Religion: Gun Thy Neighbor?

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∙THE REV. JOHN SIMMONS of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, Calif.: "Self-preservation is the first law of human nature. But there is a higher law—God's. Man's first concern should be for others, not for himself."

∙FATHER FRANCIS FILAS, S.J., chairman of the department of theology at Chicago's Loyola University: ''Shocking as this new possibility may seem to so many people, the fact is that the situation is nothing else but a new application of a constantly recurring moral decision that is described by Roman Catholic moral theologians as the principle of double effect. This means that in doing one good action with good intention, one may find an evil result inextricably connected with the good that is intended. Examples in the past are the unavoidable death of noncombatants in war, and abandonment of a disabled ship to wolf-pack submarines in World War II convoys. Without any hesitation, I believe one could justify restricting capacity of a fallout shelter because of limited supplies, air, room and the like. But the method of restriction would have to be moral—namely, barring the entrance, and nonuse of violent means unless intrusion itself were threatened which would thereby ruin the shelter."

∙METHODIST MINISTER PAUL A. SCHILPP, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.: "The immorality takes place much earlier than when people are in their shelters. It occurs when people think they can protect themselves from an all-out nuclear war."

∙DR. EARL KALLAND. dean of Denver's Baptist Seminary: "If you allow a tramp to take the place of your children in your shelter, you are in error. A Christian has the obligation to ensure the safety of those dependent on him."

Most shelter owners say they plan to take in as many neighbors as possible in addition to their own families, then lock the door tight when there is no more room. "But it will be a hard thing to do," says President Frank F. Norton of Norton Atomic Shelter Corp. in Highland Park, Ill. "What sends chills up and down my spine is imagining a child or two out there saying 'Let me in!' when you're full and you just can't let him in. It could happen, I know."