Methodists and War

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20152, 23 January 1940, Page 10

Methodists and War

Sir, —My attention has been called to a letter published on January 18 under the signature "Member Methodist Bible Class.” The writer states what no one denies, that the manifesto issued by the Methodist Bible Class Convention does not represent the views of the average member. Your correspondent omits the second par of the resolution, and that is the reason for this letter. Not only will the members of the Methodist Bible Class not take up arms in the defence of our Christian civilisation, but they declared they will not accept any other service that may be substituted for combatant service.

It is well known that the usual substitution is enlistment in the ambulance or Red Cross groups. So these young fellows class , themselves with the priest and the Levite, who, finding a wounded traveller by the wayside, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side, leaving it to a man who made no profession of holiness, a Samaritan, to bind up the wounds of the man. These extreme Methodists are, therefore, self-branded as persons who would not roll a bandage to stay the ebbing life-blood of a soldier wounded in the discharge of his duty. Of course we all are prepared to respect the genuine conscientious objector. But it was not for nothing that during the Great War I reported the magisterial sittings held to deal with the conscientious objectors, and, knowing the lives that the majority lived, I had not much time for them, and many of them quailed under the magisterial eye.

No one can say, with truth, that Britain desired war, and it is a matter of history that up to the Munich conference Mr. Chamberlain made every effort, even to self-humiliation, to pre-

vent an outbreak. We are not out of the wood yet, and it is no use depending on men of the class of the Methodist Bible Class —they would not turn out to defend New Zealand. T. LAMBERT.