THE WAR AS A CRUSADE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 February 1940, Page 5

THE WAR AS A CRUSADE

There are many people who strongly deprecate the use of the word “Crusade” in connection with the present war, says the Dean of Durham, Dr C. A. Alington, writing in the “Daily Telegraph.” I think their objection is largely founded on a historical mistake, for they assume that the characteristic object of a crusade is to alter by force the religious convictions of others. Such an attempt, though possible for some religions, is clearly impossible for a Christian and, as clearly, can produce no good religious result. The historical Crusades had no such purpose; they were caused by the wave of indignation which swept over Europe when Jerusalem was captured by the infidel, and, in particular, by the news that pilgrims on the way to the Holy Places, and especially the Holy Sepulchre, were ill-treated and denied the right of access. The object of the Crusades was not to convert unbelievers, by force or otherwise, but to secure that these rights were allowed. It is in a similar spirit that we are fighting now; to secure for others those at least as legitimately dear as the rights of freedom and justice which are rights for which the Crusaders contended. It is true that we are not fighting for an abstract cause, but for the particular cause of an outraged nation, but that does-not make it any the less true that the objects which we hope to secure for them are obpects which we may justly claim to be dear to God. A God who has no concern with freedom or justice would be a God unworthy of human worship.