SHOULD A CHRISTIAN FIGHT FOR HIS COUNTRY ?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—When a theory is propounded to a mathematician he tries it first on a simple case. If it works, he concludes there is something in it, if not, he throws it aside.
Let us try the same method here. A man sees a woman being assaulted, battered, robbed, and perhaps killed. He refuses to help her because Christ said " Resist not evil." We feel instinctively that he has behaved disgracefully, and misunderstood Christ's teaching.
The same applies in the larger sphere. War is horrible, nothing too bad can be said of a war of aggression, or of policy, and no Christian can take part in such a one. A defensive war, however, is quite another thing, and the man who does not do his best to protect the weak, both in his own and other countries, is not only not a Christian, but is not even a man.
It will be observed that the title at the head of this letter is ambiguous, for " to fight for his country " may mean to take part in wars of aggression, or in wars of defence.
It may be objected that in every war each side tries to make out that it is waging a war of defence. Here is where each man's judgement must come in, and if he decides that it is a war which he cannot take part in, then he must quietly submit to any penalty that his country may ordain, even if it be the penalty of death.
The man who refused to help the woman was wrong because he isolated a scrap of Christ's teaching, and applied it in circumstances to which it was not meant to apply, forgetting that it is the general tenor of His teaching, and not isolated scraps, which is to be our guide. If this is kept in mind, and also it is remembered that Christ spoke to reasonable men, and expected His words to be interpreted by reasonable men, then a noble and practical ethic stands out, which if followed is capable of regenerating the world.—I am, Sir, &c., Bidford House, Leamington. HERBERT W. H. GREEN.
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