
inserted a short article titled "A
Suggestion — As Foolish as the
Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth." In
his message. Dr. MacLean pro¬
posed ‘‘a movement to raise funds
among Christian people of America
for the restoration of the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
destroyed by our atom bombs."
Immediately the press picked up
Dr MacLcan's words and the na-
By IIAROIJ) B. ALLEN
tion read them in its newspapers.
The Richmond Ministerial Union
voted to sponsor the project. The
response to the suggestion that
Americans should in some fashion
demonstrate the true Christian
conscience as regards the Japanese
people was electric.
An Idea Spreads
By March. 1946, the consensus
of the Christian churches was that
the soundest way of expressing its
convictions was through the estab¬
lishment of a Christian university,
in which Japanese youth could be
trained under democratic and
Christian auspices for the useful
professions.
This conviction was put into
words at a special convocation of
the Federal Council of Churches of
Christ in America at Columbus.
Ohio. A resolution adopted there
approved the proposal “that the
American people be given an op¬
portunity to provide funds for the
establishment of a Christian uni¬
versity in Japan." Later that
month, the approval of the Foreign
Missions Conference of North
America led to the formation of a
small executive committee which
was empowered to advance the
idea.
In the course of the next three
years the movement passed
through several organizational
stages and culminated in the in¬
corporation in March 1949 of the
Japan International Christian Uni¬
versity Foundation with a board
of directors which now represents
14 American and Canadian de¬
nominations a nd interdenomina¬
tional boards, and the election at
Gotemba, Japan, in June 1949, of
the board of trustees of the Inter¬
national Christian University. On
this board arc 27 outstanding
American and Japanese Christian
leaders, all residents of Japan.
Realization Nearer
During recent months, a num¬
ber of events transpired which
brought the Christian university
nearer to realization.
At its meeting in Gotemba, the
university's trustees elected as the
president of the new International
Christian University the man
whom all regarded as their first
choice: Dr. Hachiro Yuasa, one of
Japan's outstanding scientists and
educators, and a democratic and
Christian leader who so strongly
opposed the militarist regime in
Japan that he had been forced
into exile for eight years.
In addition, two vice-presidents,
both Americans, have been elected :
Dr. Maurice E. Troyer. of Syra¬
cuse. N. Y., professor of education
at Syracuse University and for the
past six months educational con¬
sultant to the new university, who
will he vice-president in charge
of curricula and instruction and
Harold W. Hackett of Boston, as¬
sistant treasurer of the American
Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions of the Congrega¬
tional Churches, who will serve as
vice-president in charge of busi¬
ness administration.
At this meeting a constitution
was adopted which emphasizes the
Christian character of the uni¬
versity. It assures also that the
university will be non-sectarian,
that its board of trustees and
faculty shall be composed of per¬
sons of the Christian faith, and
that no distinction shall be made
between students on grounds of
race, country of origin, or religious
belief.
Meanwhile, in Japan, a nation¬
wide canvass for funds has been
concluded, and a total of 154,000,
000 yen (about $450,000) has been
subscribed and almost wholly paid
in. Contributions have come large¬
ly from other than Christians. In¬
deed. the campaign committee was
headed by a non-Christian, Hisato
Ichimada, governor of the Bank
of Japan.
Funds subscribed have made
possible the purchase of a 350-acre
tract of countryside at Mitaka, 17
THE STATE. DCCCMQCP 17. 1949
