DISARMING POWER OF REVITALIZED SPIRITUALITY
Application of Religion to Politics

The application of true religion to the politics of the free world is the strongest defense any nation can possess, and I affirm this regardless of the truism that religion and politics ought not to be mixed. I say mix them! But mix them well and let both the religion and the politics be above the mediocrity of smallness and factions, dedicated rather to honesty, unity, and the common weal. I therefore advocate, as a solution to the world's problems of war and peace, the disarming power of revitalized spirituality, no matter the various branches and numbers of religious groups participatingpreferably allfor this action cannot be overdone.

Universal Spirituality Excludes Competitive Religion

Hitherto, attempts to infuse the churches with new life have only been underdone or adulterated by platitudes and partial inertia. The very dimension of universal spirituality excludes competition between sects for the attention and loyalty of the people. Contrary to popular belief, often rooted in fear instead of illumined faith, the strength and vitality of the church do not lie in numbers, but in purity of heart, mind, and purpose. Where life and consciousness are consecrated to healing and good works fortified by holy contemplation, there is the place prepared to receive mighty currents of spiritual power which can be mobilized for the salvation of cities, nations, and continents.

Purity Determines Spiritual Balance of Power

Thus a handful of dedicated, selfless individuals can make the difference in the spiritual balance of power for the entire planet, irrespective of the particular religious edifice they may or may not occupy; for God has planted his seeds in the waste places and in the gardens which flourish, that all may be blessed with the abundance of every good and perfect gift. That God is no respecter of persons or systems is attested to by the saints in heaven who have arisen from every age and walk of life under the common banner of charity whose tenet is supreme allegiance to that life which is God and that God which is love in action.

Bonds of Common Service

Men and nations have proven their ability to unite on the battlefield in the face of a common danger during times of war and crisis. Now let them prove their ability in the fields golden with the ripened grain of a spiritual harvest awaiting volunteers who will forswear doctrinal division for the immediate goals of universal freedom, liberty, and brotherhood. And let them not so much as wipe the sweat from their brows until the inalienable rights of every man, woman, and child are made secure through law and impartial justice upholding "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Then and only then dare a man stop to consider if his brother agree with his personal credo. Then and only then will men find that they were in agreement all the while. The bonds of common service are stronger than the divisionary lines of doctrinal interpretations or hairsplitting casuistry. The prophecy of Isaiah "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" will be fulfilled when men keep their eyes on the universal purpose of one world, laying aside lesser aims for the good of the whole.

Let participants in any forthcoming ecumenical conference take this truth to heart as their star of Bethlehem whose brilliant promise, so magnificent, makes hesitation for inferior objectives unthinkable. When the brotherhood of man is achieved, the settling of disputes concerning doctrinal tenets will seem less urgent. Any choice which destroys harmony between neighbors or nations is unworthy of man and unrepresentative of the will of God for the earth.

The poet-sage wisely observed, "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth." The life of man is eternally locked within the heart of the Creator, but his sojourn upon earth is framed within the temporal realm of hours and years. Therefore, let him make full use of that brief opportunity to externalize the City of God among the children of men and in so doing find for himself a just reward in one of the Father's many mansions through the life everlasting. When the concept of the common weal is wholeheartedly embraced, the angelic song "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" will be on the lips of one and all, a testimony to living truth and brotherly love.

In religion as in politics, the attitude of the spectator sport replaces what should be a total self-immersion in the permanent realities of life. What is needed is for men to become imbued with a greater sense of active participation in world good will. This sense of world good will must naturally express, as it is wont to do, in a more profound universal amity paramount to an apparent universal disunity.