THE CHURCH AND WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 17

THE CHURCH AND WAR

Sir, —The Rev. J. C. Macky is reported to have said at the meeting of the Baptist Union in Wellington that Britain had maintained the peace of a hundred years because she was strong enough to show her teeth if necessary What hundred years peace did he allude to? 1 know of none. As the same gentleman said the world was a howling menagerie and the nations wild beasts, ] should be glad to know if he considers New Zealanders are included in the menagerie, and arc of the company of wild beasts. Edmund Burke asserted that he could not frame an indictment against a whole nation, but this gentleman apparently has framed one against the whole world, so I presume we arc all cast in the common condemnation Such language is a libel on our common nature and most profoundly untrue. The world is no menagerie, and my fellow-mortals arc not wild beasts. In my journey through life I have met with much kindness and at the end I can truly say that I have known none that at all resembled wild beasts, nor have I found that this beautiful world resembles in any sense a "howling menagerie." In spite of mistaken pleadings, goodwill among the nations is a growing force, holding a promise of the life that now is and that which is yet to come. I. am confident that mankind will learri to solve their problems without war, and will regard it at last with befitting disgust and horror. By word and deed let us hasten that day J. Morris.