respect that it submits this expression of pain and distress to the heart of a great soldier who is the Chief of State of France." [327] The letter was handed over to Marshal Petain by Rev. Boegner. The subsequent conversation left him with the same impression as that on his previous meeting with the Chief of State: deep emotion, complete impotence. In a circular letter dated June 11, 1942, Rev. Bertrand informed the pastors in the occupied zone that the Council of the Federation had instructed him to write to Marshal Petain. After having quoted part of his letter to Marshal Petain, he reminded his colleagues that "the spiritual value of such interventions depends on careful avoidance of any allusion to political events or worldly ideologies, and on strict adherence to the sphere of thought and of Christian action alone". Rev. Bertrand added: "In particular the Ecumenical (Oxford) Conference of 1937 affirms that 'all men are by birthright children of God.' 'Therefore, for a Christian there can be no such thing as despising another race or a member of another race.' 'All races share alike in the concern of God.' 'The sin of man asserts itself in racial pride, racial hatred and persecutions, and in the exploitation of other races. The Church is called upon by God to express itself unequivocally on this subject." [328] Perhaps more important than the protests sent to the French Government, was a Message issued by the National Synod of the Reformed Church of France, in May, 1942, which was read out publicly in all the local churches. This Message included the following passage: "The Church has been commanded by God to resist the attack of every doctrine and every ideology, every threat and every promise which seeks to assail the message of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. <142> It must proclaim absolute sovereignty of God, who creates His own people For Himself by calling to Him men of every race, nation and language, in spite of the rights and privileges to which men may deem themselves to have a claim. It knows that all men were created equal, equal in perdition and equal in salvation, and that God's justice demands that every man shall be respected." [329] b. Mass Deportations On July 16, 1942, mass raids struck the stateless Jews living in Paris. In two days 12,884 of them, including 4,051 children, were rounded up by the French police. [330] Thereupon, the President of the Protestant Federation in the occupied zone, Rev. Bertrand, sent the following letter to Mr. de Brinon, General delegate of the French Government to the Occupation authorities: