VIETNAM WAR

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 16

VIETNAM WAR

U.S. Churches’ Action The National Council of Churches in the United States had sent a telegram to President Johnson urging him to submit the Vietnam dispute to “collective international judgment” according to a statement from the New Zealand National Council of Churches. The telegram had been sent because of the bombing of installations near Hanoi and Haiphong, the statement said All national councils of churches in Asia, Australia and New Zealand had received copies of the full text. The statement quoted the council’s general secretary (the Rev. D. M. Taylor) as saying: “It is a great encouragement to Christians in Asia and in New Zealand to know of this telegram and what lies behind it.

“The persistent efforts of ministers and leading laymen in the churches in the United States to end the era of uni lateral military action by the United States are a feature of American life today.” The telegram was signed by three leaders in the United States National Council of Churches, on which 31 denominations were represented, the statement said. “The views of churchmen through the 51 states had been sought over the last year in the most thorough study of its kind ever carried out by the coun til.”