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CHAPTER III

CHRISTIANITY IN KHAKI

There are some to whom the political support given to this war by the Christian Churches has been a sudden revelation and a shock. This ought not to have been the case. When has a Christian nation ever entered on a war which has not been regarded by the official priesthood as a sacred war? In England the State Church has never permitted the spirit of the Prince of Peace to interfere when statesmen and soldiers appealed to the passions of race-lust, conquest, and revenge. Wars, the most insane in origin, the most barbarous in execution, the most fruitless in results, have never failed to get the sanction of the Christian Churches.[1] No one now defends the justice or

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  1. Contrast the attitude of the Buddhist Churches in Burmah which preached the duty of non-resistance, and denied the sanction of religion to the patriots who sought to defend their native land against the invasion of British troops. – Cf. Fielding, 'The Soul of a People.'