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PASTOR'S REPORT, July 11, 1979
Page 13
"BACK TO THE BASICS"
(Editor's Note: The following personal opinion appeared in the June 18th
edition of the Evening Independent of St. Petersburg, Florida. Although
we can't uphold the man's profession, his point about getting back to basic
Constitutional law is certainly well taken.)
Bacl< To The Basics
Edi1nr:
Is 11 luo f':irlv lo sciv "I t,>ld \'Oil so," or,
d(){'� n Lir;.:, · "n<l�,·rtiq·�ent" "n · pa�e 6-A of
1h1· �I?.� · �(, l11d,pcndf'nl ckf-m il indeC'd
timC'lv
'l
- "Atlornev Gen!'ral llec!ares: All
Church :\ssrt� And J{c·cords Are l'uhlic Prop
ert\ · ."
·The most pcrtinl'nl points in my reading
the "acfrertisement" was the relating of how
this proclamation camr about: Six dissident
ex-memhrr� filed suit alleging (untrue) finan
cial miscon<luct on the part of Herbl'rt W.
Armstronf.. pastor general, and Stanley R.
Radn, his personal ad\1ser, b11t only after a
judge advised them the action would result in
a paralyzing recC'i\ ership.
Gestapo-type takeover was effected by
law enforc!:mPnt vffil'ers with no warning
whatsoever, and to clear themselves (they'd
better hope) will require intervention by the
U.S. Supreme Court. Armstrong complained
several times ofhow his and the church's con
stitutional rights were nouted.
Th<' entir<' piece hnre a striking similarity
to my lrtter of May 11, entitled "Porno Cha
rade." I pointed up o locnl lower court's
insen�itivity In the constitutio1111l rights of
people; our 34th St. Adult Thentcr is closed;
2,00()-\000 pC'nplc (prr wc(·k) are deprived of
vie,,., ing what they wish, and I nm out ol a Joh.
I said the pieces were i;imilar, because ]
ON THE WORLD SCENE
am ngain runinded 11f om• !\lich11l11s von
H,,rr.
z:1311, \< h" wr11te, "!\:o one knows ho-.. to dr:tfl
a law that will protect your free sp1·!'d1 with
r,ut protecting the producNs of crimt' pr"pa-
1c;11nda." \\'c (pornographers! fought our cnse
once (tothi' Supreme Courti irnd it rnleJ anv
thing between consenting ad111ts is okay, but
it left the way open for local communiries to
set their own guidelines. I stated the conse
quencps above.
Now comes the fir.�t church to feel the
wrath of local law. It shall indeed be interl'sl
ing to le�rn if the Supreme Court lea\·es a
w;iy open for local communities in this case.
If so, I say, why have a Supreme Court?
To ha\'e highly paid justices sit on their
hands?
First it was us, now 8 church; who will he
next" \\'ill it be you or vours" Nohodv re
spondt'd to my article, "Porno Charadr.·.. I'll
bet there'd be response if indeed vou
,1
re the
next. I'11 bet there'II be more penpll' rnncur
ring with W .F. Allen (Your View, �1av 26),
who wrote, "Turn this country b3ck tu the
land of thr free and the home of the hrave."
It is high time we put a clamper on local
l11w enforcement and its nmhitious little
gods. It's tim<' we all got back to the basic law
of the land. No huts. Just the law accordin,:
to 1 he Constitution, period.
HOUEHT C. CAR�iAN
St. Petersburg
STRAUSS "GOES FOR BROKE":
It's now official.
Franz-Josef Strauss will go
up against Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in next year's West German General
Election, a campaign which London's Daily Telegraph predicts will be a
"titanic duel."
The selection of Strauss as their chancellor candidate by the opposition
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Socialist Union came after a tense
seven-hour long inter-party caucus on Monday July 3. When it was over,
the CDU/CSU parliamentary candidates voted 135 to 102 in favor of Herr
Strauss over his rival, CDU favorite Ernst Albrecht, the 49-year-old "boy
wonder" premier of Lower Saxony. The outcome was a slap in the face for
Helmut Kohl, national chairman of the CDU (and unsuccessful challenger to
Schmidt in 1976) who had championed Albrecht's cause.