toiroRrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnilieodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnEDITORIAI: ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTINC; EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, Catherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnChristine Haynes, F. Christian Kopff,rnj.O. Tate, Clyde WilsonrnCfJRRESPONDING I:DI TORSrn6(7/ Kaijffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, John Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SeliernEDITORIAL SECRETARY’rnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPliBLlCA’TlON DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute,rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn9i4 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103,rnEditonal Phone: (815) 964-5054,rnAdertising Phone: (815) 964-5813,rnSubscription Department: P,0, Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054, Call 1-800-877-5459,rnU,S,A, Newsstand Distribution b Eastern Ne\srnDistributors, Inc, One Media \a’, 12406 Rt, 250rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705rnCopynght © 1996 by The Rockford Institute,rn-All rights resered.rnChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnnionthh for $39,00 (foreign subscriptions add $12rn(or surface deliverv, $48 for Air Mail) per year byrnThe Rockford Institute, 934 North Mam Street’,rnRockford, IL 6II03-706I, Preferred periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices, POSTMASTER: Send address changes tornChronicles, P,0, Box 800, Mount Morns, IE 61054,rnThe vie\”s expressed in Chronicles are thernauthors’ alone and do not neccssarih reflectrnthe iews of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscnpts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied bv a self-addressedrnstamped en’elope.rnChroniclesrnVol, 20, N(),9 September 1996rnI’liiitcdintlii’l’intel Unites,J,iiinie:irnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn PaganismrnAs an Orthodox monk, I imagine Alainrndc Benoist (“Monotheism vs, Pohtheism,”rnApril 1996) performing his dailyrnorisons before an ieon bv Gauguin,rnehanting selections from Diderot’s Supplementrnau voyage de Bougainville asrnhis Psalter, and reading passages fromrnRousseau as the appointed lesson.s. Herndoes remind us that pagans include therngreat philosophers of ancient Greece,rnetc., but the underlying message seemsrnto be, “Mais, hoy merveilleux it wasrnwhen we all lixed in the jungle paradisernbefore those horrible monotheistefi intolerantsrnruined the noble savage’s innocentrnjoy!”rnM. de Benoist can onlv reach his conclusionrnthat monotheism is by naturernintolerant, while polytheism is not, if hernreduces, as do most modern writers, religionrnmerely to questions of cult andrnbelief in a supernatural Being or beings,rnPolytheists are indeed often quite tolerantrnin questions of cult, as in India andrnJapan. But if one operates on a plenaryrndefinition of religion as one’s total way ofrnlife based on an individual’s or a group’srnhighest values, then we find that all religionsrn(i.e., cultures and ways of life thatrnare actually lived) are quite intolerant ofrnthat which in their worldview is not tolerable.rnSuch intolerance includes, ofrncourse, that of French secularists, whosernhighest values seem to be language,rnfood, and sex (in that order), and whorncorrespondingly are not noted for theirrngenerous tolerance of mispronouncedrnFrench, poorK’ prepared repasts, or unattractivernwomen (or in the case of femalernFrench secularistes, men)!rn—Br. Isaac MeltonrnSt. Michael’s SketernCanones. NMrnOn State-SponsoredrnPrayerrnRabbi Jacob Neusner is correct when hernwrites in “Letter From Inner Israel: State-rnSponsored Prayer” (April 1996): “Constitutionalrnissues aside, there arc strong theologicalrnarguments against legislatingrnprayer for young people.” “We speakrneach in our own, unique way; we honorrnthe piety and prayer of others; but we dornnot participate and cannot participate inrnthese prayers, unless we apostatize.”rnFer since Christian News began inrn1962, some of our well-meaning Fundamentalistrnfriends have taken issue withrnus for not supporting the various effortsrnwhich come up froiri time to time to getrnpraver and Bible-reading into governmentrnschools. In 1981, Senator JessernHelms, a leading advocate of “voluntar”rnprayers in public schools, was asked duringrna Senate debate if the “Hail Marv”rnwould be an acceptable prayer for childrenrnto recite in a government school.rnHe ,said that even as a Baptist he wouldrnnot have any objection if such a prayerrnwere used in governnrent schools andrnthat he would feel the same way if hernwere a Jew.rnThe Christian maintains that Christianityrnis the only true and saving faith andrnthat Jesus Christ is the onl- way to heaven.rnJesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth,rnand the Life, no one comes to the Fatherrnexcept by me.” All Christians confessrnthe Athanasian Creed, one of the greatrnecumenical creeds of Christendom. Itrnbegins: “Whosoever will be saved, beforernall things it is necessary that he hold therncatholic (i.e., universal, Christian) faith.rnWhich faith except everyone do keeprnwhole and undefiled, without doubt hernshall perish everlastingly. And therncatholic faith is this, that we worship onernGod in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.”rnThe Lutheran Church-Missouri Synodrnis one major conservative churchrnbody which has taken issue with Fundamentalistsrnwho champion prayer andrnBible reading in government schools.rnAlready in 1925, Dr. Walter Maier, OldrnTestament professor of Concordia Seminary,rnSt. Louis, a Harvard Ph.D., andrnfounder of the International LutheranrnHour, wrote: “The widespread effort tornintroduce the Bible into public schools,rnas well meant as it may be, is un-Americanrnbecause it is against American principlesrnto force a Jewish child to read thernNew Testament and because it is contraryrnto our constitution to confuse thernduties of the church with the privilegesrnof the state. The whole arrangementrnwhich throws the church into politicsrnmakes Jesus more of a policeman than arnSavior, and seeks to have His churchrnwield the policeman’s club, besidesrnpreaching His Gospel. It constitutes arn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn