William Inge was one of England’s most outstanding preachers. At the beginning of this century, because of his insight and forthrightness, he was either greatly admired or bitterly disliked. After the First World War he was speaking at a public gathering, and in his speech, he urged that realism instead of revenge be his country’s guide in its treatment of a defeated Germany. Three days later, Dr. Inge received a letter which rebuked him for what he had said, and then added: "I have been praying for your death; and I have been successful in two other cases."

Of course, some crackpot wrote that letter and prayed for the preacher’s death, but isn’t it a strange paradox that the world so often hates the people who do it the most good? And yet, maybe it isn’t a paradox because it seems true t…