Evening star., 1955-06-24
Graduation Sermons
The letter headed Religion!


The letter headed Religious
Matter" in The Star of June
19 is ridiculous. The bacca-
laureate sermon is a specifi-
cally Christian tradition and
could not properly be anything
else but Christian in tone. It
surely could not injure chill
dren who are not Christians to
hear one Christian sermon,
but if they or their parents feel
50 uncomfortable, they need
not attend what they must
know in advance to be a Chris
tian service. 1t is really a
piece of impertinence to sug-
gest that Christians ought not
to mention the principles of
tie Christian faith in a Chris
tian service. AS for following
Jesus without accepting Him
as Christ, that is fuzzy
minded, paradoxical nonsense.
He was either Who and What
He said He was or He was a
harmless lunatic with delu-
sions of grandeur, and no one
follows a lunatic. No Christian
clergyman worthy of his cloth
will ever water down the Cos
pei just to please unbelievers
who may be in the congrega-
ton from time to time. He
would deserve to be unfrocked
if he did.
AS for foreigners, Indians,
Mohammedans. ETC.. they
knew this to be predomi-
nantly Christian country when
they came here, and if they
attend a Christian service
must naturally expect it to be
Christian in tone. Would
they, or the writer of this
letter, change their religious
services to please Christian
feelings? OF course they would
not and ought not, nor should
we. It is a real tribute to the
power of Jesus that such peo-
pie as the writer of this letter
fear even His name. Chris
tians are bound to pray for
the souls of unbelievers, but
we certainly are not obligated
to make our church services
un-Christian to please them.
Miriam Blaisdale Ketchum.
II II
Religious Parent" speaks
especially for those Jewish,
Chinese and Moslem children
who "go home wondering why
we Americans must impose our
orthodoxy upon them" But I
write (and sign my name) for
another group, vastly larger.
These are parents who teach
their children their own moral
principles but purposely re-
frain from teaching them any
religious dogma. Also victim
lied by these practices are
parents who devoutly believe
some religious creed and who
want it taught to their chill
dren by its adherents and not
by those who disbelieve or per-
haps hate it.
AS De Tocqueville told us so
well 100 years ago, state reli-
gions '"are sometimes Of mo-
mentary service to the interests
of political power but they
always sooner or later become
fatal to the church. Thus the
official prayer book of the
Episcopal Church is regulated
by a British Parliament COM
posed mostly of non-Epis-
copalians. In Israel, religious
Jews, and unbelievers as well,
are forbidden by law to eat
certain food because the DOM
inant group of religious Jews
consider it sinful. ..
Religious people in our Dis
trict government should obey
the Constitution and the court
decisions interpreting 1t which
forbid them to laid any reli-
gion, to aid all religions. or to
prefer one religion over an
other" II they violate this
rule, then all nom Christians,
all unbelievers, and especially
all Christians who firmly be-
lieve in our form of govern
ment should protest together.
Forming as they do the vast
majority of the population.
they could easily stop these un-
American practices.
James E. Curry.