National Affairs: … Unless Redeemed

In the midst of crisis, Harry Truman wrote a little homily to 20,000 fellow Baptists meeting in Cleveland. “To one and all,” wrote the President, “I would give this warning: the nations of the world—our own included, with its unprecedented wealth and unlimited natural resources—cannot survive materially unless redeemed spiritually.

“Sadly we reflect upon an enormous retrogression in individual liberty and a denial of all human rights behind an impenetrable Iron Curtain in the satellite states where love—either of God or of man—is proscribed . . . It is for us, in these days of doubt and despair, to bear true and valiant -witness to the faith of our fathers—the faith delivered to the saints and transmitted to us through long generations of Christian forebears.

“We must face the problem in a spirit of steadfastness and humility, remembering the admonition of the ancient King of Israel: ‘Let no man that putteth on his armor boast as he that taketh it off’ … The way ahead is long . . .”