Under God

In speeches made on the same day last week to audiences some 20 miles apart, the heads of two branches of the U.S. Government, the President and the Chief Justice, dwelt on a fundamental series of relationships between God, order, freedom and peace.

The Power of Prayer. To the World Council of Churches Assembly at Evanston, Ill. (see RELIGION), President Eisenhower said: "Let me speak for a moment not as this nation's Chief Executive, whose days are largely devoted to the efforts of government to secure peace, but as a private citizen, a single member of one of the constituent bodies of this council of churches. But I must speak also, inescapably, as one who has seen at first hand the almost miraculous battle field achievements of men bound together by mighty devotion to a worthy cause. A thousand experiences have convinced me . . . that common and fervent dedication to a noble purpose multiplies strength.

"It is true," said Eisenhower, "that in today's world of risks and alarms we must--and we will--remain strong [in] scientific, material and military means . . . But we know that there is no true and lasting cure for world tensions in guns and bombs. We know that only the spirit and mind of man, dedicated to justice and right, can in the long term enable us to live in the confident tranquillity that should be every man's heritage . . . Today the campaign for a just and lasting peace desperately needs the lifting and transforming power that comes from men and women, the world over, responding to their highest allegiances and to their best motives.

"I believe that you . . . spiritual leaders of a great world organization, together with your brethren of other faiths, can lead the way. The goal should be nothing short of inviting every single person in every single country in the world who believes in the power of a Supreme Being to join in a mighty, simultaneous, intense act of faith ... a personal prayer [for] a just and lasting peace. If this mass dedication launched an unending campaign for peace, supported by prayer, I am certain wondrous results would ensue.

It would change things, because it would change men. [It would serve as] a reminder to each of us that the cause of peace needs God."

The Liberty to Know. Chief Justice Earl Warren spoke at the dedication of the American Bar Association's new American Bar Center in Chicago. Said he: "It is fitting that we have this dedicatory service in a house of God [i.e., the University of Chicago chapel]. Here we give notice to all that, in the world struggle between the forces of freedom and the godless totalitarian state, we rededicate ourselves to the principle that God's way is our way. It is [also fitting] that the site for our home [adjoins] one of the great universities of the world ... a constant reminder to us [to] insist upon man's right to knowledge and the free use thereof, the right to explore at will, to disagree with, and even to dissent from, the opinions of the majority. As evidence of such a purpose, we have carved on one of [the walls of the Bar Center] this quotation from a great lover of freedom: 'Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe and to utter freely according to conscience above all other liberties.' *

Warren looked forward to American cooperation with other nations in learning "how we can apply to ever-changing conditions the never-changing principles of freedom." He said: "If we are to achieve a peaceful world, it will be accomplished through ideas rather than armaments, through a sense of justice and mutual friendship rather than with guns and bombs and guided missiles." He reminded the assembled lawyers that the American system was under hard scrutiny, and listed current defects of special concern to the bar: delays in litigation, violations of civil liberties, legal pettifogging and loose court procedures. He called for correction because "we are not like some, who are satisfied with their own lot to the point of complacency.

"[Maintaining] the American concept of freedom and justice for all ... we dedicate ourselves to 'do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with God.' "

*A version that dissents from the author's own wording. Said John Milton in his Areopagitica (1644): "Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties."

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