WAR & RELIGION

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 4

WAR & RELIGION

ME.N BROUGHT CLOSER TO GOD

CARDINAL MERCIER'S OPTIMISM

CHRISTIANITY NOT A FAILURE.

(FBOM OUR OWN COHRESPOM>BNT.) LOS ANGELES (Cal.),' 15th Nov. Some very interesting statements were made by Cardinal Mercier, of Belgium, in an interview in New York. When asked to comment on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's charge that,the war had'proved Christianity to be a failure, he said : — , "The Church is always fighting; it Is fighting evil in all its forms. It stands for righteousness : and justice, and when righteousness and justice ore 'violated, as they are, for instance, in the invasion of my little Belgium, those who believe in these virtues rather than in the doctrine that ' might makes right/ uphold the right at all costs. MilitarJ~necessity that renounces treaties and promises must .be opposed by Christian people. KAISER NOT'CHRISTIAN. " Christianity has nothing to do with the fact that the Kaiser and the German Junkers adopted a policy of ivilitarism," he continued. "No one claims that Christianity had any influence in their circles. Those who :;ay that Christianity has failed beuase it did not prevent war really uphold tho cause of the Kaiser. Christianity could do nothing else than what it did yj-.en militarism was rampant. Then think of the fine principles that were brought out in human nature by the war. There is the awful side, but there is also the beautiful, the heroic side. The power to sacrifice was^demonstrated over and over again." „ " What has been the effect •on religion?" he was asked. "In the first place, the war has been a great evil, but, nevertheless, the war has brought.men closer to God. ,Whether we like it or not, man is destined to suffer. This is the factor that no one can dispute. It is useless and hurtful to us to rise against suffering; we must bear it. Courage in suffering is a natural as well as a supernatural virtue. " God has asked us to make an effort to bear it, and this very effort makes it bearable. Men hay& learned iii this way to apply the words of our Lord, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light.' Another lesson of the war is that God has revealed Himself as the supreme master of men. The whole world realises that it is under the domination of a superior power, and catastrophes and afflictions are reminders of God." ' RELIGIOUS LABOUR UNIONS. Referring •to industrial strife, his Eminence said: "In Belgium the situation is desperate. There is practically no raw material for manufacturers to obtain. The employees stand round with folded arms and are easy prey to the preachers of Bolshevism. There are- two classes of unions, the extreme Socialists and the Christian guilds. The latter are organised on religious principles. The former are purely materialistic. They want to get all they can. When unions are organised on a religious or moral basis they do not so easily go to extremes, or make unjust. demands. The right of men to organise is a fundamental right and one that the Church; is really bound to uphold."