tion with regard to those few among the Negro race in this country who would rather isolate themselves as good Negroes, having no contact with the rest of our national population, than take a firm stand that they by birth are entitled to equal rights, equal participation and equal voice in the affairs of the country. We should remember that legalism is changeable and has no permanent value. As the education of the population takes place, endowing it with a progressive and long range outlook, raising its ethical and moral standards in a balanced and tolerant way, so do mores and ethical values evolve. As a minister, were I to sow nothing but legalism I could expect nothing but a whirlwind of ethical confusion as a consequence. It is not the letter of the law but the spirit in which it is enacted, tolerated and made effective that counts. You cannot legislate morals or ethical behavior.

If those whom the laws are passed to protect, have no understanding of the causes, and think they are simply being legislated out of existence, the laws in themselves will be of no avail. Again as a minister and in order to perform this paradoxical function, I must, at the risk of being misunderstood by the more legalistic members of the churches, forego the self-preservative comforts afforded the legalist. I must accept the social responsibilities that come with the kind of religious interpretation that seeks the spirit rather than the letter of Divine Truth, its meaning and purpose rather than merely its language and symbols. The one gives life; the other kills and destroys.

Those against whom legislation is passed, are usually termed by the legis lators the sinful hence are forced into taking advantage of the situation brought about by the legalist and their minds are beguiled and are forced to make their acts, not usually so terrible, all the more sinful in the eyes of the legalist by devising ways and means of skirting the laws enacted.

The ethical teachings of Jesus, the moral and ethical code of the Jewish people, the same of the Buddhists or members of any other ethical religion, never intended the minister to assume the role of a legalistic judge. When one does, he places himself in the seat of one whose only function is to penalize and excommunicate. People must be allowed the privilege to convict themselves or the meaning and philosophy that we as children of one Creator have a free will has no meaning.

Let us be very certain we who perform this pioneering work do not place ourselves in the seats of judges and render decisions more terrible than those rendered by our present civil courts against the Minority for whom we are setting ourselves the task to liberate.

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Wallace David

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