Church at the Pole

On the white desert of the geographic South Pole, a house of worship was dedicated last week. Its congregation: the 17 men of the Deep Freeze IV outpost in Antarctica. The "Chapel of Our Faith" began when the outpost's recreation building, where religious services had been held, caved in under the weight of snow. Navy Petty Officer C. Norman Engel, 37, of Spring Lake. N.J., requested permission to build a chapel in its place out of spare lumber, and all members of the group worked at the project--painting, decorating, or just shoveling snow.

The 16-ft.-square, gable-roofed chapel is topped by a cross and a steeple, which will eventually contain a bronze bell. Inside is an altar surmounted by a reversible cross (plain on one side, a crucifix on the other) and a picture of Christ. Flanking the picture are plaques bearing, respectively, a Star of David and a lotus leaf to symbolize Buddhism. The chapel's congregation contains at least one representative of Protestantism. Catholicism, Judaism and Buddhism, and each will take turns giving Sunday sermons on his faith. The group at first regretted that they had no Moslem, but then decided that it was just as well, since Moslems ' pray at sundown and the Deep Freeze sun sets only once a year. "Now it can truly be said," reads the inscription on the chapel wall, "that the earth turns on a point of faith."

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