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Show Page 4C The Springville Herald December 23, 1971 Looking 1 fid Ahead by MEMBER OF Published Weekly by ART CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY at 161 Sonth Main, Springville, Utah 84663 PUBLISHER, MARTIN CONOVER Second class postage paid at Springville, Utah 84663 Subscription in tdvanct, ptr year, $5.50 per copy, I Sc EDITORIAL THE GREATEST Among man's earliest beasts of burden were. the camel and the elephant. both domesticated in china MOKE. THAN 3000 TEARS ASO. Sf j- yv 5 1,7 Ever run out of sas? j rmn fef JC2 XJkL YOU HAVE COMPANX'-ABOUT yoUHOTToX aPJyf4l 2,700,000 OTHER DRIVERS WvJt 7 .r 1 ;.:; a h A HEARTY THANKS FOR YOUR WARM PATRONAGE GIFT SHOP 198 South Main , ilimmiAn fcrve a ;oy good holiday lull of love and laughter! SOS DRUG 214 South Main THE GIFT OF ALL MERRY MONIKERS RICHMOND, FREDERICKSBURG 4 POTOMAC-"RICH FOUCS and peDtSRees' year ever f wwi.'-BW(7IW DRIVER WILL. VTO BASShf PLEASE SHUT s N vxKHONORABtE MOUTH? Dr. George S. Benson President NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM Searcy, Arkansas A CHRISTMAS RESOLUTION? As Americans prepare to celebrate the 1971st birthday of Jesus Christ there is a momentous question looming before the eyes of the nation. Will we shore up the cracks in the moral foundations of our society or permit them to widen and perhaps make the downfall of Christian civilization civiliza-tion inevitable? The shoring up will have to come from people of unshakable faith, people with a dedication not yet visible on the national scene, people bound together in a massive common cause. Many people fear that our great nation has alreadypassed its peak as an example for the world to follow, and, more importantly, as a manifestation manifesta-tion of God's will on earth. They fear we have passed the point of no return. I do not think so. It is my conviction that the obvious signs of moral decay are not true reflections on the character of the vast majority of our people. Our grave danger, as I see it, is that in time a do-nothing stance among the God-fearing, moral people of America, who today silently reject the moral "revolution"., could lead to their adjusting (without an outcry) out-cry) to it, and finally, to their acceptance of it. That eventuality event-uality would doom our society. Killed Prayer Amendment The newspapers carried the report of an action in the House of Representatives in Washington that seems to me to epitomize the present state of spiritual life in public affairs af-fairs in America. The House of Representatives failed to vote a two-thirds majority for a proposed constitutional a-mendment a-mendment permitting voluntary volun-tary prayers and spiritual meditation in the schools. Since it was merely a vote to submit an amendment to the people of America for ratification, the 162 Congressmen who joined to kill the measure must have had hard-core convictions against permitting prayer in our public schools. Two-hundred and forty Congressmen Con-gressmen voted for the measure mea-sure but this was not enough. The failure of the majority in this vote was a sad happening. But an even more dramatic incident occurred before the vote was taken. Evading Prayer! The session of Congress in which the prayer amendment was killed by 162 opposition votes was opened, as sessions always are, by an invocation from the House Chaplain. His prayer began: "Lord, teach us to pray . . ." But fewer than 20 Congressmen, according accord-ing to news reporters, showed respect enough for this traditional tradi-tional invocation to be present in the chamber when it was given. The other approximately 400 Congressmen either deliberately delib-erately or thoughtlessly evaded hearing the prayer. Immediately Immedi-ately after the prayer, the 400 Congressmen streamed into the House chamber. "Lord, teach us to pray . . ." Kave most of our public officials of-ficials ceased to desire Divine guidance? Is that why 400 Congressmen chose not to enter the chamber and bow their heads as it was said? If so, America indeed is traveling travel-ing down the western slope. Minority Rule? If the majority of our American Ameri-can citizens practiced citizenship, citizen-ship, as did the founding families fam-ilies who creatsd our great Republic, one hundred and sixty-two Congressmen couldn't get by with voting against a Constitutional amendment to restore the freedom of our public schools to permit our children to pray. For nearly 200 years our nation was unique in the world because its founders and its great founding documents spoke reverently of a belief in Almighty Al-mighty God. Generations of Americans have been grateful for this open faith in God expressed ex-pressed proudly by our forefathers. fore-fathers. Churches in America for two centuries expanded memberships. Our children were taught reverence for God in our homes, and schools, as well as our churches. Then a few years ago, an atheist, seeing signs of cracks in our moral structure, decided de-cided to attack the spiritual foundations of our society. She was joined, without fanfare, by the Communist movement in America. This tinv but militant mili-tant force succeeded in removing re-moving a basic spiritual value from public education. And now a minority in Congress setms to have adjusted to the ban. Will this minority rule? Will the majority of Americans adjust and then accept, Christmas Christ-mas 1971 is a good time to say, No, to this and further moral decay. 91 8 mt-j ""'?-ifi,7i - i 0 It starts in your own home with little children's faces lighting light-ing up in joyous wonderment. The glittering tree. The beautiful and mysterious packages to be unwrapped. It's the time for families and friends to be together sharing warmth and pleasure. plea-sure. It's the time to give thanks for all these good things. And, finally, it's the time for prayer. May joy and love and peace be everywhere. Soon. That s Christmastime. PHDN6VD0.tE (COW CALVIN PACKARD, MAYOR EARL CHILD, CALVIN BAXTER, LEONARD JAMES, M. D. PEAY, KENNETH CREER, COUNCILMEN AND ALL CITY EMPLOYEES C3 Hr. J r MM Mm |