Hate Your Enemies?

Against attempts to whip up hatred of the enemy, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America has raised a militantly Christian and indignant voice. In spite of such whipcracks as Author Rex Stout's article, "We Shall Hate or We Shall Fail," the Council was glad to report that the country was singularly free from hatred.

Nevertheless, the Council was uneasy, Last week it warned the nation: "If hatred is deliberately fomented and spread until it becomes the emotion that predominant ly determines how the United Nations will act, then the forces of evil will have won their greatest victory. They will have infected those who are mightier than the Axis. Thereby they will have assured a continuity of cruelty and folly . . . and render it impossible for mankind to achieve a just and durable peace.

"We call upon our fellow Christians, while striving for right and justice, to reject all desire for vengeance; to seek God's forgiveness for any hatred we may harbor; and, without shrinking from the harshest duty imposed upon us by our consciences under God, to remain ever mindful that He alone may say, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay.' "

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.