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Rawlinson, A. E. J., 1884-1960

"Religious Reality"

There can be no question but
that a Christian man is bound to stand both for the freedom of
oppressed nationalities and for the right of all peoples freely to
determine their own affairs, and also for the duty of nations as of
individuals to love their neighbours as themselves, and to seek
primarily not their own but each other's good. If these professions
are to be more than nominal they must mean a readiness for national
sacrifices and for national unselfishness in time of peace as in time
of war.


CHAPTER IX
CHRISTIANITY AND WAR

Christianity is opposed to war, in the sense that if men and nations
universally behaved as Christians, wars would cease. The ideal of the
Kingdom of GOD involves the reign upon earth of universal peace. War
is, therefore, in itself, an unchristian thing. It is, moreover, a
barbarous and irrational method of determining disputes, since the
factors which humanly speaking are decisive for success in war, viz.
the organized and unflinching use of superior physical force, are in
principle irrelevant to the rights or wrongs of the cause which may be
at stake.


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