AMEN, AMEN

Though this is published under the imprint of the religious book department, it very definitely is not a book for the religious book market. Amen, Amen will not appeal to church people. If it finds a wide reading public among non-church goers it may prove what we suspect, that one reason the church is not reaching those outside is that most clergymen and religious writers do not speak their language. The author, an Ensign in the Navy Air Corps, is anxious lest the nation be destroyed from within by godlessness. His message is couched in language he believes adapted to ""the guy who gets an awful kick out of seeing the Dodgers get trounced in the ninth inning, who is crazy about flapjacks, toasted cheese sandwiches, lazy Sunday afternoons, shampoos and Walter Winchell"". This is an attempt to reach those who ordinarily read the funnies and sport pages only, and to convince them -- in Brooklynese -- that there is a God, a moral law, and that knowledge of these basic realities, buttressed by church attendance and personal religious life will alone save our nation from decadence. God, sex and money -- favorite topics of conversation in the armed forces, are dealt with language frankly more of the mess hall than the church. This is not a personal bock in the sense of being the story of hew one youth found God; it is simply a frank sharing of his concern-and his answer-with others in his position.