CHURCH AND WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22285, 11 June 1934, Page 5

CHURCH AND WAR

FOLLY OF ARMED ACTION METHODS OF FORCE OPPOSED For the purpose of giving a lead lo Christian thought in the matter of the Church’s attitude to war, the Auckland Council of Christian Congregations has unanimously approved of the following manifesto, which has had the consideration of two full meetings of the council:— “That this council views with apprehension the apparent failure of the Disarmament Conference, and the obvious intention of nations to increase their armaments: both facts vastly increasing the possibility of another titanic struggle inconceivably more terrible than the last one. , “While the council views with deep gratitude the efforts that have been initiated to place an embargo on the export of armaments to belligerent countries, the council also views with alarm the evidence offered for the existence of an international ring of armament firms and of the’sinister attempts to wreck disarmament conferences and to stimulate rival armament policies among the nations. “ The council warns all men and women of goodwill against the widespread but unchristian belief'that human nature is so constituted that wars are inevitable.- The council believes that the economic situation is an irritating cause of war, and that-reform of the economic order is an urgent and inescapable duty. IMPOVERISHMENT OF NATIONS. “ The council further condemns the widespread notion that a nation can maintain peace only by being better armed than its neighbours, believing that this in the long run rather tends to war than to peace, and also to the impoverishment of the nations concerned, both materially and spiritually. “The council affirms its conviction:— “ That God is at this time particularly calling the nations of the world to learn to live as one family. “ That at present the machinery of international co-operation provided by the League of Nations, supplemented by the Kellogg Pact, is an honest effort to put into practice the Mind of Christ in this matter, and appears the _ most feasible method of settling international disputes, and that therefore it is the duty of Christian citizens to be foremost, in their support of the union which exists in this country to strengthen the work of the League of Nations. “That the Great War and its axtermath make it perfectly clear that the first duty of true patriotism is to explore and exhaust every possible method of arbitration and conciliation, and that armed action is the supreme folly of civilisation. IMPLICATIONS OF PLEDGE. “ That war as a method of settling international disputes is utterly incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is imperative, therefore, that all Christian people, collectively and individually, give practical effect to the Divine Gospel of_ the universal brotherhood of especially by insisting upon all the implications ot the pledge given by our nation under the Kellogg Pact.” In referring to the Pact of Paris, lt)2S (the Briaud-Kellogg Pact), the council states: —“The important parts of this treaty, which consists of a preamble and three short articles, arc articles I and 2, by which the high contracting parties (1) condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies and renounce it as an instrument of national policy in their relations one with another; (2) agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes and conflicts, of whatever nature, of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.”-