Will have to look more closely into the "Christian Century"... Perhaps there is more worthwhile text in it as well.
The thing with Christian organizations and/or publication is that they are often used for virtue signaling and attracting readership and approval. Bear in mind that in the middle of the 20th century most people still had some firm attachment to their Church and Christianity (in the broad sense) as a religion. So you'd get a myriad of publications with millions of readers. But calling (yourself) a Christian is also a form of 'virtue signaling'.... It is a way of gaining credibility, you don't have on your own. In South Africa this was a big thing. Just by using a couple of bible version and using Christian terminology, people would easily start believing what a person or book says. And this got dragged into all terrains of life, not only the strictly faith related ones. It got dragged into business, politics even personal relations. And it appears that also individuals with ulterior motives discovered that presenting yourself as a 'good christian' had great advantages in social life. This didn't stay unnoticed, though. Nowadays people get anxious, when somebody tells them that he's a Christian.
But back to the middle of the 20th century. Perhaps initially those in such an organization/publication were 'well intentioned individuals'. That wanted to have a 'magazine for Christians', where the readers could 'learn the truth' on matters. Well-intentioned doesn't mean 'street-wise'. It doesn't mean that you are not gullible and skilled to discover, whether a story is a prank or not. In fact having grown up in a surrounding were most people are basically honest may predispose you to be tricked by those that aren't honest at all, but will push their agendas ruthlessly. And those folks know how to spot the gullible, they know how to manipulate others as well. Shock and awe tactics are one mark of deceivers and scamsters. Appeal to pity, shame and even 'manliness' are stuff they will engage in rather ruthlessly. So it's no surprise that skilled Propagandists will target such publishers to spread their poison.
The gullible will be shocked and think: "The poor Jews, that's something we must tell our readers!". Looking at 'the Christian Century" and its background. The publication was probably ideal for the purpose at hand. It's target audience was mainline Protestantism in the US. It claims to be 'undenominational", which is a bit misleading, since they still will have some creed, even if it is unstated. The advantage is that it's readership will be 'cross denominational', meaning Reformed, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc. will be among its readership. The readers will probably be people of some social standing. Preachers, church staff and folks that are active in the Church. That means others will revert to them for guidance on matters outside their personal sphere of action and perception.
The "Christian Century" was considered advocates of 'liberal Christianity', but the matter seems to be far more complex, when scrutinizing it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Christian_CenturyAt appears that their Holocausting was preceded by some controversy on the matter. At first they did not believe it, which isn't really a surprise given that it sounded 'too good to be true' from a propagandistic point of view. They may also have observed other pranksters in the past. But even suspicious folks, crack down under pressure, especially when people on the board of editors are divided on a matter. And they probably will be. With some of the folks there being more gullible, while others are more skeptical. The issue is that you never can be really certain about a matter that is happening thousands of kilometers away. The atrocity propaganda was obviously self-serving as well. But when everybody starts repeating it, openly disagreeing may become a threat to your own interest. So rather go along with it. After all isn't the emaciated inmates not 'proof enough'. Stipulating that this is exactly what stands to be expected, when a country is blown to smithereens appears to be 'apologetic' and 'not compassionate with the victims'. And especially liberal christianity makes a big thing about 'being compassionate' (merciful, gracious, etc.). If you are into virtue signaling, of course you know that being critical will be seen as not being compassionate. So rather drop the ball or go along with it. The vast majority of initial skeptics seems to have done this. And it was the same with the COVID scam. People realized that it was fishy, so first they were critical, but under the flood of reports of "Covid Cases" many cracked and become 'Corona's Witnesses'. Those still skeptical were 'conspiracy theorists' and 'not trusting science', etc.
That said a compilation on initially skeptical articles and further development on the matter would be an interesting research project. It's exactly the analysis and exposure of propaganda campaigns that will let people see the 'relevance for today'. One frequent argument against "Holocaust Revisionism" is that "Revisionists" are 'captured in the past'. And lots of people hate to 'dwell in the past'. The matter isn't entertaining neither. In fact it seems that people have less time for matters 'unentertaining' more and more. But that is even another issue in which people's character is changing. My guess is that permanent exposure to 'new information', 'advertising' and 'sensationalism' does also take its toll there. Serious reading is also exhausting, good writing is for sure more difficult, but even reading isn't exactly most people's priority.
