General Hershey Agrees

● In The Watchtower, November 1, 1955, appeared a statement made to the 400 delegates of the World Presbyterian Alliance by the chief administrative officer of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. This statement stressed the fact that worldly governments cannot be allowed to determine the internal government and conditions of a church body, which position was shown to be also that of Jehovah’s witnesses. That General Lewis B. Hershey, director of selective service in the United States, is in agreement with that view is apparent from his remarks as published in the Spokane Daily Chronicle, October 11, 1956. Among other things General Hershey stated: “It is the right of the church to pick spiritual leaders in its own way. It is not our right to say a man is no minister unless he has been to college, nor can we deny him that title if he is forced to support himself by doing other work in the same manner as the disciples.” He also observed that there could be no religious freedom if any agency of government attempts to dictate to churches who shall be their spiritual leaders, how they are trained or what their duties must be.