To Our Readers

By ELIZABETH VALK LONG President

As it forever and ever shall be, the most famous cover line in TIME annals consists of three little words that appeared in April 1966: "Is God Dead?" Underscoring the theological skepticism that was analyzed in the article, the cover question was posed dramatically in red type against a severe black background without illustration. We grazed the wording concept in 1989 with "Is Government Dead?" and revisited it for this issue's examination of the longevity of the beliefs of Sigmund Freud, who, as it happens, was a renowned advocate of God's nonexistence.

Freud, of course, has been dead, literally, since 1939. What do we mean by using death as a metaphor in this way? Cover writer Paul Gray says the Freud story, like the cover on God, examines a system of thought "that is a matter of belief for millions but is coming under a particularly blistering attack at the moment. My purpose is not to debunk Freud and psychoanalysis but to assess the extent of his cultural legacy, which is vast. It is hard, although it may someday become necessary, to imagine our world without him." Speaking of debunking, Paul's piece is accompanied by a skeptical examination of the "recovered memory" movement, a practical application of Freudian theory. It was written by science contributor Leon Jaroff and reported by Los Angeles correspondent Jeanne McDowell.

Now that 27 years have passed, we can reveal a tiny secret concerning the celebrated type-only cover about God. TIME contributor John Elson, who was then our religion writer, recalls that artist Larry Rivers created a three- dimensional painted collage for the cover that was deemed by everyone from Henry Luce on down to be great art but too confusing. The red-type-on-black motif was a last-minute substitute, as much an act of deadline desperation as editorial inspiration.

The cover caused a sensation, including innumerable phone protests and a then record 3,430 letters to the editor. That controversy was far overshadowed in 1979 by the selection of the Ayatullah Khomeini as Man of the Year, which drew 14,180 protests.

In TIME-cover terms, the purported demise of the deity lasted a mere 44 months. Our intentionally imitative cover line in December 1969 asked, "Is God Coming Back to Life?" In fact there is quite a consensus that God had never departed. As a precedent, that provides some comfort for Sigmund Freud's shrinking flock.