Awake!, January 22, 1952

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RULERS OF MALAYA OPPOSE FREE WORSHIP

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Britain Changes Governments

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The Family Helicopter

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History Is Made in Hollywood

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THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish Interests. “Awake 1” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, facts facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions ar obligations; ft is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains Integrity to truth.

“Awake 1” uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncepsored, on-the*scenes reports came to you through these columns. This journal's viewpoint is not narrow, but is international It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its cover* age is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens,

“Awake 1” pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, io championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened fry the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope ^pr the establishment of a right* eous New World.

Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”

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CONTENTS

History Is Made in Hollywood

The Power of a Doll

Awake! Distribution Gets Results!

Church Goes to the Races—and Parish

to the Cleaners’

Britain Changes Governments

Assassination in Pakistan

The Family Helicopter

Court Seizes Child for Blood Transfusion 16

More on Blood Transfusion

Australia Scraps Anti-Red Laws

Rulers of Malaya Oppose Free Worship

“Your Word la Truth*’

“Is Satan Necessary?’’

Evolution—“as Everyone Knows**

“Fourscore end Seven Yeqrs Aga”

Divinity Dean Thinks Churches Need

House Cleaning

Retribution Outweighs Brotherly Love

Watching the World

& “Now it is high time to awake.'’—Romans 13:11 &

Volume XXXIII Brooklyn, N.Y,, January 22, 1952 Number 2

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HISTORY IS MADE IN HOLLYWOOD

THE motion picture industry has almost repealed the saying that ‘truth is stranger than fiction’. History creates events but once, often under the most undramatic circumstances and in only one locale for a limited few eyes. Technicolor movie cameras can re-create world-shaking acts thousands of years old, enabling modem audiences to relive them in all their original color and pageantry. Thoughtful script writers can add any needed drama that history thoughtlessly omitted. The year 1951 witnessed stupendous use of Hollywood’s powers, in a picture destined to be viewed by millions and perhaps attract attention of historian and Christian. This is Hollywood’s epic epic, Quo Vadis.

Including conception and planning, Quo Vadis involved twelve years of work. Production cost was set at more than $6,000,000. More than 500 sets included such constructions as Nero’s circus accommodating 30,000 persons, the massive front of his palace, a whole section of ancient Rome and a great bridge. Some 52,400 yards of material went into 32,000 costumes. Besides 235 speaking parts and mob scenes of thousands (over 40,000 applied to the casting department), the cast includes 63 lions, 2 cheetahs, 450 horses and assorted oxen, cattle, hogs and other animals. The breath-taking burning of Rome sequence required twenty-four nights of filming. The result was an epic of dramatic entertainment. Furthermore, the basic plot of Christians in the midst of persecution turned on by Nero’s Rome was handled with justice insofar as portraying the Christians as a decidedly “different” sort of people. They preached Chrjst’s kingdom and love, smiled at death and would have no part in Rome’s licentious and militaristic society.

In just pride of the preproduction research the first-run program guide states: “No pains were spared to achieye as perfect accuracy as the most careful research could provide.” But on the side of constructive criticism we ask, Was the research quite careful enough? It is no secret that for centuries the Roman Catholic Church has sought by every means to prove the apostle Peter was in Rome as the first head of the Christian congregation there. She turned to the Bible. It was silent. She looked to history. Responsible historians would make no such assertion. But in Quo Vadis M-G-M gets him there at last! Furthermore, in most obliging fashion, he is made “chief of the apostles”, has Jesus’ words concerning the rock on which his church was built applied to him and is crucified on Vatican Hill!

Not only the original language at Matthew 16:18, but Peter himself says the Christian Church’s foundation is Christ, not Peter. At 1 Peter 2:7 it is of Christ that Peter says, “the identical stone that

the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”—New World Trane.

Boiled down, Catholicism’s chief "proof” for Peter’s Roman sojourn seems to be based purely on an early legend. How such myth might easily have started is pointed out by Boston University Professor Henry C. Sheldon’s History of the Christian Church (Vol. I), published in 1894, which says that "the Bishop of Rome, being favored by the associations of the imperial city, the mistress of the world, would be likely, ere long, to constitute himself a successor of Peter, and to assert his fictitious claims with a good degree of success”. Sifnilarly, the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) speaks of favors bestowed on early Rome by "the Fathers” “inasmuch as that city was the seat of empire”—in other words, for political motives. Catholics may note famed “St.” Augustine’s words:

“I have said in a certain passage respecting the Apostle Peter, that the Church upon him is founded as upon a rock. , , . But I know that 1 have frequently afterwards so expressed myself, that the phrase ‘Upon this rock,’ should be understood to be the rock which Peter confessed. For it was not said to him ‘Thou art petra’ but thou art Petrus, for the rock was Christ.”

“Ironically, Quo Vadis portrays both the apostles Paul and Peter in Rome, great metropolis of the Gentiles, at the same time, but completely subordinates Paul while exalting Peter as his superior. In reality Paul, not Peter, was known as the apostle to the Gentiles; and in writing the Roman Christians, mentioning thirty-five names and sending greetings to twenty-six, he fails even to mention their supposed bishop, Peter. How would the pope today feel if one of his cardinals should address an official letter to the Vatican and so completely snub him? The film records the legend inspiring the original story that Peter was directed by Christ in a vision to return to Rome. But the Bitfle account, while never once associating Peter with Rome, does relate an occasion when the Lord stood over Paul in the night and ordered him, not Peter, to go to Rome to bear witness. (Acte 23:11) Much ado is made over Peter’s having seen Christ in the flesh, Yet Paul had at least a partial revelation of Christ's spiritual glory.

Paul is shown "baptizing” by pouring a little water: from a vial over the heads of Christian converts. However, Christian baptism, as exemplified in Christ’s case, has ever been a full immersion in water. (Matthew 3:16) In the film, Paul demanded that a man release his slaves before becoming a Christian, claiming that Christians did not tolerate slavery. However, neither Paul nor the other apostles were social reformers. They were preachers of God’s kingdom by Christ. Relief from all evils they left for the Kingdom to accomplish in due time. Paul said clearly: "Were you called a slave? Do not let it worry y<bu; but if you can also become free, rather seize the opportunity.” But by this he did not mean to do so against the master’s wishes. He later sent the runaway slave, Onesimus, back to his Christian master Philemon after Onesimus himself had become a Christian.-—1 Corinthians 7:21; Philemon 10-20, New World Trans.

Thus it appears that Hollywood did more than make history in the dramatic field with an exciting motion picture. She saw fit as well to “make” history over to suit the interests of Catholicism. When one considers the superb research that was admittedly conducted for this production, it is unthinkable that such salient points relative to early Christianity could have been misunderstood by accident. Correction of these matters could have done the story no conceivable harm. It would only have eliminated an obvious surrender to Rome at the expense of the truth.

A WHOLE land

worships it A nation directs its money and prayers to it Pilgrimages are made to it by the poor and the rich. Miracles and wonders are attributed to it. The lives of thousands of peo-pie are regulated by what can be done for

By “Awake!” correspondent in Honduras

the image is located in the chalk-and-brown hamlet of Suyapa, about six miles west of Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. The present large twin-towered temple of S u y a p a dwarfs into insignificance the small whitewashed adobe huts

it. Well, what is it? Imagine in your mind’s eye a small, exquisitely carved doll just two and three-fifths inches high. This little image is the center of all the attraction. It is the Patroness Saint of Honduras, the Mother pnd Queen of the Republic, Sacred Image, Queen of Angels, Star of Stars, more commonly known as the “Virgin of Suyapa”.

It all started around 200 years ago, as the story goes. One day in the year 1747 two peons are said to have been heading homeward from their day’s work. Awaiting the light of the stars to walk by, they decided to stretch out by the side of the road, as darkness had overtaken them. One of them claimed something prodded him in the back, and, without looking at it, he hurled the object some distance away. But in a few moments he felt the prodding again. This time he detected a perfume odor surrounding the object of his trouble. He decided to wrap it and place it in his pocket till later when he could examine it. Lo, the next day he found it to be this tiny image of the virgin Mary. The village priest declared that it must have been abandoned by some family devoted to the virgin’s worship.

From this simple beginning, the fame of the image grew rapidly. Several temples were built to house it along with a retinue of other lesser images or “saints”. Today of the natives around it.

Inside, the visitor or devotee sees the Suyapa image in the back of the room resting upon a sphere of silver about six inches high, which in turn rests upon a pedestal of the same height. This gives the image the semblance of being much taller than its two and three-fifths inches. Closer inspection shows it is dressed in a silk dress embroidered in gold and garnished with precious stones. Down through the years the doll has inherited necklaces, earrings, precious stones, ornaments of gold and silver and even a number of head of cattle. The image is not poor!

Little Doll’s “Big Day”

An outing for the virgin of Suyapa is quite an affair. Each February 3 has been set aside as Suyapa day in Honduras, and truly it is an all-out occasion. Business stores and offices close. The capital’s streets are given a thorough cleaning and then strewn with pine needles and boughs. Much time and care are spent in decorating the house fronts. In the open doorways can be seen, large and small, framed pictures of the “saints”, so placed as to enable them to “see” the virgin as the image passes. Bright-colored ribbons and lace curtains make their appearance hanging from windows and balconies. Long, multicolored paper streamers are stretched overhead

across the streets. Vendors pass through the streets selling charms and medals bearing the image’s picture. Anything can happen to one if he does not have a blessed medallion of the virgin.

A chanted intonation becomes louder and louder, rising and falling, as the people recite after the priest the praises to the image. Next the procession appears. Little children dressed as “angels” are carried on the shoulders of devout worshipers of Suyapa. Here and there one can see the life-size statue saints bobbing up and down as they are borne along by the crowd. Ha! there it is, the throne chair of 'the tiny image of Suyapa. For such a small image, what a large carriage! Those struggling along with its weight on their shoulders paid hard-earned money for the privilege of carrying it, and they are considered by all to be well rewarded. From one temple to another the procession goes, stopping at each place while the priest blesses the crowds and newcomers. Mingled laughter and crying are heard together as the mass of people push forward in their effort to get as close to the little doll as possible. As the day draws to a close and night falls, hundreds of candles will light up the way as further processions carry the festivities into the night.

This Doll a "Jack of All Trades”

The virgin of Suyapa plays a large role in the lives of many Honduran people. There just is not anything she is not supposed to be able to do. Are you sick? Did you lose something? Do you need some help to win a bet? How about a nice curse pronounced against your enemy? The name of the image is involved with all of that and much more. Illustrative of this is the manner of invoking the virgin to cure some form of sickness. No matter what it is, it can be cured. Just do the following: If your foot bothers you, or your arm is broken, or you have a sore head, then make a small head, arm or foot of pure silver (gold, if you can afford it, for quicker healing) and take it to Suyapa. Drop it into the coffer placed near the virgin and on bended knees make your petition to the “queen of heaven”, who can do all things. It is said you may return home confident that the cure is on its way. The virgin of Suyapa is known as the image that never refuses a favor. In the temple hanging on the wall in glass cases are to be seen hundreds of silver and gold pieces, each shaped in the form of some part of the body, supposed to represent a miracle that has been performed by the virgin of Suyapa in healing that particular part of someone’s body. These exvotos, as they are called, can be found ready-made on sale at any jeweler’s shop ut downtown Tegucigalpa.

In the old days natives would make long treks through the wilderness, walking barefoot over mountains day and night, sometimes carrying sick children, to reach the virgin. Often all they would have to eat would be a few tortillas and small bits of cheese. When they would come in sight of the temple they would drop to their knees and crawl up the rocky path until they reached the altar. Tradition has It that anyone spreading his coat or shirt along the way to ease the path of the crawling pilgrims would receive a special blessing from the virgin. With tom and bloody knees, frequently weak from hunger, they would prostrate themselves before the image to confess payment of a vow or to ask some special favor of the virgin. Even today many scorn those who would come the easy way to pay a vow to the image. If you do not walk or?crawl some distance, “How can you win £race?” they ask.

Snared in a Religious "Doll House”

Almost every home, to the most humble adobe hut, has one comer of the front

room dedicated to house the family altar. Cakes or tortillas are made daily and placed, along with drink, before the image, for its use. Sweet-smelling flowers or bits of pine sprigs adorn the altar where strips of colored crepe paper and bits of tinfoil surround an image or picture of the virgin of Suyapa. Large candies sputter away in their places before the crude shrine. “She will be pleased by this/' they like to say. If all goes well and a favor or petition is granted it is not unlikely that the image will receive a kiss. But woe to the virgin if the prayer is not answered’ It might be duly punished—no food or water for a time, or even a beating might be given.

Children, too, are taught to swear by and live by the virgin of Suyapa. Somewhere on their body, tied around the neck hanging on a bit of siring or chain, or pinned to some part of clothing, will be found a small image of Suyapa, put there for protection. The charm is not supposed to fail. Of course, if it does fail to deliver, the doll can always be spanked, as described above.

The Roman Catholic Hierarchy’s admitted practice of sanctifying by adoption into its system the pagan mysteries, symbols, images and customs of the past is well known. To what childish, utterly absurd extremes she will go is seen from Honduras’ virgin of Suyapa doll worship. Similarly, in ’Guatemala it is the “Black Christ” or image of Esquipulas: in Costa Rica, an “Indian” virgin Mary; in Mexico, the virgin of Guadalupe, etc., etc., on and on. The pattern is the same throughout Early In the history of each country, the hierarchy, working through its priests, introduced and encouraged the use of the multitudinous images and “saints”, one of which was destined to become patron or patroness of each country. With such image worship as the lure, their typical hierarchical structure was planted upon the necks of the populace. Into great, templelike “doll houses" were the helpless people drawn to pay their vows to the image gods and be bled of their meager earnings. Worst of all is the frightful mental bondage into which the doll’s devotees have been plunged through their superstitious dread of displeasing the "saints”.

If people today, as in the Republic of Honduras, sigh and cry for the abominations they see abounding in the land, they must realize that they cannot go to images for relief. Such mediums are deaf and hear nothing. "What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it. a molten and a false image, because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols? Woe to him that salth to wood: Awake. To the dumb stone, Arise. Can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof."—Habaouc 2:18,19, Catholic Douay Bible.

Only by turning to the Word of God, the Bible, and seeking therein information about the true and living God can they find a measure of relief now. Then in the near future they can hope for the new world promised in God’s Word where righteousness is to dwell, and which will usher in peace and happiness and freedom of pure, right worship for all lovers of justice and truth. Flee images and live.

We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called “gods”, whether »n heaven or on earth, rust as there are many "gods” and many “lords”, there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him, and there is one Lord. Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and wa through him.—I Corinthians 8:4-6, New World Trans.

JANUARY 22, 1952

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HEN the subject of compulsory blood transfusions came up in Chicago, Illi* nois, in April of last year, the wires of the national news services, as usual, gave only prejudiced accounts of the matter, and local clergymen did their hit to ridicule and bring condemnation upon the stand taken by Jehovah’s witnesses. So that newspaper editors might be fully acquainted with the facts, as wall as have the opportunity to present these to their readers, the Watchtower Society instructed each company or congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses in the United States to supply the editor of each newspaper in its territory with a copy of the AicaJcef magazine that gave the Scriptural position of Jehovah’s witnesses on the matter.

In obedience to these instructions the edi' tor of the Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal was interviewed. The one making the interview was equipped to give an effective witness, and as a result a series of four articles, of some thousand words each, and accompanied by photographs, fairly setting forth the beliefs and activities of Jehovah’s witnesses, was published In this journal, September 4 to 7 inclusive. The introduction to this series was as follows:

“Forceful Belief Spurs Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a religion they take far more seriously than the great majority of people. Their principles remind us of the early Christians who were so unpopular and who were persecuted so brutally by the Romans.

“Here Is a group of people who actually believe their religion and propose that other people shall believe it as well. Jehovah’s Witnesses are New Testament Christians and they read the text as an Infallible Scripture and believe what they read. Thug when they read that the end of the world is at hand, that Jesus is coming back to earth and that He will set up His Kingdom on earth and judge between the good and the bad, that’s exactly what they believe—and io the letter. All of this Is what they call the truth, and in their ministry they strive to bring the truth to all others 'who have *not yet been brought the truth’. ...

“Because the Witnesses believe their religion, they are peculiarly aggressive. They are not satisfied to follow their religion in the manner of others because ’the time is too short’ for routine work. The case of Jehovah’s Witnesses presents an issue as old as Christianity. These sincere men and women ask for nothing but the right to ^proclaim their religion and to commend it to the acceptance of their fellow men. And they are willing to suffer for this right.”

The four articles dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses were entitled as follows: “Forceful Belief Spun Jehovah’s Witnesses,” “ 'Wit* nesses’ Preach by Tracts,” “Every Man a Minister, Is Witnesses’ Belief,” "Jehovah's Witnesses Claim Ministers’ Rights.”

Incidentally, the Akron Beacon Journal was not the only paper that responded to the interview, as many others published articles.

Churrh Goes to the Races—and Parish to the Cleaners/

Our Lady and All Saints Catholic Church of Stourbridge, England, wanted $28,000 for a new church school. So "Rev.” J. O'Dowd decided to run a weekly football draw among parishioners. Then complications set in. Included on the draw coupons were race horse tips furnished by an “expert” who revealed himself only as “Dead Cert”. For seven consecutive weeks "Dead Cert” scored bull’s-eyes, while jubilant parishioners reaped returns, nonchurchgoers hopped on the band wagon and local bookmakers mourned. Then came the eighth week. The inevitable law of averages caught up With "Dead Cert” when not one of his picks even placed. Gloom settled over the parish. The anonymous “horse shark" was identi* fled, and it was revealed that he had given his tips to the church, which in turn had sold them to parishioners. Reports did not disclose “Rev.” O’Dowd’s fate. However, the Bible discloses little hope for supposed shepherds that lead supposed sheep from Christ’s footsteps and into gamblers’ footsteps.

By “Awake!1’ correspondent in Britain

.-. The country has got rid of a party that it did not want In favor of one that it does not trust.”

ChurchiU greeted the election returns with a broad smile and his traditional World War II “V for victory” sign, then quickly and confidently formed his cabinet. The scales could now balance the campaign issues and the new leaders.

ATE last October Britain climaxed twenty months of political chaos with a general election. For that long the Labor government had controlled the country by the slimmest of possible margins. At every turn her leaders faced perpetual fear of challenge and a new election common to the British electoral system. At last the blow came, Labor was ousted and the Conservatives, or “Tories”, found themselves back in power behind their apparently indomitable leader, Winston Churchill. But the election did not lift the same political stalemate, for it barely swung the pendulum back in the opposite direction, leaving the margin of victory scarcely greater than Labor had previously enjoyed. The new government formed on thin ice.

Would Churchill be as helpless as Attlee in coping with problems of the empire? How would the home front fare, in industry, capital, labor? Would the new leaders be able to arrest the pitiful plunge of Britain’s international prestige? The British press was pessimistic. Said one writer, apparently referring to what he considered the election’s only real change: “Mr. Churchill will preside over this melancholy scene instead of Mr. Attlee. No doubt he will welcome the change.

The Empire: Would Holding It

Mean War?

In light of Britain’s many empire crises and her fading international prestige, foreign policy questions were heated. Persia and Egypt were afflictions causing immediate pain. Both political parties were under no illusions as to the delicate balance between war and peace now existing in the world. The former Labor foreign minister declared, “We are not going to have a quiet and comfortable life in the years ahead, whoever is in Downing Street.” The old government’s tactics in handling the Iranian oil dispute had been sharply criticized on many sides. In answer to Conservative taunts, the foreign secretary had asked Mr. Churchill point blank if he was prepared to go to war over the oil fields. To this Mr. Churchill replied that Mr.

Morrison had no right to ask such a ques-

tion, and that if the Conservatives had been in office, matters would not have been allowed to so deteriorate.

On the colonial question in general a new and clear-cut stand seemed necessary. The old Labor government had become very unpopular through its policy of giving ever larger shares of self-government to the colonies. This, home critics said, had led to disaffection and the breakup of the empire spirit. One of the colonial problems involved the future of the protectorates of Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland, in South Africa. On this, both major parties had answered alike, that no British government would hand over the three territories to South African rule without consulting the native peoples.

The old Labor government had initiated a defense program to cost £4,700,000,000 in the next three years. Aneurin Bevan promptly led a revolt within the party, declaring it could never be met. The Conservatives had previously favored strong defense proposals, but recently had to alter

the Laborite program, and Churchill said and Bevan had been right “by accident”.

On one hand an “underground campaign” moved against the Conservatives, planting the strong inference that Winston Churchill was a warmonger and that a Tory vote was a war vote. Churchill denounced such a charge as “base and mean beyond compare”. Said he: “If I remain in public office at this juncture, it is because rightly or wrongly, but sincerely, I believe that I may be able to make an important contribution to the prevention of a third world war and to bring nearer that lasting peace settlement which all desire. I pray indeed that I may have this opportunity. It is the last prize I seek to win.”

The Home Front: More Control or Less?

At home, one of the great problems will be that of keeping the rank and file of the laboring classes tinder control. With the rising cost of living, workingmen have been agitating for higher wages, and the labor unions have been hard put to keep a restraining hand over them lest they should embarrass the Labor government. Strikes had been put off, but just how long this would continue with a Conservative government in .power remained to be seen. “Reactions of the trade unions to a Tory government will depend upon the policies pursued by that government,” said Mr. Arthur Deacon, chairman of the Trade Union Congress. “Governments come and governments go, and we have got to work with governments, but very clearly we shall go on striving to do those things which we regard as advantageous to the people we represent,”

From the time the election result was known, it was assumed that Labor, in losing, was left so strong a contender as to be a constant thorn in the new government’s side. The two forces were envisioned shouting their respective cries, “nationalize” denationalize”, on one important domestic measure after another. The domestic scene provided ample problems for the shouting to start over. Little had been said throughout the campaign about what would be done to meet the problems. Summing up the matter, the Economist said succinctly: “Between the two major parties, the chief distinction is that the Labor manifesto does not admit the existence of an unsolved economic problem for Britain, while the two Conservative documents recognize its existence but do not say what a Conservative government would do about it.”

Industrially, Britain was riddled with unrest. The Conservatives had advanced an excess profits tax, which businessmen generally deplore and which hinders the development of industry and discourages

enterprise; but this may be considered merely something to attract the workingman’s vote and draw the middle classes away from Labor.. Again and again Tory promises assured that they did not intend to tamper with the framework of the Welfare State. They have stated: “No more industries will be nationalized. The iron and steel trade will be freed. TTie coal industry will be decentralized, bus and tram services will not be removed from municipal or private control. Road haulers will be allowed again to enter their own business.”

Religion Provokes Side Issue

For long British Roman Catholics have agitated against the Education Act of 1944. During the campaign opportunity name to relight the old flame when Mr. Richard Stokes, Lord Privy Seal, himself a Catholic, hinted broadly that if re-elected the government would make adjustments in the act. The Catholic position was reiterated by Dr. Downey, Roman Catholic archbishop of Liverpool, on October 21. He declared that Catholics would simply be “administered out of existence” unless they continued to oppose the clause in the 1944 act compelling them to bear one-half of the cost of bringing their schools up to Ministry of Education standards and the entire cost of building new schools. According to his logic this meant the Catholics of Britain would have to “pay a fine” of £51 million to keep their schools.

But other religious denominations accept the 1944 law, and the Free Church Federal Council’s Education Committee formally protested the Catholic position. The Liberals also issued a statement saying they are anxious that the principles of the 1944 act “shall not be abandoned so as to revive acute controversy in the field of education, and that political parties should rigidly refrain from making promises designed to capture the votes of the Roman Catholic community”.

Both sides had offered full support to the United Nations, Regarding this policy, the Conservative spokesman asserted that his party would “continue to back the United Nations to the hilt”. On Anglo-American relations, he further affirmed: “The greatest hope for the peace of the world is the closest co-operation between Great Britain and the United States, in consort with the Commonwealth and aided by the democracies of Europe.”

To the surprise of no one, Churchill has, since the election, indicated clearly that this close Anglo-American association will be part of his program. Regardless of his small majority he has declared his party will keep doing its duty “however unpopular it may be”. The test is on at a trying crossroads for the British empire.

How many times have great and seemingly impregnable empires been brought low by the shock of wars and political and economic deterioration in the history of men? Careful students of such events do not deny the inevitable cycle that dogs the trail of weak and dying man and his attempts to rule himself. Repeated failure in the past teaches that shaky human alliances and confederacies are no sure hope or stabilizing force.

But men of good will from all present dying kingdoms, empires, democracies and police states can look with confidence to the near future when stability will return to the earth under the dominion of Jehovah God’s promised messianic kingdom by his Son. All present foreign and domestic problems will vanish, as “they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people”.—Isaiah 65:21, 22.

ASSASINATION IN PAKISTAN

By “AwcitaJ" cfijreipAndent tn Pakittan <'

ON October 16, 1951, Liaquat-Ali-Khan, < prime minister of Pakistan, was assas- ■ slnated in an .air of mystery, drama and pathos. The event was another shocking addi* tion to an appalling list of Middle-East polit- > leal assassinations since the close of World ; War IL It was mildly mysterious, since the < nearest seat was thought to be out of revolver J range. It was dramatic in that near-mob panic { was produced. It was pathetic when the ? crowds, later, not realising their beloved lead- S er was dead, kept shouting, “Liaqua^Ali'Khan < zindabad" "Long live Llaqu&t-AilKhan.” £

This man of moderate political views had j been widely respected. He had gained a broad J and democratic foundation from his education J in Oxford, England, and, in law, at Temple j-Bar. Since joining the Moslem League in 1937, j he had had a prominent part in leading the J struggle for freedom from British imperialism. That he was a man of integrity and a cut above the average politician is seen in the f fact that at his sudden death his possessions were negligible.

A favored rumor behind the assassination was that Bharat (India), to further her ambitions in Kashmir, engineered the killing. But ? what little evidence there is seemed to point J! elsewhere. The killer was an Afghan on whose person was found a large sum of money, denoting financial backing. Further, just before the killing, the Afghan consul returned home . unexpectedly by air. ■

The world In general was gratified that < Pakistan did not disintegrate in panic and fly < to arms. Today any war is potentially a world war. Powerful blocs of nations are poised in J battle array, requiring only a spark to ignite j a conflagration. And sparks are plentiful: Korea, Palestine, Iran, Berlin, Egypt, Kashmir. ■

What was world reaction to the plight of ■ Pakistan in view of this? Britain's Winston ? Churchill declared the incident "will complicate their [India and Pakistan’s] difficult task” of building peace. Nehru of India described the murdered leader as "a steadying influence” departed from Pakistan, The Berlin news-paper Der Tagesspiegel announced: "The dan- ’ ger of war between Pakistan and India becomes greater"; and the LT. N. Kashmir envoy, Frank Graham, said; *‘Wo rid peace may depend on Kashmir.” British newspapers stressed the urgent need now more than ever to secure a settlement on Kashmir, one stating that the assassin had "shaken the stability of South Asia”. Meanwhile India’s Dr. Muker-ji responded by pouring out fiery speeches against Pakistan.

/ On October 17 thirty-one guns saluted the passage of the dead leader's body on its way to the grave* On the 20th the same number saluted the inauguration of the second prime minister of the four-year-old Pakistanian state, Khwaja Nazimuddin. Without a constitution, the country continues to be governed by the originally appointed Constituent Assembly, and from among these the new prime minister selected his cabinet.

Liberal minds seemed relieved that Khwa-3 a Nazimuddin, like Liaquat-Al^Khan, is a man of moderate temperament, and possessed of educational background and political activity very similar to that of his predecessor, This philosophy is considered to have stood the nation in good stead. First listed in his declared policy in office was the settlement of the Kashmir issue: by a free plebiscite as firs ^'recourse, by war as second. This leaves the problem just where it was. India declines any plebiscite arranged by any but herself. Said Nazimuddin in his poJicy-oudming address: “If this fire is kindled [in Kashmir] the edifice of peace may well be reduced to ashes.”

The people of Pakistan are to be congratulated on their excellent discipline in this orisis now past, and the leaders on their ability to bridge a dangerous chasm. It is a Joy to all lovers of righteousness to know that soon assassinations or other acts of violence likely to explode in global war will mark this earth no more. Peace ah all extend from east to west, bringing security and contentment the entire course of the sun. No fears then by nations large or small, for "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”.—Isaiah 2:4.

A DAY when traffic jams, bumpy roads and Sunday drivers may soon be the thing of the past! People will look back and wonder how they ever escaped the twentiethcentury deathtrap. The new contraption apparently destined to revolutionize modem travel is the helicopter.

This ugly duckling of the aeronautical sciences is one of the big surprises of the

Korean war. It has put fighting units in the fighting line, fresh and strong, and not fagged out from miles of hiking and climbing. It has landed troops and medical equipment on peaks and rugged hills. It has evacuated the wounded, supplied isolated positions and carted specialists and brass around. The helicopter’s “can-do-it” has changed her from Cinderella to fairy princess almost overnight.

This clumsy flying banana’s potpourri of chores includes: rescues, spraying and dusting crops, fertilizing land, fruit picking, aerial photography, forest fire fighting and patrol, water-front patrol and hauling mail. And it may soon become queen of commuters’ transportation.

While still just a baby, the helicopter idea i& nothing new. Louis Breguet, a French aircraft designer, is sometimes called the daddy of the hybrid offspring. In 1907, he constructed one that actually did lift him off the earth, but soon gave up the idea because he had difficulty controlling it in the air. The Wright brothers knew of this windmill mechanism long before they constructed their famous Kitty Hawk, Far back in the thirteenth century the Chinese were said to have constructed

a toy helicopter, with the modem principle of operation. It was not until 1909, however, that the first successful helicopter was built in the United States. Igor I. Sikorsky is credited with having designed and operated the first rotor-wing type helicopter like those of today. He later confessed his experiments failed because of lack of knowledge and horsepower.

’Copter Bus Service in View

Since then, some 1,200 helicopters of various makes and models have been made, but only a few are privately owned. The government has priority on all output for the time being. Most of the companies geared to produce helicopters are eagerly awaiting the go-ahead signal to supply civilian demand. Wiggins Airways of Norwood, Massachusetts, reports that they plan to convert their entire airway system to helicopters as soon as possible. If this be done there will be helicopter transportation from Boston to Albany and to more than twenty other New England communities, which are now being served with conventional-type plane transportation. Wiggins plans to extend this service to New York city and vicinity.

The chief objection to the conventional-type plane is that the commuters spend

as much time or more getting to the airport or from the airport as they actually do in the air. This is true especially in larger cities such as Detroit, New York city, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston, where airports are located on the outskirts of the city. The passengers put up with it now because they feel there is no faster means. Now with the production of the helicopter this is all being revolutionized.

'Heliports’ are being built. The first of its kind to be built is on top of the Port Authority’s building in the heart of New York city. Helicopter taxi service will be conducted from the airports to the downtown shopping district in nothing flat. Travel time will be reduced as much as 80 per cent. The 25 minutes that it takes to get from Manhattan to La Guardia Airport will be reduced to a mere 7 minutes by the flying grasshopper. The 38-minute limousine ride from Manhattan to Newark, New Jersey, will be sliced to a thin 9-minute hop. The 42 minutes spent zigzagging through traffic to the Idlewild airport from Manhattan will be telescoped to no more than 11 minutes. With these revolutionary changes in sight the future of the helicopter is a bright one.

It has other distinctive features that catch the commercial eye. Its speed and lack of speed. It needs no large airports and can fly in almost any kind of weather. Being able to go forward or back, up or down, sideways, glide or loop, or stop dead still and hover in one spot, makes it almost indispensable.

Civil defense units are crying for them. In the event of an atomic attack, automobile, truck and other surface transportation will be paralyzed. Paths will have to be dug through the wreckage to bring relief to the disaster centers. This takes time. The helicopter will not be hampered or bogged down by any of this. Almost immediately she can transport doctors, nurses, medical and food supplies to the disaster $cene. She has proved her ability to do this in the Korean war. For her noble Job she has been decorated with the distinctive title “flying angel”.

Miners have found the whirlybird indispensable to them too. The hours that it takes to wind down to a mine at the base of a 2,000-foot canyon and up again at nightfall, can be done in nothing flat with the helping hand of the helicopter. Supplies can be brought. Mail can be delivered. In sleet, snow and fog, which would virtually stdp mountain truck traffic the queer bird with the whirling umbrella will descend and ascend with the greatest of ease.

Ranchers have taken a liking to her. They call her the miracle-worker of the West. Thousands of acres can be sprayed, dusted or fertilized in almost any kind of terrain. They have used her to spot cattle and pick fruit.

Architects viewing the future through the 'helicoptic eye’ are driven crazy with visions of a new kind of world. Most of the automobile arteries will be under cultivation. They see out-of-the-way places inhabited. Houses with flat roofs with a pleasantly designed garage in one comer. Hotel and apartment roofs with hangar space and short landing strips. New va«a-tion centers for many. South America, Alaska, and the islands to the south will be just a mere stone’s throw away. A 400-mile trip in one day by car is tiring, but a 1,000-mile trip in a helicopter will be nothing unusual or fatiguing.

But a question presents itself: with hundreds of thousands of helicopters in the air at one time, what can be done to prevent a five-o’clock skyway traffic jam? Traffic lanes as high as the sky can be created. Each at a different altitude. Oneway lanes, lanes for slow and fast traffic, lovers’ lane and lanes for our sightseers

and Sunday drivers. The supersonic jet or atomic planes could fly high in the stratosphere above all these lanes.

Let's have a look into the future and see how father takes the wife and children in the family 'copter to a lake some 50 miles away. A button is pushed. The garage door opens. The ’copter is taxied out The family climb aboard and are seated as comfortably as they onqe were in the family car. Dad takes hold of the control stick, presses a button, the huge rotor blades begin to spin. In the cabin, the radio is playing softly, no noise is heard or vibration felt. Slowly, gently, smoothly the 'copter ascends. The home becomes smaller below. At 1,200 feet they have reached their traffic lane. The control stick is moved slightly forward, changing the pitch of the rotor blades so that they bite the air for forward movement. The earth below seems to move, new homes appear, the winding rivers and checkerboard-like land is a thrill to behold. Thirty minutes have passed and they are over the picnic grounds next to the lake. The control stick is fixed in the neutral position, the ’copter comes to a halt in midair. The throttle is cut and slowly they descend onto a clearing about the size of a tennis court. Nerve-racking? No. The operation is simpler than handling an automobile. Fewer controls, fewer motions, easier on the nerves, no screaming breaks, no red lights or blinding lights, and no cross streets, jay walkers or close calls. The cost is about the same as an ordinary car. There are fewer parts, which means less wear. The ’copter will cover about 15 miles to a gallon of gas. Now, wouldn’t you like to fly one? Anyone can hover a helicopter in a few minutes. After 12 hours you can solo. You are bound to become an enthusiast from the start.

Oh, but wait. What would happen if suddenly the engine would develop trouble? Nothing really. Automatically the machine would adjust itself to gliding position, the clutch frees the engine from the rotor blades, allowing the rotor blades to spin free by air pressure. The rest of the controls remain normal. The spinning blades enable the ’copter to descend safely from any height. In bad weather, mountainous terrain presents a problem to almost any kind of craft. In the conventional-type plane, the pilot leans heavily to his every electronic navigation aid or crashes into the mountainside. The ’copter pilot, on the other hand, slows down his speed to a creeping pace. When coming face to face with a mountain peak, he stops, backs up, if necessary, and up and over he goes and is on his way. The same goes for landing. He can take off on a dime and land on one, and do it as gingerly as a hen settles down on her eggs.

This “egg beater of the air” might be considered a slow poke as far as aircraft is concerned, but she is no sitting duck. Designers are hard at work putting power into her shapeless body. Britain is designing two-engine helicopters for speed and safety. Recently, a convertible ’copter has been developed. This bird with an altogether different style of feathers is streamlined for speed. Experts predict this slow poke someday will travel at supersonic speed.

A pint-size engine weighing less than 100 pounds powered by rockets is the newest thing in one-man helicopters. This contraption is strapped to a man and in Buck Rogers fashion he is rocketed off into space. Who knows, someday one might carry in his brief case a collapsible-type helicopter!

i Fantastic you say! Maybe so, but stranger things have happened. Helicopter buses, to business and pleasure, are a reality. They can do anything the hummingbird can do and a few things the bird cannot do. These flying buses of today may well become the family car of tomorrow.

Court Seizes Child for Blood Transfusion

THE folio wing interest-rousing dispatch appeared on International News Service dated New York, October 13, 1951:

"A three-year-old critically ill boy was given a court-entered blood transfusion today despite the religious objections of his mother. The youngster, Jonathan Shelton, of Brooklyn, was reported holding his own late today following the court-sanctioned action. The youth was operated on for a ruptured appendix and acute peritonitis shortly after he was admitted to the Kings County hospital last week. On Thursday, his condition worsened, and a transfusion was deemed vital. The boy’s mother, Mrs. Hazel Shelton, said she was a member of Jehovah’s witnesses and refused to give permission for the transfusion. She told Hospital authorities that the transferal of blood from the body of one human to another was ’against the laws of God'.

"Wilson D. McKerrow, executive director of the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, was notified. He petitioned Children’s Court Justice Joseph F. Maguire to give the hospital permission to proceed with the transfusion. The court, at a special session, overruled Mrs. Shelton’s objections on the testimony of four hospital doctors who said that the blood transfer was 'absolutely necessary1.”

This case came just six months after another blood transfusion incident involving a child of parents who were Jehovah’s witnesses had attracted nation-wide attention in Chicago. Relative to that ease, this magazine in its May 22, 1951, issue explained the parents' view as drawn from the Bible and cited the doctor who had attended the mother, Mrs. Rhoda Labrenz, during her pregnancy. This doctor, away on vacation at the time of the forced transfusion on Mrs. Labrenz’ newborn daughter, is reported later to L have declared it unnecessary. Critics of Mr. and Mrs. Labrenz were carried away with emotion and surrendered to popular fancy. Shamefully, the clergy led the assault on the parents* devotion to godly principles.

•v At first sight, press coverage of the Brooklyn ease seemed off to the same start. Deftly ignoring the outrageous encroachment on personal freedom committed, one headline portrayed the court as the savior, leaving the fanatic role to the parent, as it read: "Court Acts to Save Child’s Life as Cultist Mother Balks Doctors.” However, the very article beneath this caption quickly dispels any serious thought that Mrs. Shelton was really guilty of "neglect”. Quoting child cruelty prevention director McKerrow, it went on: ,f ‘She was obviously a sincere woman and loves the child dearly,* he said today. 'But she insisted that the teachings of Jehovah*s Witnesses hold that it violates the law of God to inject the blood of one human being into another. So I served her with a subpoena.**'

/ Said another New York paper: "Although McKerrow found that Mrs. Shelton was an ideal mother and kept a scrupulously neat home for her three children, he went into Children’s Court and filed a complaint against her for neglect—a strictly technical charge.”

v Some of the scriptures on which Jehovah’s witnesses base their stand in this matter are, briefly, as follows: In Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 3:17; 7:27; 17:10,11,14, specific prohibitions against eating any manner of blood are given. In regard to "eating”, it should be noted that,feeding intravenously (or through the veins) Is a recognized medical way of taking nourishment, and is "eating” just as surely as feeding through the mouth. So sacred dFd King David consider blood that he refused even to drink water brought to him by men who risked their lives to get it. (1 Chronicles 11:17-19) The Christian Greek Scriptures likewise make clear the divine command on blood. It is exemplified in specific Christian prohibitions in Acts 15:19, 20, 28, 29; 21:25. For those wishing a full and comprehensive discussion of the Biblical aspects of the matter, we suggest their consideration of the Watchtower magazine of July 1, 1951, under the section titled "Questions from Readers”.

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Awake!, January 22, 1952