September 24 Today in OPC History

On September 24, 1952, Robert Churchill, pastor of Calvary OPC, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, wrote a letter to the editor of the Sheboygan Press. In this letter Churchill protested the celebration of the new Revised Standard Version of the Bible in the paper before the merits or demerits of the work could be objectively evaluated. The editor returned the letter, explaining that the day before he had pledged his full support in the paper to the representatives of the Ministerial Association for the RSV and it would not look good to have Churchill’s letter appear.

Not knowing what to do, Churchill went to nearby OPC pastor John Verhage of Bethel OPC, Oostburg, for his advice. After hearing Churchill’s original letter and the editor’s reply, Verhage immediately picked up the telephone and called the editor and asked for an appointment. The next day, Verhage, Churchill, and fellow OPC pastor George Marston were seated in the editor’s office. In the Presbyterian Guardian, Churchill described what happened next.

We found him a pleasant man. By way of loosening the tension, and also no doubt to speed up the interview, he informed us that he was anxious to get out to his farm. Yes, he was a dirt farmer, and liked it. I made a fine reply to this by saying that this characteristic of his showed in his paper—it was always down to earth. I think he got the idea that I thought that his paper was dirty! From this poor beginning I launched into a speech on the ‘freedom of the press’ on which subject I’m such an ‘expert.’ Well, the other men saw that I was not making headway so from the world’s worst debater, they took over the case. They showed that letters to the Editor’s Mail Box had nothing to do with Editor’s commitments, and that in Protestantism there is a great division. We of the OPC represented the historic Biblical supernaturalism while those who sponsored the new Bible represented a deviation therefrom. It was superb handling of the situation and had its effect. The editor looked at his watch—it was a few minutes to twelve and the paper went to press about noon. He took my rejected letter and raced through a door. Soon he returned with the information that the letter would appear that day. He had rearranged the whole editorial page and eliminated the customary cartoon. Sure enough in the paper that evening which contained many ads of the new Bible, and across from a long glittering editorial on the new Bible, was a letter headed simply—’Objection.’ Following this letter I have been allowed space for rather long articles on the Revised Standard Version showing the objective evidence of modernistic unbelief. Moral—what this country needs is a truth squad, and more letters to the editor.

Picture: Robert and Dorothy Churchill in 1948.