Peace Aims

Abstract

ONE result of the proclamation of the Nazi “New Order” in Europe has been a widespread desire for a comparable statement from the British and Allied Governments of their intentions. A noteworthy contribution towards clarifying the situation has been made by a letter which appeared in The Times of December 21 over the signature of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Hinsley, the Moderator of the Free Church Council and the Archbishop of York. Starting with the statement that no permanent peace in Europe is possible unless the principles of the Christian religion are made the basis of national policy and all social life, they base their letter on the five points put forward by Pope Pius XII a year ago. The first of these requires the “assurance to all nations of their right to life and independence”; violation of this equality of rights demands reparation, based, not upon force, but on the rules of justice and reciprocal equity. The second point refers to the need for “a mutually agreed organic progressive disarmament, spiritual as well as material, and security for the effective implementing of such an agreement”; and the third emphasizes the need for a juridicial institution to guarantee and, when necessary, to revise, such agreement. The fourth and fifth are less specific in that they ask for the adjustment of the needs of nations and populations and for the development of a sense of justice in accordance with the Christian ideal.