A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK IN THE MOST impressive speech heard in
the House of Lords for a long time, the Archbishop of York said that the pos- session of the hydrogen bomb seemed to be the one possibility of preserving peace in the years immediately ahead, since the bomb would provide a shield beneath which the work of peace- making could be continued. This speech has been attacked by one of the columnists of Tribune, Dr. Donald Soper, who recently made a well-publicised suggestion to the Russians that he should be allowed to make a pacifist speech in the. Red Square in Moscow. They told him it was too cold. Dr.. Soper now advocates that Britain should make an immediate uni- lateral gesture of disarmament. He thus wants his own act of exhibitionism to be repeated on a national scale. The Arch- bishop of York does not agree with Dr. Soper. He thinks that however great the number of sermons in this country against the use and manufacture of nuclear weapons, 'the Communist states would continue on their chosen path, regardless of remonstrances and reckless of human life.'
Dr. Soper, who is a clergyman as well as a columnist, goes so far as to say that 'on ethical grounds the assertion of Dr. Garbett is frankly non-Christian, if not un-Christian.' It would be a mistake to dismiss this remark as just showing Dr. Soper's lack of humour. It would also probably be wrong to say that just as those who run Tribune claim to be the only true socialists, so Dr. Soper, not to be outdone, is trying to corner Christianity. 'What I ultimately want to see,' he has written, 'are more Christian Socialist missionaries in Russia, men who intelligently believe in the Socialist [sic] faith.' And again, 'Rally the Labour Party with the call ,to this country tblead the world in a gesture of wholesale disarmament and we could win the forthcoming election hands down, and break out into God's world of peace once and for all.' Christianity to Dr. Soper is more than a political expedient like nationalisation. It is a political programme like 'Let Us Face the Future.' He is the Fifth-Monarchy man of our time. I do not wonder that he found Dr. Garbett's speech 'non-Christian.' The Arch- bishop was not concerned with the winning of elections. Dr. Soper has found it necessary to say that he is not a professional politician. I can believe him. But is it not time he became one?
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