PRINCETON CONFERENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 September 1943, Page 8

PRINCETON CONFERENCE

WINNING THE PEACE WELLINGTON, August 30. , “It is realised that if the peace is to be won there must be adequate preparation among all nsfi°ns, vic fox s and vanquished. Politicians ,no longer look with contempt at what the churches are doing. They reall , s£ j their work has to run on lines ” said the Very Rev A. K. Warren, Dean of Christchurch, m an interview on his return from a seven weeks’ visit to the United States and Canada as delegate from the New Zealand National Council of Churches to the International Round Table of Chirstian Leaders on post-war reconstruction, held at Princeton, New Jersey. Sixty-eight delegates, lepiesenting 12 countries, attended. “Post-war planning is a live question in the States,” said Dean Warren. “Numbers of groups and individuals, both political and nonpolitical, have produced plans, in September, Congress will vote on a resolution, which has already won the unanimous support of the House s Foreign Affairs Committee, recognisin'* the need for international machinery for establishing and maintaining such a just and durable peace. American churches have recently sent a peace programme involving international collaboration and the establishment of an international political framework, to the British Council of Churches, rms has been approved by a group 01 British leaders, including the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The Princeton conference, said Dean Warren, was the first attempt of an international nature to examine peace suggestions in the light of Christian standards, and from a point of view not only of the United Nations. In spite of the difficulties ol travel, there were delegates from many lands, including citizens oi some of the occupied countries, and former citizens of countries with whom we are at war, such as Germany and Japan. . “It is important to realise that in enemy and occupied lands there are increasingly large groups of church people being kept informed of what we are thinking and planning. Regular short-wave broadcasts go out to them fin their own languages, and from such groups, it is hoped, leadership for the future may spring. It is realised, however, that international minded politicians and planners will .get nowhere without adequate public support. Plans are of little worth without the will of the people to put them into effect. So the Christian churches have a vital part to play in creating a sound opinion. When the peace conferences come to be held; the nations will bo war weary, and the churches will have failed unless they have met the situation in advance.” Dean Warren said that in addition to attending the international round table, delegates had the opportunity for talks with leaders in State and international movements. They had found that the battle for world cooperation had been won on the intellectual front, was being won on the political front, but still had to be won on the people’s front. A new factor in securing this victory was the oecumenical movement of the| church, world-wide • Christian fellowship, a reality which was experienced at Princeton.

Dean Warren paid a high tribute to the work of the Anzac Clubs, both in New York and in Toronto. Their officials were tireless in arranging hospitality, and in promoting the welfare of our troops overseas. Some of those who had thrown open their homes for hospitality to New Zealanders were parents of Americans serving in this country. Arrangements are being made for Dean Warren to address public meetings in various parts of New Zealand in connection with the campaign for Christian Order, and also to give a Sunday evening broadcast about the Princeton conference.