World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations
"We never got a chance to sit down and think things out. Praying was
almost an impossibility. . . . Above all, we were not going to turn
religious at the last minute because we were afraid. . . . The soldier,
and in this case the soldier means the workingman, does not in the least
connect the things that he really believes in with Christianity. . . .
Here were men who believed absolutely in the Christian virtues of
unselfishness, generosity, charity, and humility, without ever connecting
them in their minds with Christ; and at the same time what they did
associate with Christianity was just on a par with the formalism and smug
self-righteousness which Christ spent His whole life in trying to
destroy. . . . The men really had deep-seated beliefs in goodness. . . .
They never connected the goodness in which they believed with the God in
Whom the chaplains said they ought to believe. . . . They have a dim
sort of idea that He is misrepresented by Christianity. . . . If the
chaplain wants to be understood and to win their sympathy he must begin
by showing them that Christianity is the explanation and the
justification and the triumph of all that they do now really believe in.
He must start by making their religion articulate in a way which they
will recognize."
As we turn from the virtues to the vices or moral weaknesses of the
soldier in war time, we find that they also fall chiefly under five
headings:
1. _Impurity_ must certainly take the first place. Investigation seemed
to show that the majority of these men were immoral in peace time, but
the war has intensified this evil. This would be accounted for to a
large extent by the unnatural conditions under which the men are forced
to live, and the policy of the military authorities, who are often
concerned merely with the fighting fitness of the men, rather than with
the moral issues. However this may be, in nearly every camp or battalion
or regiment or body of men questioned, whether among officers or men, the
majority were confessedly living in immorality. This in itself is a
staggering fact. It could be supported here by numerous statements or
authorities and by much evidence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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