The “second man” mentioned in the Nouvel Observateur represents those Catholics and Protestants who stay with their church because they do not know where else to go. They have been taught that their church represents God, and they do not want to turn away from him. They disapprove of many church practices or doctrines, but they hope to reform their church from within.

Such statements as these are being made not only with regard to the Roman Catholic Church but also in connection with the Protestant churches. French Protestant minister Louis Simon, vice-president of the General Commission for Evangelization in the Reformed Church of France, spoke recently of the “Silent Church” made up of people “who maintain their belief in Jesus of Nazareth, but who can no longer find him within the traditional Church.” In Geneva, Switzerland, twenty-two Protestant theology students refused ordination to the ministry because, as they put it, “we are looking for a style of Christian living that will serve the Gospel. But serving the Gospel these days results in challenging the work of the Church on several points.”​—L’Express, Dec. 1968.