Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENER,AL'S REPORT, February 22, 1980
Page 6
mation. They are sympathetic toward the Church's plight and may yet make
the decision to come in on the State, but that is a heavy decision fraught
with political considerations. Mr. Rader noted that we have been trying
to get them to move in our behalf for over 14 months now, but "the impos
sible takes a little while."
Support Coming From Jewish Group
The only major group that did not come to the fore in mid-November of
last year was the Jewish community. Mr. Rader was pleased to announce
that we now have been joined by the Synagogue Council of America. �he man
who will write their brief in our behalf is Leo Pfeffer, one of the
leading constitutional lawyers in the country.
Mr. Rader stressed that it is becoming increasingly obvious that slowly
but surely we are succeeding in educating the public about the need to
guard our rights and freedoms, which we are guaranteed in this country,
before they are eroded away to the detriment of all. In this vein, Mr.
Rader explained what the bottom line really is:
"We must have freedom of speech, press, assembly, as well as freedom of
religion. We must·have those four things and all of the procedural safe
guards to be certain that nobody intrudes upon those rights or impinges
upon those rights. It's very, very important. Our whole life as a church
depends upon our ability to get out our message, to practice our beliefs,
to act upon them or refrain from acting upon them, to assemble and, of
course, to believe in what we believe.
"I still remember what Dr. Thomas, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at
Brigham Young University, told me when I met him for the first time four
or five years ago. He told me, 'In the next two decades, the question
will not be what you believe, it will be whether you're going to be
permitted to act or refrain from acting in consequence of those beliefs,
and the battles will be fought in the courts. You'll be fighting them,
we [Mormons] will be fighting them.' He was right."
FROM MINISTERIAL SERVICFS
News From the Work in the Netherlands
The following report came from Mr. Bram de Bree, Regional Director for the
Dutch Work:
On Sabbath, February 9, 1980, we had the pleasure of having Mr. Frank
Brown, Regional Director for the United Kingdom, visiting the Netherlands.
He took the services at both Dutch churches. The brethren enjoyed being
filled in on the activities of Mr. Armstrong and reports about the other
areas of the Work in the world. The brethren here are very loyal to God's
Work and in full support of Mr. Armstrong. At an occasion like this, one
is again reminded of the worldwide scope of this Work and the importance
of all speaking the same thing.
The subscription list for Echte Waarheid (the Dutch Plain Truth), stands
at 15,928--an increase over last year at this time. Good News circulation
is down 1.4%, and so we intend to promote the Good News in the future.