"King Christ, the world is all aleak" -- e.e. cummings

                                            John Robert Howell



        As part of a recent religion in America report on the evening news a reporter stopped a placid looking middle-aged man who had apparently just stepped out of the church where he had attended a service.  He was thrown a sissy pitch and asked to name the first four books of the New Testament.  Sad to say, instead of knocking that one confidently out of the park he whiffed--whiffed!  From his reaction to the question, nonplussed silence, one might have thought he had been asked to state and prove on the spot Fermat's last theorem.  Studies show America to be one of the most "religious" nations on the planet, but "religious" seems to be a Brodbingnangian garment commodious enough to fit any wearer who chooses to mark X in the box which asks him if he is religious.

        Unfortunately, many religions, churches, and assorted Elmer Gantrys lick their chops at the prospect of a flock of these obedient, unquestioning, and pliable sheep who seem to welcome with relief being led around by the nose (and don't mind paying for the privilege) by any Pooh-Bah with a rope and a will.  For far too many it is a comfort to turn over the burdensome task of serious study, thought, and prayer, to someone else, and there never seems to be a shortage of someone elses.  It was to better than many among us to whom our Master Christ Jesus spoke when he said, no doubt with a leaden heart:  "Sleep on now, and take your rest:   behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."