The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-15
Catholic Thought And Opinion
By REV. JOSEPH E. DoNNELLY

"When I go into battle I would rather be alongside buddy who has more fear of God and less feaI of men and bullets. The man who is too dumb to give thought to God is too dumb to be good soldier - at least, the American kind of g soldier"
 q resent the attempt of the writers to depict the all-American soldier as a fool atheist Mar ines are not dumb fatalists. They are fighting for principles which are God-given. That's why two dozen totalitarian soldiers will not lick one U. s. marine.
 AN ENCOURAGING
 REPORT
 Figures published recently in the Department Store Economist, Q trade publication, were strikingly indicative of the religious charac- ter of our fighting forces. Submit- ting queries to 1000 men of the Army and Navy, the editor asked that they check a list of possible Christmas gifts and grade them as their "swell", fair, or junk. Tn the section on religious articles the replies were amazing, and particu- larly so because while about 8 third of the boys in the army are Cath olic, most of these go away equip ped with many of the articles sug- gested.
 Almost 50 per cent of the replies from the Army, however, indicated that they thought that a pocket edition of the Bible would be a swell" Christmas gift, and 39.7 per cent more thought it "fair". 35 per cent said rosary would be a swell gift; 36.9 said flair" A cross would be a swell" Christmas gift for 37.9 per cent; All per cent judged it flair"
 THE NAVY TOO
 The report from the Navy men even more striking. Almost 88 per cent of them thought New Testa- ment an acceptable Christmas gift, 50.9 per cent of whom said it would be "swell'';; For Ar per cent a ros- ary would be swell; for 37.1 it would be fair" Almost fifty per cent thought cross swell" and 33.7 more reported flair" Catholic medals are used ordinarily only by Catholics and few non-C Catholics, but according to this trade journal, 37.1 per cent of the Navy men re- piled that they thought a medal would be swell" Christmas gift; 34.9 replied flair"
 So the list runs all the way. How explain it? It needs no explanation; it is merely a proof that buried deep in the hearts of all of us is the seed of faith and hope and love God placed there by our Maker. It may take the consciousness of danger to bring it out from under the hard covering of selfshness and indiffer- ence which we build around it, but as the burly sergeant said on Ba- taan: There are no atheists in fox holes."
 EPILOGUE IN BLOOD AND SWEAT AND TEARS
 It is heartening to hear from so many sources that God and the supernatural are very much in the minds of those who are defending America. It should remind us that we who stay on these shores should defend the home front with lives of virtue and good example, and with a vigilant eye to see to it that when our boys return they will come back to a land where the name of God is loved and honored.
 AS the war develops it becomes more evident that we are engaging not an enemy in quest of world wide conquest but an enemy seek ing to capture the soul of humanity. We shudder, but should we be sur- prised? The philosophies which sent God out of the hearts of so many both abroad and at home have sent with Him all that raised man above the animal.
 The sceptics and the cynics and the rationalists have had their day. Now they have their pay. They wrote the Prologue. Their pagan pupils are writing the Epilogue to- day in blood and sweat and tears.