The War and Unity: Being Lectures Delivered At The Local Lectures Summer Meeting Of The University Of Cambridge, 1918
Religion
The War and Unity: Being Lectures Delivered At The Local Lectures Summer Meeting Of The University Of Cambridge, 1918
Christian sociology; Christian union; Social change; World War, 1914-1918 -- Religious aspects
That vision is Fellowship, and it is not new. Though the war is, in the
sense which I have suggested, a terrific explosion which in the midst of
ruin and chaos brings with it supreme opportunities, it is equally true
to say that it forms no more than a ghastly parenthesis in the process
of fellowship both between nations and classes which had already begun
to make great strides.
"The sense of social responsibility has been so deepened in our
civilisation that it is almost impossible that one nation should attempt
to conquer and subdue another after the manner of the ancient world."
These words sound rather ironical. They come from the last edition of
the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. They were written about seven years ago
in perfect good faith, as a sober estimate of the forces of fellowship
which could be then discerned. Save for the ideals and ambitions of the
central Empires of Europe they were perfectly true. What the war has
done in regard to this fellowship is to expose in their hideous
nakedness the dangers which threaten it, and to which in pre-war days we
were far too blind, but also to unveil that strong passion for
neighbourliness which lies deep in the hearts of men, and an almost
fierce determination to give it truer expression in the age which is
ahead.
You will naturally ask what effect the war is likely to have on this
problem of class distinction. How far will it hinder or enhance the
social unity for which we seek?
We must of course beware of being unduly optimistic. The fact that
millions of our men are seeing with their own eyes the results which can
be achieved by naked force will not be without its effect on their
attitude when they return to their homes. If force is so necessary and
so successful on the field of battle why not equally so in the
industrial field? If nations find it necessary to face each other with
daggers drawn, it may be that classes will have to do the same.
Personally I doubt whether this argument is likely to carry much weight.
It is much more likely in my view that our men will be filled with so
deep a hatred of everything that even remotely savours of battle, that a
great tide of reaction against mere force will set in, and a great
impetus be given to those higher and more spiritual motor-powers which
during the war we have put out of court.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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