CHURCH AND WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19664, 26 August 1935, Page 9

CHURCH AND WAR

WHERE DOES SHE STAND? THE BIBLE OR THE SWORD? It is said frequently that aIL the great words of o-ur English language are monosyllables. Perhaps the most terrible words can 100 be so classified. The word “war" is not difficult to spelt or pronounce, but what dread .ics in it! Alas, it is all too frequently in use nowadays. And this no matter what men to do to avoid it. Recently ■a writer declared that it would be better not to talk about war, as if the mere fact of ignoring the name would prevent the thing. Unfortunately autosuggestion of 'this kind is neither ■spread universally enough nor do the facts of the world situation warrant such an ostrich-like attitude. War is in the air, and it will take a miracle to prevent it from becoming an totuality. It seems- as if 'Mussolini is determined to light up the powder magazine, willy-nilly. A Strange Sight. It is surely ■& strange spectacle that we are witnessing to-day. The excuses for the projected invasion of Abyssinia are that the country is barbarous, that slavery is practised, and that the natural resources of the land are unexploited. The Cross is to he replaced by the Sword —or lethal gas and air bomb —as a civilising agent. Not Ihe Christian missionary, but the soldier, is to be the deliverer of a nation from its bondage of corruption and inefficiency. '‘lncidents" are being freely reported in the Italian press to influence public opinion against the "savages" of Ethiopia, and with iunctuous self-condemnation the highly civilised Italian is setting about, via media of a modern war, to enrich a great country with its own high culture. The -case so stated seems to our- own untutored mind rather extraordinary, and it raises a question of very far-reaching consequence to the Christian Church. Does Ibis latest threat to the peace -of humanity mean that Christianity is a failure, and that the dogs of war are lo be successful where the Gospel cannot win?

We will not be rash enough to deny that the forces of law and order have often gained an advantage for the teaching of our Lord, but where will history give us an example of one nation saving another by an aggressive war? Where Does the Church Stand? This question is equally applicable to the whole Chiirch of Christ on this earth. If it comes —as come it will il' war eventuates —to a matter of taking sides, on which side will the Christian nations of the world he found? ' A policy of non-interference will not absolve us from our responsibility. To allow Christian Italy to carry out this new evangelism will mean that we endorse ' her attitude and accept her argument. That will Imply that we agree with the proposition: A nation low in the scale of civilisation can be redeemed by force. If we do, then instead of praising Samuel Marsdcn we should regard him as a poor blunderer. He stood alone and unarmed before the native inhabitants of these islands, many of them newly come from a cannibal feast, and some with unpleasant memories of their only encounters with the white man, and he preached the Gospel of God’s Good News to them. And they became civilised and Christianised as a result.

But according to the Mussolini idea Marsden was all wrong. He should have landed from a naval vessel, and brought a few hundred soldiers with him, and said: “The Bible or the Sword." Put so baldly—and how else is there to put this case? —few of us will hesitate to stand on the side of Marsden. But, if that is so, what are w T e going to do about the projected Italian invasion of Abyssinia? The Church’s Duty. It is obviously the bounden duty of the Christian Church to protest, and if possible prevent the butchery that threatens humanity. It can also be done. The world is but .a neighbourhood, and if Pope, Archbishops and Moderators wish, they can win now, make it clear that this is an unchristian and devilish venture, in which no follower of our Lord Jesus Christ can engage. By a swift stroke of organisation —made possible by our easy International ' communications — the leaders of the Church of God have an opportunity to demonstrate to an expectant world, that the Spirit of Christ lives and reigns In ‘the hearts of His disciples the world over, by declaring the Italian intention anathema. Abyssinia may not be all that it ought to be. Neither, for that matter, is Italy, nor any other nation. But war is not the way to Improvement, and-if the Church is silent or divided on this issue It may well be that it will be regarded with an ever-deep-ening distrust and cynicism by a race that “thought it was the Church that would have redeemed” —not only Israel, hut humanity. —Waiapu Church Gazette.