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The Moscow Fair and Mrs. O’Hair

Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles

An item carried by the Los Angeles Times Service, and repeated in The Austin American-Statesman (Sept. 16, 1989, p.A18) is of considerable interest to us. It attracted attention locally because Austin is the headquarters of Mrs. Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s atheistic activities. The item called our attention to the Moscow International Book Fair, and the fact that Mrs. O’Hair had a booth there whereby she peddled atheism, and, stunning to her, no one seemed interested! Indeed, in one line 75 people stood waiting to browse through the books placed there by Judaism, and about 150 stood in line at one booth in order to receive a free copy of the New Testament. Business was so bad at Mrs. O’Hair’s booth that the reporter found her taking a nap.

She was shocked at it all, stating that “I am completely stunned to find out the U.S.S.R. is absolutely indifferent to atheism!” She then added, “They seemed to think here that if you just leave religion alone, it will go away.” 10,000 New Testaments were available for free distribution, and that wasn’t enough. That, combined with the fact that lines of 75 and 150 people, interested in religious material, seems to say that these folks weren’t “leaving religion alone,” but rather were actively pursuing a course whereby material could be obtained! One man, who is a Jew, mentioned that the New Testament is better than nothing, and that he wanted a copy to read. That goes against the atheistic line, which says nothing is better than any part of the Bible!

The bitter pill administered to our national leader of atheism is a fine tonic for us. It shows us that in the new thrust, in Communistic nations, toward openness and freedom, the atheism the party leaders thought was so firmly set in the citizens’ minds wasn’t there after all! Given freedom to do so, they rush toward informing themselves as to the concept of Deity, and at this Book Fair they devoured religious information while Mrs. O’Hair slept. All in all, that brief news article was one of the finest things we’ve noted in the paper in a long, long while. Earlier, Russia had been a land of religious people, and the nation has yet many fine religious buildings, but with very little use in scores of years. But what the Communist leaders thought they had persecuted out, legislated out and ridiculed out remains there all the while. Given some liberties, the religious zeal of the people manifests itself. If the openness and freedom continues, and increases in Communistic nations, what does that pose for us in the way of evangelistic opportunities?

Therein we have a great fear–that with these opportunities increasing before us, we will not have the unity and faith and zeal to take advantage of it. The charge is there that will take us into all the world (Mark 16:15-16). The power is there in the gospel of the Christ (Romans 1:16). The Lord is there ready to be with His own as they do His work (Matthew 28:20). Doors are there, and are opened by He who “openeth and no man shutteth” (Rev. 3:7). The influence from the Word is there to “grow and multiply” (Acts 12:24). All is there, needed to do the work, from God’s standpoint. And, we are here. The question is, “Will we do the work?”

The wonderful thing about the preaching of the gospel is that it is alive with hope…hope in Christ (Colossians 1:27), hope by the resurrection of Christ, and a LIVING hope at that! (1 Peter 1:3). Hope as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast (Hebrews 6:19). And, the fruit of the message of atheism is: THERE IS NO HOPE!! The people in the U.S.S.R. and other Communist lands have lived without hope, of several types, for generations. Doors are now being opened, and through the gospel, HOPE can be given to a people long denied it. If atheism was so attractive, we wonder why these folks are spurning Mrs. O’Hair’s offerings and lining up for New Testaments?

CHRISTIAN WORKER, November, 1989.