Christianity and War
SIR.—Much of the content of the Spectator is devoted nowadays to the consideration of how best to prepare for the next war. Why is it that it does not occur to anybody that war is no longer a weapon that this ountry can afford to use ? In his article, Defence and Controls, Mr. Lionel Robbins assumes—surely rightly—that war will involve us in facing " submarine blockade, rocket attacks on the ports and continual bombing of our cities, perhaps by atomic weapons." He does not men- tion the possibility of bacteriological warfare, which would have been irrelevant to his subject. Can we really believe that, being the concen- trated target we are, we can survive, in any real sense of the word, a third world war ? Why then are we not attempting to work out a policy of resistance to evil by other means than war ?
Why above all does the Christian Church give no lead whatever in this matter ? In a few weeks' time my brother clergy and I shall be declaring that Christianity is the way of the Cross. But how few of us appear to believe what we say. The choice may well be between the mass murder and suicide of war and the voluntary suffering of the Cross. Our Master has pointed the way. Can we not even now summon the faith and courage to follow Him ?—Yours faithfully, C. J. WI:S.1'0N. Church of St. Catherine, Neasden, N.W.10.
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