 Moral Re-Armament emblem used as the background decor for the MRA Launch in the U.S. | |
| Successor | Initiatives of Change |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1938 |
| Dissolved | 2001 |
Key people | Frank Buchman, Peter Howard |
Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was an international moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman headed MRA for 23 years until his death in 1961. In 2001, the movement was renamed Initiatives of Change.
In 1922, Frank Buchman left his teaching position at the Hartford Seminary Foundation to pursue a ministry focused on individual spiritual transformation and global evangelism. His tenants focused on the 'Four Absolutes' which were absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love. [1] This approach emphasized divine guidance, adherence to moral principles, and personal interaction as catalysts for change.
Buchman relocated his activities to Princeton University, where student discussions he organized included public confessions of sexual activities. The discussions generated controversy, resulting in university president John Hibben banning Buchman from campus. [1] He subsequently gained support at the University of Oxford in England, where the movement became known as the Oxford Group. The Oxford Group held increasingly popular conferences across multiple countries, attracting thousands of participants. These gatherings served as platforms to disseminate the group's philosophy. [1]
The Oxford Groupers or Buchmanites were rebranded in 1938 when Buchman launched Moral Re-Armament. [1] "The crisis is fundamentally a moral one," he said. "The nations must re-arm morally. Moral recovery is essentially the forerunner of economic recovery. Moral recovery creates not crisis but confidence and unity in every phase of life." [2]
The phrase caught the mood of the time, and many public figures in Britain spoke and wrote in support. British tennis star H. W. Austin edited the book Moral Rearmament (The Battle for Peace), which sold half a million copies. [3] In 1940, the novelist Daphne du Maurier published Come Wind, Come Weather, stories of ordinary Britons who had found hope and new life through MRA. She dedicated it to "Frank Buchman, whose initial vision made possible the world of the living characters in these stories." The book sold 650,000 copies in Britain alone. [4]
When World War II started, many of those active in the campaign for Moral Re-Armament joined the Allied forces. MRA did try unsuccessfully to obtain exemptions from military service for its members. [5]
When MRA was established in the United States in 1941, it was considered by some to be an effective way to combat communism. [5] Senator (later President) Harry Truman, Chair of the Senate's Truman 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 criticized, they have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work." [6] Truman supported the work of the MRA throughout the war, with his longtime aid, John R. Steelman, stating the MRA "as the greatest single force in the nation for reconciliation." [7] [8] Truman supported the MRA produced play "The Forgotten Factor" saying it was "the most important play produced by the war." [9]
Buchman and the MRA faced criticism for Buchman's pro-Nazism and Anti-semitic statement, "I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front-line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism. My barber in London told me Hitler saved all Europe from Communism. That’s how he felt. Of course, I don’t condone everything the Nazis do. Anti-Semitism? Bad, naturally. I suppose Hitler sees a Karl Marx in every Jew." [10] He continued, "But think what it would mean to the world if Hitler surrendered to God. Or Mussolini. Or any dictator. Through such a man God could control a nation overnight and solve every last, bewildering problem." [10] The quote caused the MRA to have problems recruiting members. [5]
Buchman also supported a theocratic fascist state to defeat communism, "Spain has taught us what godless Communism will bring. Human problems aren’t economic. They’re moral, and they can’t be solved by immoral measures. They could be solved within a God-controlled democracy, or perhaps I should say a theocracy, and they could be solved through a God-controlled Fascist dictatorship." [10]
When the war concluded, the MRA continued their mission on anti-communism and fighting the moral evils in conjunction with their theological beliefs. [1] [7]
In 1946, 50 Swiss families active in the work of MRA bought and restored a large, derelict hotel at Caux, Switzerland. This became a centre of European reconciliation, attended by thousands in the following years, including German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. [11] Buchman was awarded the Croix de Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by the French Government, and also the German Grand Cross of the Order of Merit. [12] The historians Douglas Johnston and Cynthia Sampson described the work 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." [13]
In Britain, hundreds donated money for the purchase of the Westminster Theatre in London, as a living memorial to the men and women of Moral Re-Armament who had died in war service. Many servicemen gave their gratuities. [14] For the next 50 years, the theatre presented a host of plays and musicals. The theatre was successfully, but the plays were bias to the MRA's societal beliefs which struggled to stay relevant through the decades. [15]
In France, the well-known existentialist Catholic philosopher Gabriel Marcel edited a book, Un Changement d'Espérance à la Rencontre du Réarmament Moral, which brings together the stories of a French socialist leader, a Brazilian docker, an African chief, a Buddhist abbot, a Canadian industrialist, and many others who found a new approach through MRA. [16] The English edition, published by Longman, was titled Fresh Hope for the World.
MRA began holding conferences on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in 1942, first at The Island House, rehabilitating it and much of the nearby grounds. [5] They then purchased the abandoned Mission House hotel and adjacent property on the island's east end. [1] [7] The lease was temproarily blocked by the Michigan Attorney General office causing greater scrutiny on the organization before the deal was eventually passed. [5] Between 1954 and 1960, they constructed an extensive training center there, including a theatre and a soundstage. The soundstage was used for the production of motion pictures, including The Crowning Experience, Voice of the Hurricane, and Decision at Midnight. In 1966, MRA deeded much of the property on the island to Mackinac College. The property later became Mission Point Resort, a summer resort hotel. [5]
In the 1950s and 1960s, MRA's work expanded across the globe. Buchman was a pioneer in 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 they can travel along this good road together." [17]
These ideas appealed to many in the African and Asian countries, which were then moving towards independence from colonial rule. Leaders of these independence struggles have paid tribute to MRA for helping to bring about unity between groups in conflict, and for helping to ease the transition to 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." [18] 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. [19]
In 2001, the MRA movement changed its name to Initiatives of Change (IofC). [7]
Buchman and the MRA faced criticism for his views on Hitler, Naziism, and fascism. [10] [5]
In 1951, the Catholic Church ordered its members not to join the MRA because it supported the heresy of illuminism. [5] The organization was criticized by Radio Moscow Overseas Service for its anticommunist ideals, in November 1952 saying, "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." [20]
The MRA has been described as a "ineffective cult" with absolutes that were naïve, impossible to fulfill, and overly dependent on personal revelations. [5] [21] Actress Glenn Close, whose parents were part of the movement, publicly called the organization a cult. [22] [23] [24] [25]
The group is also mentioned in Raymond Chandler's book Farewell, My Lovely . A cop says to Philip Marlowe: "I think we gotta make this little world all over again. Now take Moral Rearmament. There you've got something. M. R. A. There you've got something, baby." [26]
In the music video for Smile Empty Soul's 2003 single "Bottom of The Bottle," lead singer Sean Danielsen is seen wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "And God said unto thee, MRA."
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. He also believed that the solution to living without fear and selfishness was to "surrender one's life over to God's plan". It featured surrender to Jesus Christ by sharing with others how lives had been changed in the pursuit of four moral absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.
Initiatives of Change (IofC) is a global organisation dedicated to "building trust across the world's divides" of culture, nationality, belief, and background. Initiatives of Change was known as Moral Re-Armament (MRA) from 1938 to 2001, and the Oxford Group starting in 1929.
Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman, best known as Frank Buchman, was an American Lutheran who founded the First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921, renamed as the Oxford Group in 1928, that was transformed under his leadership in 1938 into the Moral Re-Armament and became Initiatives of Change in 2001. As a leader of the Moral Re-Armament, he was decorated by the French and German governments for his contributions to Franco-German reconciliation following the end of World War II.
Patrick Wolrige-Gordon, was a Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party politician.
Peter Dunsmore Howard was a British journalist, playwright, captain of the England national rugby union team and leader of Moral Re-Armament from 1961 to 1965. He also won a World Championship bobsleigh medal in 1939.
Caux (Montreux) is a small village in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland which is part of the Montreux municipality. It looks out over Lake Geneva from an altitude of 1000 meters.
Robert Elliott Speer was an American Presbyterian religious leader and an authority on missions.
Cecil Arthur Broadhurst was a Canadian artist, songwriter, actor and playwright, who had a passionate interest in and love for all things Western. At age 15 he began his lifelong commitment to painting, studying under LeMoine Fitzgerald and Frank Franz Johnston A.R.C.A. members of Canada's renowned Group of Seven (artists). In 1932 he launched out on his own, but the Great Depression in the 1930s led him to other fields: among them flying as a Bush pilot, radio and theatre, followed by college and a year at the Detroit Art Academy. A Canadian producer asked him to paint a stage set for him, which prompted Broadhurst, a relative of George Broadhurst, New York theatrical producer and founder of New York's famed Broadhurst Theatre, to focus his talents on the theatre and his gift for songwriting. He subsequently wrote over a hundred cowboy songs, including "There'll be a New World Beginning from Tonight" which became an annual fixture as the rousing finale of the hugely popular Christmas concerts of Malcolm Sargent at London's Royal Albert Hall. In 1940 he appeared singing one of his cowboy songs in the movie Susan and God starring Joan Crawford.
Samuel Moor Shoemaker III DD, STD was a priest of the Episcopal Church. Samuel Shoemaker was considered one of the best preachers of his era, whose sermons were syndicated for distribution by tape and radio networks for decades. He founded Faith At Work magazine in 1926. He served as the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City from 1925 to 1952. He was the head of the United States headquarters of the Oxford Group and later of the Moral Re-Armament which the Oxford Group became in 1938, from circa 1927 until circa 1941. From 1952 to 1962, he served as the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He retired in 1962 and died the following year. Sam Shoemaker's interdenominational focus and the Oxford Group were significant influences for the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) who met through the Oxford Group. Bill Wilson attended Oxford Group meetings at Calvary Church from late 1934 to circa 1939. Sam Shoemaker helped start an Oxford Group chapter in Akron, Ohio, where Dr. Bob Smith became involved.
The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster.
Rearmament may refer to:
Burnett Hillman Streeter was an English Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, and textual critic.
German rearmament was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out by Germany from 1918 to 1939, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles which required German disarmament after WWI to prevent it from starting another war. It began on a small, secret, and informal basis shortly after the treaty was signed, but was openly and massively expanded after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.
Irène Laure was a French socialist activist and politician, a member of the French Resistance and an MP in the 1945 parliament. She became known from 1947 onwards as she led a campaign of several months duration through Germany to ask for forgiveness and to foster French-German reconciliation.
Philippe Mottu was a Swiss diplomat, author and activist born on 9 October 1913 in Geneva; he died in Lonay (Vaud) on 23 August 2010. In 1946, inspired by the American Frank Buchman, he was instrumental in the acquisition of the former Caux Palace Hotel, a dilapidated hotel above Montreux, Switzerland, by a group of about 100 Swiss, in order to create an international conference centre at the service of European reconciliation and reconstruction. He wrote a dozen books of political and social philosophy.
Henry Burt Wright (1877–1923) was an American professor from Yale University whose writings influenced, among others, Frank Buchman, and subsequently the work he developed under the name of Oxford Group, later Moral Rearmament.
Lennart Rafael Segerstråle was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter and graphic artist. He was best known for his murals and frescoes.
Peter James Sisam was an English photographer and film director. From his undergraduate days, when he joined the Oxford Group, he was involved with the Moral Re-Armament movement.
Eleanor Napier Forde Newton was a traveler, poet and philanthropist. Throughout her life, she developed friendships with many key figures of the twentieth century, including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Charles Lindbergh, and Dr. Alexis Carrel. These friendships are described in the book Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel, and Charles Lindbergh, authored by her husband, James ("Jim") Newton. Eleanor Newton was the first woman to join the Oxford Group and Moral Re-Armament, formed by American minister Frank Buchman. She received a Bible signed by Edison's wife, Mina Edison, which is now on display at Fort Myers Beach School.
Mildred Towne Powell was an American politician who served on the Seattle city council from 1935 until her resignation in 1955. She was an active member of the Moral Re-Armament movement until her death in 1977.
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