 It's time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a presentation of the Lawn Jean Wittner Watch Company, maker of Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Lawn Jean. Good evening. This is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Lawn Jean Chronoscope? Larry Lassur, CBS News Correspondent, and August Heckscher, chief editorial writer for the New York Herald Tribune. Our distinguished guest for this evening is the Reverend Dr. Edward L. R. Elson, pastor of the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. During this Christmas tide, I think it's only fair to say that very few administrations in the White House have underscored the place of the church in our national life as much as President Eisenhower has. Now, most of us are familiar with the faces of the men around the president, but few of us have had the opportunity to meet the presidential pastor, the man to whom President Eisenhower listens every Sunday. Dr. Elson, am I right in thinking that President Eisenhower has been spearheading a something of a religious revival in this country? It would seem to me correct, Mr. Lassur, to report that in America today we observe two trends. On the one hand, we have been participants and spectators in what might be a described as marked moral deterioration and sag, cultural sag. On the other hand, in America, we are experiencing a great moral resurgence and spiritual renaissance. And the president of the United States, it seems to me, is by his personal example and his emphasis becoming a symbol of the incipient spiritual renaissance of our times. We say that you sort of rip tides, a decadence on one side and resurgence on the other? I think they parallel each other. They're simultaneous aspects of our contemporary life, their pressures which probably operate against one another. What are some of the signs of this decadence, Dr. Elson? I think the juvenile delinquency, for example, the high incidence of crime, the insecurity of our homes, the fragile personalities, the frequency of psycho neurotic disorders, and things of this sort, the sense of insecurity and frustration amongst people. All of these are evidences, it seems to me, of a cultural deterioration. I think part of our emphasis on money making and materialistic aspects of our life might also be emphasized as the evidence on that side. But on the other hand, it seems to me we're in a rising tide of spiritual recovery. We notice the increased participation in religious activities on the part of laymen. There's a new seriousness and earnestness on the part of college and university students. The quality of the religious leaders, it seems to me, has markedly improved since World War II. The sale of the Bible, the fact that religious books are amongst the best sellers month in and month out, the reappearance of mass evangelism and the effective religion on radio and television. Is this true because of the fears of war, the threats of war, the threats of atomic bombardment? I should say that's only one of the reasons. It would seem to me that some of this does arise out for sense of fear. Fear of the communist, fear of nuclear devices, of a new world war. Certainly, some of it is due to the fact that we have discovered the ineptitude of other solutions to the world's needs and perhaps more basically than anything else. It is a deep wistfulness in the heart and soul of men and women to be at home with their maker for whom their soul was designed. And a part of this revival is, as I imagine, renewed church going, a more regular habit among families and people. That's true of the president, I think, isn't it? It seems to me there's an unprecedentedly high church attendance throughout the United States today, not only amongst not only one religious group, but amongst all religious groups. Certainly, the president has set a great example for regularity of church attendance. He just doesn't miss church. Listen, Eddie, did you have an opportunity to meet the president before he entered the White House? Yes, I had met the president before he entered the White House and knew him first as a general of the army. And of course, as was true with every American who served in the European theater during the war, I was under his command. One time had been recommended to become the staff chaplain for the occupation forces in Germany, a position which was not created. And I returned to America to another position shortly after generalized. Now I became chief of staff, so I didn't have the privilege of being a staff chaplain. Let me ask you this question. Do you have any political bias, Dr. Elson, in favor of one party or the other? Well, may I put it this way? How did you vote in 1952? In 1952, during the election campaign, Mrs. Elson and I were on a lecture tour to the Middle East. We visited some 20 educational institutions in Egypt and Syria and Lebanon and Jordan and Israel and elsewhere, so that I did not vote then. I pay taxes in California, I pay taxes in the District of Columbia, and I'm one of those disfranchised Americans who simply cannot vote. I should say this, that in the nation's capital, we in the church try to minister as best we can to people as people with common religious needs rather than to people as Democrats and Republicans. And we believe that Washington is a city in the world where prayer and the ministry of religion is deeply needed. And I should say that I am among those persons today who tremendously hopes that President Eisenhower will succeed and be a good president of the United States. Dr. Elson, here in this Christmas season, I wonder whether I could ask your opinion. It recently has been stated in a very powerful sermon that Christmas has been sentimentalized here in the United States. Do you feel that? Do you think that's something we ought to fight against? It certainly is true that there has been a great deal of sentimentality attached to Christmas and perhaps an over emphasis on some of the secular manifestations of the Christmas tide observance which have grown up around the real meaning. It seems to me that the mission of the church today should be to keep the real meaning of Christmas alive, namely that it is the commemoration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the celebration of the incarnation of God coming into the life of man in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. Incidentally, Dr. Elson, when you write your sermons, are you conscious of any influence you might be wielding or exerting on the president in your parish? I should think that any man who ministers to a congregation in Washington, whether or not the president of the United States was in the congregation, must be deeply aware of the possible impact which his words either in prayers or in sermons might have upon any persons who would be in his congregation, though I must confess that I have not consciously prepared any sermon for any one person. Would you key your sermons to any particular current news item or headline? I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as I understand it, have been taught it, I try to enunciate it with clarity, and I should say that no sermon is prepared to point out a particular current issue, but that if any moral or spiritual implication is relevant at the moment, I do not dodge it. I face it clearly and speak what I believe to be the truth of the gospel as pertains to that. Dr. Elson, in reading the Bible, do you find that some young people read it too much, you might say, for the poetry and the literature that is in it and don't pay enough attention to the religious truths? I think sometimes that may be said to be true of young people, but I think it is increasingly true that young people as well as others are finding the Bible to be the word of God, and they find God communicating himself to them through the words of the Bible. Incidentally, Dr. Elson, have you decided on your topic when the president listens to you at this Christmas time? Well, on last Sunday, December 19th, the president was in the church service, and the subject of my sermon was the Christmas message to fear, and I used as a text, I think an overlooked text, sometimes the Christmas season, the text of the Herald to the Shepherds, fear not, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Seems to me in this fear ridden world, that is one of the messages which the Christmas tide should bring to us with deep meaning. Dr. Elson, the economists are saying that we're in for a year of great prosperity. Do you think that religion will fare as well as our material well-being in the coming year? My prediction is that religion is going to continue on the ascendancy and is going to absorb a great deal more of more time and attention on the part of Americans. I believe that the mirror, the track back to church in itself may not be sufficient. It certainly will, the real test of it will come when people discover those were Christians, that there is a cross in their faith, that it means sacrifice, it means service, and that it costs something to be a Christian. But I believe the coming year will be a year of deepening of the spiritual lives of our people and a recovery and a reappraisal of our spiritual bases. Is this one of the happier Christmas seasons that you've known, Dr. Elson? For me and I should think for most Americans, this would be a very, very happy Christmas. It is the first in good many years when American men have actually not been engaged in armed combat. Certainly for me, it's a happier one than one ten years ago when I was attempting to minister to men in uniform who were then engaged in the Battle of the Bulge. I remember with great vividness, administering communion on Christmas Eve to men who doubtless received it that night for their last time. Certainly there's cause for Thanksgiving this Christmas. Dr. Elson, we know that the president attends church regularly, but do other members of the cabinet and of the administration attend your national Presbyterian Church? It is true that a great many of them attend the National Presbyterian Church. In addition to the president, the secretary and Mrs. Dulles are part of our congregation. Secretary McKay of the Interior, Postmaster General Somerfield, Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, Mr. Walter Williams. We have two or three assistance attorney general, quite a number of military officials and justices of the Supreme Court, judges and others. But I think it needs to be said to the American people that Washington is a deeply religious city and it's a good city. At least it's just as good as the people who are sent to it by the rest of the people of the United States. You don't think that Washington needs religion more than other parts of the country then? I should say not more than other parts of the country. It needs religion for the same reason all Americans and all people whom God has created need religion. Thank you very much, Dr. Elson. It's a tremendous privilege to have you up here tonight. The opinions expressed on the Longeen Chronoscope were those of the speakers. The editorial board for this edition of the Longeen Chronoscope was Larry Lissere and August Teccher. Our distinguished guest was the Reverend Dr. Edward L. R. Elson, pastor of the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. An important contribution which Longeen watchmakers have made to the science of timing was to originate the idea that sports events should be timed with identical watches of known and proven accuracy. Now, to implement this idea, Longeen created a series of new watches, accurate second by second, which timed to a fifth, a tenth and a hundredth of a second. In observatory tests, these watches show a degree of accuracy greater than that required by all international sports and contest associations for timing world records. The investment of millions of dollars and years of time in the development of ever-finery timepieces has resulted in new watchmaking principles and methods that have made it possible to give greater accuracy and dependability to all Longeen watches, including the Longeen watch which you now wear on your wrist. 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