CHRISTIANITY IS WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 159, 6 July 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHRISTIANITY IS WAR

"U/AR has a profound effect on V? religion," says F. E. Harrison in the "Spectator." "In the genera] blackout of civilisation it is attracting and repelling people as it seldom does in days of peace." "Christianity is war, although war may not necessarily be Christian." At least they have a great deal in common. They are not, as is often supposed', a direct contradiction in terms. As suggested in my article in this column last week, war makes its appeal to the loftiest human sentiments. So does religion.

Both in respect of religion and life we have, prior to the present outbreak of hostilities, been entirely apathetic. "Come day, go day, and God send the week-end," has been a large part of the philosophy of ordinary people. Modern inventions have tended to make life increasingly easy. With the added ease ha# come a greater tendency to sleep, and to dream, and to wlsh,;and to hope that nothing will come along to disturb outupholstered condition.

Demandt of Religion Religion made too many demands. We did not want anything to be demanded of us. The same is true of war. We used to comfort ourselves with the thought that one Britisher was worth ten of any other breed. That somehow or other British diplomacy would steer for us a safe course around the turbulent sea of European unrest, and keep us in calm water.

Dressing up to go to church was a fag. We did not mind having a little bit of God through the radio. In any case we could switch Him off when we had had enough of Him. That is one of the big consolations about broadcast religion; we haven't got to leave our armchairs, nor are we bothered with that tiresome collection plate.

"Soaked in individualism" as we were, we liked to live our private lives. But now, things are different. Now we are being merged into the mass. Religion and war both demand ol>edience. "Sell all that thou hast" and "hand over your profits ' are quite similar demands. With both religion and war it is "all in.'' It's your money and your life in both oases.

By--The Rev. C. W. Chandler

The Church and the barrack room are both places where men are brought to realise their oneness with each other. The lawyer, the tinsmith, the accountant and the pedlar get along very well together in khaki. Men and women from all walks of life are now drinking from the commun cup of sorrow. Most of the superficial differences that kept folk apart in pre-war days are vahishing.- Both war and reiiy'.an are great levellers. A common need has discovered a common purpose and a common purpose is rapidly discovering a common life. Our luxuries are being curtailed, and a healthy discipline is being exerted upon us for our good.

What Is infinitely more worth while is that in Abe process of hardening up we are discovering, too, that religion is not what w» had sometimes thought it was. A kind if opiate ... "a refuge from our troubles." "It has all the characteristic* of war. It has the same structure on a grander scale; it is not less exacting but more stimulating; it is not an opiate but a stimulus." William Booth must have discovered these similarities when he founded the "Army." "The Prayer for the Church Militant," for those acquainted with the Communion office in the Prayer Book, is another reminder of the close connection between war and religion.

They are both hard choices. Forsaking all and following Him represents a challenge to which only full-blooded people can respond. It's too tough for slackers. Both choices involve our absorption into bodies far greater and older than ourselves. In both places we find the same sort of j>eople. There are no more saints in the Church than there ai ■ in tlx army. "Both are most of the time well below the level of their great purpose." Varying degrees of utter selflessness are to be found in both directions.

"Both are bound by a discipline whi -ji runs counter to most of our imputes. We accept in the Church a life-long yoke of beliefs and practices with an obedience sometimes glad, sometimes blind and often reluctant." Intense activity and unspeakable monotony

alternate with each other in both communities. Immediate aims are far too ]>altry for either of them. They have their eyes fixed on distant horizons. The ultimate aim of both ic; victory. First a victory over self, and then ;i common victory over all that stands in the way of our common freedom and happiness.

The goal of each [wrticular war n nearer than the final goal of Christianity, and neither can be readied without a willingness to die rather than foresake a principle.

At the outset, I stated that Christianity is war, although war is not necessarily Christianity, and because it isn't, it must g<> before the final grand triumph of religion and of God.

Remember the prophetic words which Jesus addressed to Peter, "Another shall gird thee and lead thee whither thou wouldest not," and realise that war demands no greater fortitude and courage than does Christianity from all who enlist in the army of the King of Kings.