Article January 24, 1953 Issue

"THE JUDGE AND HIS GOD"

HERSCHEL P. NUNN

The title of this article was the title of an address given by a well-known judge before the Church Club of New York. An extract from this address was published in The Christian Science Monitor some time ago. Many a citizen of the United States of America was thrilled with a justifiable pride in the judicial integrity of this great American judge in his conduct of the trial of subversive elements in our society.

In his address before the Church Club he told of his boyhood faith and said that this faith had remained through the years as a vital part of his character. After he became a judge there developed a new sense of responsibility. He said: "There came a feeling that everything I did, even the decision of nice questions of interpretation of mere rules of procedure, was in some way becoming a part of a huge fabric which on the whole was part and parcel of the moral law governing mankind and which must of necessity be of divine origin.... There was some subtle force, the impact of which was new to me, which was spiritual in quality. It was as though someone were always watching me and telling me to make very sure that my rulings and my decisions were fundamentally right and just."

It was fortunate indeed for the United States and for the world that a judge of such integrity was on the bench in this vitally important trial. In his address before the Church Club the judge told of the strength and protection his faith in God and his love of divine justice had brought to him in this experience. In the face of unprecedented display of hatred and vituperation the judge stood like a rock, calm and unafraid.

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