Stalin's Daughter

Some years ago, when the news broke that Joseph Stalin's daughter had defected from Communism and Russia, many people were startled. Her statement, given to reporters who met her plane in New York, told why she defected:

"I found it impossible to exist without God in one's heart. I came to that conclusion myself, without anybody's help or preaching. That was a great change because since that moment the main dogmas of Communism lost their significance for me. I have come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in Russia."

That woman's struggle was a terrible one. To leave Russia, she had to leave two children in Moscow and realize that it would be, as she said, "impossible to go back."

Pascal said there is within every person a "God-shaped vacuum." He's right. Historians Will and Ariel Durant observed in their summary volume, The Lessons of History, that "there never has been a significant example of morality apart from belief in God."