Kwik Kwiz

by Edd Doerr

Can you identify the sources of the following quotes?

"Almighty God, dear heavenly Father. In thy name let us now, in pious spirit, begin our instruction. Enlighten us, teach us all truth, strengthen us in all that is good, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from all evil in order that, as good human beings, we may faithfully perform our duties and thereby, in time and eternity, be made truly happy. Amen."

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith . . . We need believing people."

The first quote is the prayer that was required by law to be recited in secondary schools in Germany in the 1930s. (National Conference of Christians and Jews statement to the Maryland General Assembly, February 8, 1982, in opposition to a school prayer measure)

The second quote comes not from Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, but, rather, was a statement made on April 26, 1933, to two Catholic Church officials, Bishop Wilhelm Berning and Vicar General Johannes Steitmann, adviser to the German embassy in Rome, by Adolf Hitler during negotiations leading to the Reich-Holy See Concordat of 1933. (Ernst Christian Helmreich, The German Churches under Hitler, 1979)

And of course we all know that "Gott mit Uns" ("God is with Us") was the motto on German military belt buckles in World Wars I and II.

Herzliches Sommerurlaubgruesse! (Have a nice summer!)