Where is the long-boasted moral influence of
Christianity? Where is the all-loving ruler of the universe? Let us
examine some of the apologies of the preachers.
Let me confess that, from a long experience of this apologetic branch of
theology, I am not surprised to find that not a single speaker or
writer--as far as my reading of their utterances goes--fairly meets the
main difficulty. Most of them, naturally, are content to plead that the
war has been forced on Europe by Germany, and that therefore no
responsibility lies on Christianity as a whole for the tragedy and the
moral failure it involves. A large number of them go even farther. They
point to the heroic sacrifices made in defence of an ideal by France,
Belgium, England, and Russia--the millions of men streaming to the
battle-field, the millions of women bravely enduring the suspense and
the loss, the millions who generously open their purses to every
philanthropic enterprise--and they acclaim this as a triumph of
Christian civilisation. As to the failure of Christianity in Germany to
stand the test, they either point superficially to the growth of
Rationalism, Biblical Criticism, and Socialism in that country, or they
take refuge in the confusions of the extreme pacifists and refuse to
assign responsibility at all, or they persuade themselves that a small
minority of men who were not Christians deluded the German people into
consenting to the war.
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