Archive: Cyanide in the Church School

By Charles W. Keysor, Editor, Good News

It is surprising what one can learn from our United Methodist church school curriculum. For example, in the United Methodist Teacher I-II, Spring 1969, page 100, we read this concerning the Resurrection of Christ: ” … the drama of Jesus would be far stronger and make a far greater appeal to this post-Christian age without all this supernatural claptrap brought in at the end with a dead man suddenly brought back to life again. Wouldn’t the story of Jesus of Nazareth be more powerful and truer to itself in being less self-centered, if his life had ended in death? How much more courageous were he to give his life in obedient trust to God who made him and gave him his mission without this ‘reward’ tacked on at the end. Some people say they’ll take their Christianity straight, thank you, without any Hollywood ending that leaves everyone living happily ever after. It’s an understandable reaction, this mood that rejects the Resurrection stories as pious fiction …. ”

This is another example of the poor taste and bad theology which is forcing many loyal United Methodists to stop using official curriculum materials. One Methodist put it this way: “Why feed cyanide to the people in our church school?”

For years, Methodists have been complaining to the Board of Education. Countless attempts have been made to communicate with the man responsible for our literature: Dr. Henry Bullock. But he seems not to care if people disagree with him.

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus tells how Christians should resolve differences. “If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves.” Hundreds, probably thousands, of personal letters have been sent to Dr. Bullock over nearly two decades. There is no improvement—only  degeneration. “But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that ‘every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses,’ as the Scripture says.” The July 1969 issue of “Good News” reported a recent meeting at which a delegation of evangelicals met with Dr. Bullock and colleagues responsible for curriculum policy. Other groups have met with Board of Education personnel to discuss literature problems. To no avail. “But if he will not listen to them, then tell it to the church.” A golden opportunity is now before us to carry out this third step of reconciliation. That is sending petitions to the General Conference, which will meet in St. Louis, Mo. April 20-24, 1970. WE CAN ASK THE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO DIRECT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO CREATE OR APPROVE CURRICULUM MATERIALS THAT EVANGELICAL TEACHERS, PASTORS, CLASSES AND CHURCHES CAN USE. Why should viewpoints contrary to United Methodist doctrine be forced upon large numbers of people who want only to be 100% Methodist in the church school?

There is a fourth step which Jesus advocates as a last resort: “And then, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a foreigner or a tax collector [outcast].” Ostracism is prescribed by our Lord for those who refuse to be reconciled. Applied to the literature question, this means cancelling orders and causing economic boycott.

Must it come to this? We hope this final, drastic step will not become necessary.

Will a church that talks reconciliation—and is raising $20 million to finance reconciliation in the world—refuse to practice reconciliation with its own members?