THE EASTER FAITH
. HE Easter message—of a world redeemed from sin and God and man at one—may seem this year in startling ,ontrast to the news of the latest destructive inventions. In fact, the hydrogen bomb raises no new problems whatsoever in the religious and moral sphere. As this is a sedative fact, it is worth underlining in the prevalent mood of over- excitement. The new weapons have alarmed imaginations and , stirred fears, but they have introduced no new moral issues; they have merely enlarged the physical consequences of moral failure. When Tilly sacked Magdeburg in 1631, in the course of a war of religion, he let his soldiery inflict as individuals, and slowly, the pains that modern scientific war subjects a city to suddenly and almost impersonally.
It is best to be frank and admit that the excitement about the hydrogen bomb is often far more materialistic in character than moral. A bomb that kills fifty women and children is not a more moral weapon than another that kills five thousand; it is merely less alarming. This is not to Say that Christians this Easter, or at any other time, are contemptuous of the material foundations of life. Small wars involve moral choices no less serious than great ones, but a war that threatens the collapse of civilisation, as one waged with hydrogen bombs certainly would, is a grave matter to contemplate. It is not enough to say that civilisations have collapsed before and that we owe the existence of our own to the disappearance first of Rome and then of the Middle Ages. It is not even enough to remember that civilisations can crumble from within, as well as in a blaze of violence, and that we may be even now in worse danger from spiritual disintegration than from hydrogen bombs which we have no certain proof will ever be used in war. The concern of ordinary men and women is that the menace of a violent end should be removed from their homes and families and it is for this reason they may turn to the faith of Easter for a grain of hope.
The religion of Christianity, which is the inspiration of what we call the modern world, the eastern as well as the ' ,western part of it, is not one that glories in the collapse of material cities. There is nothing in this religion that looks dispassionately on a mother losing her son or on a young 'man losing his girl. For the Christian religion, this world is :a stage on the way to the heavenly city, and it does not part company with ordinary men in wishing that way to be free of physical disasters. This thought forces the Christian to consider afresh each Easter what he means by the redemption of the world, what he considers was purchased by the sacrifice of God's Son upon the Cross. One matter at least is clear. , Man and his world were worth redeeming. The doctrine of .,Easter is one of optimism. It is a reasonable supposition that so long as the life of man in the world may serve God's system is in itself as remarkable as the catastrophes which gave rise to it. There is no reason, save in the cynicism of a few, for supposing that the present scientific experiments may not in time strengthen the tendency towards establishing the rule of law in international affairs. The wilder suggestions of the last few weeks may be discounted. A world council of scientists, for example, would run into the same difficulties as the diplomatists, for they could not represent laboratories but only nations, and that would confront them with po!itical difficulties which they would be entirely unfitted to resolve. The tried means of international relationships are all that at present lies usefully to hand. They have proved ineffective in the past, but as the experiments continue they will be backed by a popular realisation, stronger than ever before, that major war is a disaster the world cannot afford. That realisation is widespread and it would be to attribute a lack of any rational powers to the Russian leaders to assume they do not share it.
It will not, however, be a certain deterrent. If Christians have learnt any wisdom sub specie aeternitatis, it is that the world cannot be made safe. It is childishness to think that security could be purchased by ceasing to experiment with hydrogen bombs. They are merely the current alarm; if they were not about there would be another cause. Fifteen Easters ago the Nazi peril overhung us all, and now Russia takes its place, and if it were not Russia it might be a rearmed Germany, or an aggressive China. History allows few moments of relaxation. Never for long has life in the world seemed secure with all the choices easy.
It is for the Christian anyhow no more than a testing ground. The tomb was not burst open to make civilisation safe, but that individual sinners might be assured of reconciliation with God. Christianity has never promised more. It is a religion which in its purest form has concerned itself less with the earthly than with the heavenly city. But because the way to the Kingdom of God is opened by just dealing here below, the Christian is not indifferent to the various challenges with which history confronts mankind. Modern weapons are one only of a succession of challenges. If the ancient Assyrians extinguished themselves by their own bellicosity, if the Greek achievement was overthrown by petty civic wars, there is no reason why, with so many lessons before him, man in his wisdom may not this time make another and a better choice and not use against himself the new powers he has discovered. It, is, however, the Christian belief, and the clainl of Easter, that man is not able to stand alone. rise because the Christian religion has kept many adherents Iii Russia in spite of persecution. It is, however, a fact worth remembering, for the surprises and changes of history are endless.
The fears of war's consequences have now a new intensity Which they will not lose. If the dangers now facing the world bring home to men the old awareness, obscured by the last century's too easy illusions, of the precariousness of their condition, science may at last have served the cause of true religion. Men, it is the Christian's faith, are not set to grapple with their ,problems unaided and alone. If they are now bewildered and afraid before their own handiwork the words of the first Easter still resound for them to hear: " Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
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