Christian flag indicates church services on shipboard. T h s follow ing a rticle la a aarmon w hich w aa prepared and preached by the author, the paator of the W eet Adam e B aptlet C h u rch of Loe Angela*, C alifo rn ia , to hie congregation on M arch 2, 1947. In order th at the force of th i* m essage m ight not be lost, the editorial blue pencil ha* been w ithheld. T h e concluding In stallm ent w ill appear In the Ju n e Issue, and plans are being m ade to publish the a rticle In booklet form . R ev. Mr. S w a rt, born In Scotland, Is now an en th u sia stic and patriotic Am erican citize n , and a t euch believes in com plete religious freedom . T HE theme of this morning's sermon, “The Chris cisely because we are Christians, prefer peace to war. We recognize with gladness that, in all of the Christian religions, there are many great beliefs which all of us hold in common. And even outside of religion there is the bond of humanity. We non-Catholic Christians are not merely humanitarians, but we are humanitarian. Our home is in heaven, yet we recognize that we have a citizenship here which compels us to understand our neighbor and to do right by him. To be a good citizen demands that we show this neighbor not tolerance, but friendship. However, we are not going to understand this neigh bor and we are not going to be much of a friend to him if we cannot speak frankly of the problems that con cern us mutually in living together without encroach ing upon each other’s rights. We shall try. not to be carping critics. We shall recognize his right to believe in dogma that is foreign to our own teaching and spirit But when he appears to infringe on our rights as citi zens, and espouses principles which seem to us to be threats to our liberty, then we shall ask him to desist, or to explain that it is a misunderstanding on our part. If he insists that his position Is so inviolate, and that such principles are so sacrosanct that they cannot MAY, 1947
be discussed, then we shall put him down as either a humbug or a menace. I f one of us, thereby, has be come a poor neighbor, it will not be the one who wished the matter discussed on the basis of citizenship, but rather the one who retreats into his theological and authoritarian shell. We non-Catholic Christians, in the spirit of good neighborliness, have something to say to our Roman Catholic friends regarding what we believe to be our rights as citizens, and we will not be dissuaded by the mighty red herring of the ages: the accusation that free discussion and expressions of sincere disagreement and concern constitute bigotry and intolerance. In a world where ideologies are fighting to the death for control of nations, we shall not be silent any longer. Our principles are not to be confined to our Sunday school rooms—and I say that in full appreciation of the significance of the Sunday school—but we Chris tians espouse principles without which peace and liberty will never come to men and nations. It is time to send those principles into the arena of the world to fight with those who would deny them. We have kept those great convictions almost in hiding. Just the other day I picked up the Loe Angeles Examiner and read a sports column in which, somehow, the columnist found occasion to refer to the contents of a St. Louis newspaper; the columnist was writing without animus and no criticism of him is intended but he stated, rather glibly, that this St. Louis newspaper had even “dusted o ff the old sep aration of church and state issue.” That is just one of the principles that I propose to send into the fray to the best of my powers. And I hope that dust will not gather on it again. The individual who thinks he can live in this throb bing, vital world without grievous conflict, simply does not understand the world, or else, perhaps he has never learned to love truth. A man, loving truth, cannot PAGE NINE
tian’s Peace,” was much more to my liking than the topic which we are to consider this evening, namely, "The Christian’s Warfare.” We Christians, pre
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