November 29, 1964

I suspect that most of you here from time to time have shared with
me the feeling of being overwhelmed by the bustle, the tensions, the
anxieties and the worldly distractions of one kind or another which are
so characteristic of the way we live today. And so, I am always pleased
to have an opportunity such as you have afforded me today, to meet
with my brethren of the faith, to meditate upon our spiritual qualities
and our spiritual responsibilities, to worship and commune with our
Creator.

This is the day of Saint Andrew, and it is appropriate that we reflect
upon the career of this fisherman who, with his brother, Peter, at
Christ's bidding, became a fisher of men. We recall that it was Andrew
who first brought his brother Peter to Christ and who was one of the
first to proclaim: "We have found the Messiah, which is, being inter-
preted, the Christ. "

We remember that it was Andrew who, upon Christ's admonition,
"Come ye after me, " forsook his nets, followed Christ through his
preachings, his performance of miracles, his passion and resurrection
and continued his ministry until he himself was crucified. In the
troubled times in which we are living, it is solacing and inspiring to
recall the words of the Savior to Andrew, to Peter, to James and to
John: "Be ye not troubled. " Jesus was forewarning his disciples of the
events yet to come—with "wars and rumors of wars, " with nation rising
against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with earthquakes and
with famines, with sorrowful times. And he asked them not to be
troubled, and promised them that "he that shall endure to the end,
the same shall be saved. " We who live in a troubled age, beset by
wars and rumors of wars, are consoled by these words, and we are
grateful that we live in a nation which, as it is written elsewhere in the
scriptures (Psalm 33: 12) is a "nation whose God is the Lord. "

As the chief executive of one of the states of our union, I am often
asked the question whether religion is, and ought to be, a part of poli-
tics and government. The doctrine of the separation of church and
state, a fundamental principle in the basic laws of our country, has
disturbed many people. It is my conviction that, while we cling to the
principle of separation, no doctrine of American life ever has, or ever
will, minimize the presence, the power and the influence of religion

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