Answer:
We know this is a tough job. What we want is so intimate that no one can write it for you.
You must write it yourself, in the language most natural to you. We ask you to write in
your own words and then record in your own voice. You may even find that it takes a
request like this for you to reveal some of your own beliefs to yourself. If you set them
down they may become of untold meaning to others.
We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but how you reached your beliefs,
and if they have grown, what made them grow. This necessarily must be highly personal.
That is what we anticipate and want.
It may help you in formulating your credo if we tell you also what we do not want. We do
not want a sermon, religious or lay; we do not want editorializing or sectarianism or
'finger-pointing.' We do not even want your views on the American way of life, or
democracy or free enterprise. These are important but for another occasion. We want to
know what you live by. And we want it in terms of 'I,' not the editorial 'We.'
Although this program is designed to express beliefs, it is not a religious program and is
not concerned with any religious form whatever. Most of our guests express belief in a
Supreme Being, and set forth the importance to them of that belief. However, that is your
decision, since it is your belief which we solicit.
But we do ask you to confine yourself to affirmatives: This means refraining from saying
what you do not believe. Your beliefs may well have grown in clarity to you by a process
of elimination and rejection, but for our part, we must avoid negative statements lest we
become a medium for the criticism of beliefs, which is the very opposite of our purpose.
We are sure the statement we ask from you can have wide and lasting influence. Never
has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent. Your belief, simply
and sincerely spoken, is sure to stimulate and help those who hear it. We are confident it
will enrich them. May we have your contribution?
