RELIGION AND POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 35, 10 August 1921, Page 10

RELIGION AND POLITICS

LLOYD GEQRGE ON THE CHURCH'S TASK

Recently at Portmadoc Mi. Lloyd George addressed a meeting in connection with the General Assembly of Calvinistic Methodists of Wales.

Giving his views -as a politician on what he conceived to be the wise and helpful attitude for the Churches to adopt towards politics at the present time, Mr. Lloyd George, speaking in Welsh, said that there would; be great questions in the future affecting the relations of capital and labour. Once they introduced debate upon those into the Churches Hhey would inevitably divide and destroy them for the greater purposes for which those Churches ought to exist. - '

He would give some illustrations as to what the Churches, in his opinion, could do and, what they ought not to do. Recently there was an important conclave of very highly-placed divines, who proceeded forthwith to discuss the coal strike. «They expressed an opinion on the best method of settling the strike. The particular view had reference exclusively to the best method .of distributing the profits in those mines. It was not a question which they were in the least competent tol discuss. That was an example of an interference by a religions organisation in the task of government, which, if followed, would be replete with mischief to both Church and State. Again, a party in Ireland, representing two-thirds of the population of that island, demanded complete , severance from the United Kingdom and" the 'setting up of an independent Republic in that island close to our shores. At a recent election they had reaffirmed that demand. Every effort he had made publicly and otherwise to secure a modification of that' demand' had completely failed. They had .emphatically stated that they would agree to nothing else. Whether it ought to be conceded or not. might be a very proper subject for debate in Senates and in political gatherings, but it'tom. certainly not a matter for discussion at a religious. conference.

There could be no doubt in the mind of any reasonable man that if Ireland .were given complete independence, with its own army, Nits own navy, and with control of its own ports, with powers, to enter into treaties with foreign countries, whether they were friendly or hostile to us, would place Britain in a position of such peril that he hesitated to think what might befall in the event of a repetition of either the great struggle with Napoleon or the struggle with Germany. (Cheers.) ,'

In order to establish that, republic, the Sinn Fein leaders had raised an army and had declared war on Great Britain: In the course of that.wat Great Britain had been drawn to defend its position by the use of its armed force. The alternative was ' complete surrender. Compromise of any kind tne Sinn Feinors had Tefused even to diacuse. In the course of the conflict .many horrors had been perpetrated. " War in itself is a horror," continued Mr. Lloyd 'George, 11 " and it is inevitable that terrible things should happen. Although I feel certain that even the most ardent sympathiser . must be horrified at incidents like the dragsinlf of an old Brotestant clergyman of 80 out of his home in th« dead of night by fifty men, who then proceeded brutally to murder the poor, defenceless old man, it is possible that things may have been done even by our forces under the impulse of passion and wrath and fear which one would rather not hay« happened. But it is very easy for men in the trarfquility—and may I also say tlic security f—of the sanctuary to criticse men who are going in hourly peril of their lives, apd who, while walking along the streets or the roads, may at any moment witness the stones on their path becoming the blazing messenger of death, j If they are to be blamed for mistakes j they commit, if they are charged with, crimes they have not comisitted, they ought at least to be heard. A religious conference is the last body to condemn such men unheard. Most of them are men who went through the Great War without a stain on their honour. They are entitled to be beard. If vthey are heard, religions conferences will have their time taken up with debates on questions of fact which are with great diffi; culty I elucidated. , The work .of the churches will be neglected, and for the ' decent transaction of the spiritual affairs of the churches will be substituted a series of prolonged and heated political pontroWsies. That'is ( why I regret the introduction of these subjects." Dealing with the question of Temperance, Mr. Lloyd George said that not only had the Churches there a right to interfere directly, but it was their imperative duty to exert the whole of their influence to promote tlfe cause of sobriety by every means in their power. THE LEAGUE "NOT ENOUGH." Coming to the great issue of the gospel df peace on earth and good will among men,\Mr. Lloyd George said: Here is a task indeed for the Churches. I am aTI for the League of Nations, but that is not .enough. There is a real danger that unless something more is done to instruct opinion in the civilised countries of the world, the League of Nations may become a breeding ground of intrigues, and feuds. Parties and groups may be formed there, and one day, when the majority is one way and the force another, you may find that ] the discussions of the League of Na- ; tions have only led up to the greatest I conflict ever yet witnessed. , But it filled him with disappointment when he saw that, in spite of the lesson of the Great War, the spirit of national hatred, national greed, and the worst form of national pride was as dominant as ever. Some of the liberated nations seemed to be rendered more fierce by being chained so long. He could not see any sign of anxiety among them for the intervention of the League of Nations in their disputes or of any respect for its decisions. There most be some influence that would deal with the heart ■of the people. The conscience of the people must be trained so that it should abhor "tloodshed as a crime. Whether the Covenant of the League of Nations was the best organisation for the purpose or whether the American proposition was more likely to succeed was* not for the Churches to discuss. It was for them to. create the atmosphere. (Cheers.) The same observation applied to industrial warfare. Surely there must be some less barbarous way of settling disputes about wages and profits than a war of starvation. In those struggles the Christian Churches could express'no opinion as to the merits without stepping outside their legitimate function and imperilling their greater influence. But they could ingerminate a greater spirit of good will between the classes, a greater readiness to look at each others point of view. (Cheers.)