Bible a Two-Edged Sword in Defense Fight

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), in questioning the size of President Reagan’s defense buildup, found a biblical response Thursday to Reagan’s own use of the Scriptures to support the Pentagon budget.

The senator recited a passage from the Book of Luke at a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee as he questioned whether the United States could afford the President’s $1-trillion defense program.

On Monday, Reagan had cited Luke 14:31-32, in which Jesus tells of a king whose forces number 10,000 preparing for war against an army of 20,000 and contemplating suing for peace instead.

“Well, I don’t think we ever want to be in a position of only being half as strong and having to send a delegation to negotiate, under those circumstances, peace terms with the Soviet Union,” Reagan said in comments to a group of business leaders.

Grassley, facing Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, found a passage--Luke 14:28--suggesting that the government should decide what it can afford before pushing ahead with defense commitments.

The passage reads: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it.”