|
Anna Moschovakis
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
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
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"
When war broke out, MRA workers joined the Allied forces in large numbers, and were decorated for valor in many theaters of war
The article quotes Buchman as saying 'I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism'
In 1946 MRA bought and restored a large, derelict hotel at Caux in Switzerland
In the following decades MRA's work expanded across the globe
Tom Driberg described Buchman as a "soapy racketeer who never repudiated his admiration for Hitler and Himmler"
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 a High Church anti-evangelical) put him at odds with MRA
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'
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
Buchman had a strong influence on founder of the little-known group known as 'The Family', which group is accused of supporting the growth of theocracy, militarism, and anti-labor polices in America and abroad
The Family generally eschews publicity and asks its members not to speak about the group or its activities; some members have denied that it exists
|
