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Show We Believe (by Ruth Taylor ) "There is no atheLsm in the fox holes.'' To my mind that ringing sentence whith came out of the battle fields of the South Pacif'c is one of the most soul-stirring slogans of the war. Years ago I heard it phrased slightly differently. One day in mid-ocean when there was a heavy sea rolllnir steelv irrav to meet ft slightly paler sky, a ship's doctor said to me: "No man who follows the iea can be an atheist. Those who live amid storms cannot help uut believe in God." If this war, to which we are giving giv-ing all that we hold dear, were but a struggle between rival nations for power and landan enlarged gang warfarethere would be no hope for the future. The darkness would cover the eath and it would be as Is was before the beginning of time. But this ii not that kind of a war. This is warfare between those on the one side who believe in God and in the God-given rights of man and those on the other side who deny both the sovereignty of Ood and the free will of men. i In this world there is not sufficient suf-ficient room for those who believe In the dictatorship of the few and the enslavement of the many, to dwell side by side In amity with those who believe in a monotheistic doctrine whether they he called Protestant, Catholic or Jew. The two methods of life are diametrl- ically opposed to one another and there is no common meeting ground. we will win this war because "we fight on Ood's side", to use the great phrase contributed by an American Negro. All of us have been brought up to say, whether It be In cathedral, church or syno-gogue syno-gogue "The Lord Is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" We are not fighting front desperation, despera-tion, with secret poll. dogging our footsteps and a firing squad ever ready for its hapless vlctlmst We ore fighting voluntarily that we may live as free men free to carry out the will of Him whom all of us worship though In divers ways. Wo are a God-fearing nation not fear In the sense of terror, but In a spirit of reverence. We owe allegiance to a God of mercy, to a Ood of Justice. We fight on his side for the liberation of the oppressed op-pressed and subjugated people. We fight that peace may come again to earth and that children the world over may have a chance to grow strong and healthy In both body and mind, learning to put Ood Ibefore man made rulers, to obey Ills Commandments and to put Into practl:e that other commandment, com-mandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." No, there is no atheism In the fox holes. And when the powers of evil are at last vanquished, Ood grant that the great upsurge of faith will show uj the way to make an everlasting peace in which all men will live as brothers acknowledging the fatherhood of ,Ood! 1 II U |