Religious Unity Can End War, Says Minister

1938

The war problem can be solved only by religious unity, Dr. Douglas Horton, minister of the United Church of Hyde Park. Ill., declared in an address at the Memorial Union Tuesday night. His talk was one of a series during the University of Wisconsin's Religious Emphasis week.

"If war comes tomorrow, it is because of what we do today," Dr. Horton said. "Shall we be the cause of the death of the next generation by war due to the activities that we conduct today? It is our duty to place religion on such a strong international scale that no nationalistic force can break down our loyalty to God to be replaced by a loyalty to a nation."

Three methods of preventing wars pointed out by Dr. Horton are:

1. Preparedness through huge military and naval expenditures.
2. Complete disarmament.
3. The establishment of an international religious community.

Racial discrimination against the Japanese, Dr. Horton said, has caused hatred between Japan and the United States.

"War that is international in scope," he declared, "cannot be solved by limiting ourselves to our national boundaries. We must seek the answer in the great world of Christian peoples."

The church must take a deeper interest in social issues of day, Atty. Frank W. McCulloch, Chicago, declared. Need for better recognition of the rights of unionists, and a Christian industrial democracy was cited.

"Our patriotism. like our religion, must not be beguiled by the Pied Piper flutings of our leaders," he said. "We must inquire into their motives and principles and make free use of the rights accorded us by our constitution."

Loyalty to the state, he declared, must not be placed above loyalty to a common cause and God.

—Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Feb. 23, 1938, p. 6.