Evening star., 1941-12-06

avoid the war in sermons. Early tt
University pleaded to ministers, pri'
the war"
Il wish ministers knew" he said,
"how sick and weary college STU
dents are of hearing the war DOM
mate sermons"
Another professor issued a SINH
lar appeal about the same time. DR..
Erwin Edman of Columbia Univer-
sity told an institute for religious
studies in New York that the duty
of a clergyman during the present
crisis is to present to his congrega-
ton the eternal spiritual values, "
leaving discussion of tempora! mat
ters to public forums.
This advice has long since been
needed by the clergy. according to
the best available evidence At the
end Of 1899, shortly after war was
declared, Religious News Service re-
ported "a growing inclination among
ministers to keep their pulDits free
from war discussions" pointing out
that an increasing number of clergy
men had served notice on their con-
gregations that the worship services
of the church would avoid reference
to the war.
This tendency has been more
marked of late. An official of the
Federal Council of Churches, who
has recently visited some so cities
throughout the country in the inter-
eSts of an evangeliStic program, said
that a decided majority of United
States clergymen believe that the
pulpit is no place for discussion Of
war.
He said ministers are convinced
that the church can never again
bless war" and that the less said
about the war from their pulpit, the
better.
An editor of a well-known church
paper confirmed this opinion. Much
of his editorial correspondence with
clergymen. he stated. reflects the
opinion that the pulpit Is being re-
served for spiritual discussions rath-
er than the pros and cons Of war.
NaZi Book Puzzles Experts.
American religious leaders are
frankly puzzled over the outline OF a
religious new order" for Nazidom
reported this week in dispatches
from Berlin.
The new order" is described in a
book reported to be widely circulat-
ing throughout Germany. Entitled
God and People, the volume ad-
vocates replacing Roman Catholic
and Protestant churches with ma
tional German Faith"
Such a proposal is not new in Nazi
history. 1t has been made time and
again by Alfred Rosenberg, official
party philosopher, who now is Reich
minister for the occupied eastern
territories" of Russia and the Baltic
states. and by various other highly
placed individuals. and groups such
as the German Nordic movement
and the German Faith movement.
In the past, however. the Nazi au-
thorities have always been in po-
sition to diSavOw such proposals, and
on several occasions they have done
so. as in the case Of the 30-polnt
program to abolish Christianity
which has recently been given wide
spread publicity IN this country.
When this program was first clrcu-
lated in Germany several years ago,
the authorities variously announced
that its author. alleged to be Stet-
tin insurance agent, has been I'M
prisoned or confined in a lunatic
asylum.
In the present case there is no
room for doubt that the new book
is being distributed with the consent
of the government. Two hundred
thousand copies have already been
distributed according TO the dis
patch, and new printings are being
planned In view of the serious pa
per shortage in Germany, official
permission would have been neces-
Sary.
What puzzles the experts is why
the government approved the circu-
lation of the book when few weeks
ago Nazi officials were ridiculing
President RoOSevelt's statement that
the United States Government had
in its possession blueprints Of Nazi
plan to abolish Christianity.
Sponsored by Nazi Party.
The only way the authorities on
German affairs can figure it is that
the German government and the
Nazi party do not always pull to-
gether. The circulation of the book
among elite guards, storm troopers,
soldiers and labor service camps,
they say, indicates that the book
may be sponsored by the Nazi party.
The policy of not letting the left
hand know what the right is doing
is favorite Nazi device, observers
point out, and in this connection
they refer to the publication last
summer of a pacifist book called,
Before the Marble Steps, written
by Ernest Junger, of the German
Army command.
According to a detailed article in
the Commonwealth, Catholic re-
view of the week, published in New
York, the book ''is an ode to free
dom and peace" written in fairy
tale form. It contains. among other