Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-11-21


Stakeholder Corp, made No0. 8 before CT
YOUR speaker arises to address
L this meeting with great humility.
He accepted your invitation not be-
cause he felt qualified to participate
in the program but rather because
of the opportunity it presented to
pay tribute to the contribution made
by the National Conference of Chris
tians and Jews to the two vital tasks
facing this nation-winning the war.
and winning the peace.
Your contribution has taken the
form of promoting unity on the
home front by battling against big
otry and prejudice-or would it be
better if l said battling for tolerance.
In saying that you are fighting
for tolerance, may be undertaking
your aim. Mrs. Hoffman says l am.
She suggests understanding as bet
ter word. And even goes so far as
to propose that we should actually
take seriously the, biblical injunction
to love one another. AS for me,
a goal Of tolerance seems formidable
enough.
TOLERANCE, of course, like faith
L and charity and similar words in
the upper semantic range, conveys
various meanings. define it as
mutual respect and good will among
people of divergent faiths and views.
Toward this lesser goal of tolerance
real progress has been made, but we
still have long, long way to go to
attain it. Until we come much closer
to achieving it, | propose that con-
tinued concentration on it is in order.
Merely by being tolerant, we will
serve our country well.
At this particular moment in the
history of the world, not only the
direct but also the collateral benefits
of the campaign of the National Con-
ference of Christians and Jews to.
promote religious tolerance are of
peculiar significance.
Once the view is accepted that
men of good will of all faiths should
unite to fight religious bigotry, it fol-
lows quite inevitably that all such
men should fight prejudice, intoler-
ance and narrow-mindedness in other
areas. And battle against these ugly
manifestations we must, wherever
they may appear.
They are dc S t Eu ctive forces
which, unless held in check, will pro-
long the war unnecessarily and per-
haps put the winning of the peace in
the greatest jeopardy.
L,IRST, let us talk about the war
l. situation. Even at the present
time there is altogether too much
strife between government, business,
labor and agriculture, despite the
fact that up to now all the pressures
of patriotism have tended to repress
conflict.
Those pressures will continue
with great intensity until after the
collapse of Germany. At that time
we will face crisis. Too many
people will feel that the war is over.
In too many cases there will be great
danger that the irritations, the an
tagOnisms, even the hatreds which
have been held in check only by total
concentration on the war effort will
burst their bounds. That must not
happen, because if we are to enjoy
peace on earth the japanese war
lords, as well as Hitler and his gang,
must be totally crushed.
Now | want to talk to you about
winning the peace. The phrase win
ming the peace" like the word toler-
ance has different meaning to diff
ferent people. To some it means the
achievement of a new world order.
To others it has a more restricted
meaning. However, think the over
whelming majority of Americans