But it is not enough for the Church to acknowledge the legitimate claims of secular society; it has to acknowledge war as well. The willingness to go to war, or at least threaten war, is essential to the survival of any secular State. And to abolish the secular State at this point in history would reduce the civilized world to complete and utter chaos. If the Church is not willing to admit the reality of war, you might as well ask if it has anything left to say to the man-in-the-street to tempt him, to persuade him, to return and fill the pews once more? Or has it outlived its usefulness, having nothing more to give, and only offering an inner peace to the individual in a world in which he is defeated? If it is not possible to offer a Christian way of life, how are people expected to behave in a society in which we are compelled in practice to fit in with the pattern of life dictated by others? The answer is to create a vision of the Universe created by God; and this in turn will dictate the patterns of behaviour in society.
The two World Wars have dramatically changed the face of society; and the Church can hardly be unaffected. They killed belief in man and human progress, which seemed to be prevalent before 1914. They raised “conflict” to the pitch of professionalism, whether in sport, in business, or in war. Yet the two Wars were really one, with a twenty year armistice in between. And the victory of the Western Allies represents the triumph over the German attempt at world conquest. Even the Kaiser dreamed of attacking America, after conquering Europe; and the Axis in the Second World War most certainly had world conquest in view, and very nearly succeeded at least as far as Britain was concerned. What has the Church to say to the Secular World for delivering us all from tyranny, and the threat of death in a concentration camp? Or does it say it was sinful to fight Hitler; we should have turned the other cheek and practised the meek gospel of Christ, when the only Christian sect that emerged with credit from Hitler’s Germany was the Jehovah’s Witnesses? What has the Church to say to the thousands who died in the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and in the great victory in Normandy which the urbane Intelligence Summary at Headquarters described as a blood-bath big enough to satisfy even extravagant German tastes?
What does the Church reply to Winston Churchill, who proclaimed in one of his speeches that the few hundred Hurricane and Spitfire pilots, who fought the Battle of Britain, had by their bravery and morale saved Christian civilization for the world?
Does it say, “Thank you very much for delivering us all from tyranny. But only those who have Christ have the life, and those who do not have Christ, do not; and we are very sorry to tell you that as most of you did not have Christ, the kingdom of heaven is not for you”?