“JUNGLE WAR.”

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19598, 10 June 1935, Page 9

“JUNGLE WAR.”

NATIVES PERILOUS DRIFT. .DEFENCE BECOMES OFFENCE. [ ' ’ The prevailing “war system” and • the world’s relapse “into the naked 1 law of the jungle, where, red tooth and 1 claw threaten to be the only arbiters,” were condemned by Dr F. W. Norwood, of tlie ’City Temple, 'London. Dr. Norwood was presiding at the annual assembly of the Evangelical Free Churches of England and \yales at Llandrindod Wells. “We have reason to fear the’ inordinate development of the materialised and now militarised power of the State," he said. “We are still In the grip, though we may be near the end, of an era of i tremendous commercial expansion which, after the most colossal year In history, Is presenting the features of a portentous militarism, the like of which the world has never seen.” Lessons of Last War. Commenting on th lessons of the last war, Dr Norwood said: “We came to realise that men of our own kith and kin were coining vast wealth out of this carnage. “We lived to see a peaoe achieved which ignored nearly every essential cause of war, but created new ones." There was a vast army of men, ever growing rapidly, which depended for its gains upon the spread of fear and hate. “There remains tho sacred right of self-defence, as It has been called,” went on Dr. Norwood. “We, too, would defend our homes, our kindred, our racial institutions with such effectiveness as was possible. “Our overwhelming difllculty is that such defence is not possible in modern times. Tho vapid pretence is ono of the chief incentives to war. “The Christian 'Church never had less Influence than to-day In shaping the policies of nations. In matters ecclesiastical and charitable it is still admirably busy. 'But in matters of State policy it is stutlifled by the great ■contradiction in which It is Involved. "I can no longer be authortative, or even comfortable In a Christendom which is organised for murder and ; destructiveness. It must either close, j its eyes to these things or content 1 itself with futile gestures of goodwill." Neither this country nor any other , could endure half-Christian and half- ! militarised. Ono or other must pre- , dominate, and as illimitable resources were upon the side of militarism, it ; was inevitable that the less organised

must go into tho wilderness. "The day is only postponed, iL cannot be cancelled, when, if the present : i system endures, all that is characteristic of the Christian faith must bo surrendered or suffered for." Moral force was the only finally effective force in Hie world, hut the present system had no basis in morality, which was why the Church could not ally herself with it. IL was relapsing into the naked law of the 1 jungle, where red tooth and claw j threatened to he the only arbiters. “We must repudiate war. It would ; he heller Ihnt Christianity had a: [ blood-red sunset, with an almost ccr- ! ; min resurrection, than Hint it. should ! j again posture before Us Lord, giving jll i rr> thanks for the. exhausted end, : when it came, and calling it peace. ! ■ “i -would have our churches serve j I notice \to all tho States of tho world) i that suWi is our determination. ■ | “If weXhe asked to consent to tho ) i mere increase of armaments as a guar- ] j.aidec of security, and to the riveting ! of the war system upon ourselves and ! tlio.se who Annie after us, then wo will make tlui ‘Nonconformist conscience’ again \to he a power in lho I land, and IhrotVgh honour or shame, through liberty ior imprisonment, present Hie State with a ringing ‘No!’” i