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significance unless it is accompanied by conviction. And therefore
the Puritans and the Pilgrims, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the
Catholics of Maryland, the Presbyterians of North Carolina, the
Methodists and Baptists who came later, all shared these two great
traditions which, like silver threads, have run through the warp and
the woof of American history.
While they came from a wide variety of religious backgrounds and held
a wide variety of religious beliefs, each of our Presidents in his
own way has placed a special trust in God. Those who were honest in
tellectually were also strongest spiritually.
Today we as the Worldwide Church of God, and our nation, are passing
through another time cf trial.
In
many ways, our dangers and our
problems are far greater--and certainly infinitely more complex.
We will need to draw upon the best that we have and draw upon it
physically and intellectually and materialistically.
We need also to call upon our great reservoir of spiritual resources.
We must recognize that human collaboration is not enough, that in times
such as these we must look beyond ourselves if we are to have ultimate
courage and infinite wisdom.
It is an ironic fact that in this nuclear age, when the horizon of
human knowledge and human experience has passed far beyond that any
prior age has known, that mankind must turn back at this time to the
oldest source of wisdom and strength--to the words of the prophets
and the apostles who tell us that faith is power and doubt is weak
��ss; that hope is more potent than despair, and that only through
the love that is sometimes called charity can we conquer those forces
within ourselves and throughout the world that threaten the very
existance of mankind.
The whole basis of our present struggle with the State of California
is involved in the following concept: We believe that the blessings
which come to us come not from the generosity of the State but from
the hand of God--and we are unalterably opposed to the idea that the
State is the master and the people are servants of the State.
This is really the essence of the issue. We cannot have religious
freedom without political freedom.
Religious freedom and religious conviction are the two hallmarks of
American society, and therefore as a strong believer in both, I want
to save it and deem it an honor to share this evidence of our common
belief in these two great principles. And it is a great privilege
to match that faith by demonstrating with our lives, whatever our
responsibility may be, that we as a church and as individuals care
deeply.
--Stanley R. Rader