Signs of the Times

Rabbi I. Jakobovits

A Letter to the Editor by Chief Rabbi I. Jakobovits
in The Times London, England

The current public debate on the role of the B.B.C. in portraying the variegated patterns of our national life and thought might well be broadened beyond the confines of politics to include the treatment of religion in general and the presentation of religious minorities in particular.

In an age when the very stability of society is threatened by violence and vice, and when the spectacular advances in science and technology have confronted us with new moral challenges of the greatest complexity, . . . the projection in depth of religious values and experiences may well be of supreme significance in determining the nation's character, ideals and security. The voice of religion . . . ought to be skilfully amplified as a potent and sophisticated catalyst of thought, adding a spiritual dimension to all our national debates, and effectively strengthening the respect for human life, dignity, labour, learning and moral virtue.

The specific message of religious minority groups should make a special contribution to enriching the national experience, if only by fostering that spirit of tolerance and understanding for the "unlike" which in our increasingly pluralistic society is the indispensable key to the rule of law and the harmony of order. . . .

My plea is not offered to encourage any spirit of religious "competition"—indeed this is something we are most anxious to avoid. It is made only to help the majority and minority alike to flourish together in unity of purpose and diversity of creed.

From an item in The Salvation Army War Cry Chicago, Illinois

Christ came into the world that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The cramped, starved, half-developed lives that so many persons are leading are not in accordance with God's plans.

The plant that grows in the shade, straggling and pale, its blossoms blighting before they unfold, is the type of many a person to whom God is ready to give life in its fullness.

Do not be satisfied with mere existence. Reach down for the deep things of experience, and up for those which are high.

See that your life is full, free and good, as God meant it to be.

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