Article May 20, 1950 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Donald Hatch Andrews, Marshall Ketchum, Jesse H. Baird

Donald Hatch Andrews, professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in an article in Friends Intelligencer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

You and I are members of a unique generation, the first generation of the atomic age. ... And it is up to us to decide whether this power shall be directed toward man's salvation or toward his utter annihilation.

As we stand in this hour of decision, with life and death in the balance, we are bound to feel our human inadequacy and our need for guidance. But what shall be our guide? We cannot turn to [natural] science; although science transmitted this new power to us, science cannot tell us how to control it. We cannot turn to history, for never before in history have men held such power. We are left with but one hope. We must turn and seek a new vision of the spirit. ... Force cannot be controlled by force. Force can only be controlled by Spirit. ...

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