Cox Leads Religious Activists In European Antiwar Journey

Leading a delegation of six religious leaders. Harvey G. Cox Jr., Thomas Professor of Divinity, arrived in London this morning on a tour to mobilize antiwar activity in the world religious community.

The delegation, composed of Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish antiwar clergymen, hopes to climax its visit in Rome with an audience with Pope Paul. It will also travel to the Hague, Bonn and Stuttgart to discuss the war and the religious community's response to it.

The group formed hastily last week in response to President Nixon's escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam.

Cox said Thursday that Vatican officials indicated that their chances of gaining an audience with the Pope were favorable. He said that he hoped to present the Pope with a small candle which he said had been made from a deactivated antipersonnel bomb dropped on North Vietnam.

Doubt

Yesterday, before his departure, Episcopal Bishop Robert L. DeWitt expressed doubt that the group would have an opportunity to discuss the war with the Pope, terming the possibility "journalistic speculation." He said that the six clergyman decided to make the European trip after concluding that Congress did not have the stomach to end the war. Only the voice of the international community could influence the President to make peace, Dewitt said.

The religious leaders left for their discussions of the war on the same day that Henry A. Kissinger '50 flew to Paris to begin another round of peace talks with the North Vietnamese negotiator Le Due Tho. The last round of talks was broken off December 15 when Kissinger accused the North Vietnamese of stalling.

The five day tour begins today in London where members of the group will visit the Anglican Bishop of London and the British Council of Churches. They will complete it on Friday in Rome where they will discuss the War with the Pontifical Committee for Peace and Justice and request an audience with the Pope.

The participants in the tour have worked together for a long time trying to end the war, DeWitt said. Also in the delegation are Bishop James Armstrong of the United Methodist Church who headed the clergy's campaign for Senator George McGovern, Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Los Angeles, Robert McAfee Brown, a Presbyterian theologian at Stanford, and Sister Mary Luke Tobin of the Sisters of Loretto.

The group viewed the tour as an unprecedented attempt to focus international protest in a field where domestic protest has failed to bring peace. DeWitt said that the group would be travelling on "a wing and a prayer."