NEW FAILURE OF NERVE
11
today, the impression is reinforced that there is no more unity
of purpose among them, no more agreement in program and
direction of effort, than among their secular brethren. But whereas
the latter
may
rely upon a method by which to limit, adjudicate
and negotiate the differences among them, the former
must
abso·
lutize their differences if they are consistent.
It is an obvious fact that all religious groups, with the ex–
ception of some Protestant churches in America, have been able
to find support of their own national governments in prosecuting
the war compatible with the sacred principles of Christianity.
Some of them have even professed to be able to derive the necessity
of such support from sacred doctrine. Cardinal Verdier of France
and Cardinal Hinsley of England have declared the war to be a
religious crusade; so have some of the German bishops on the
other side who have blessed Hitler's arms and prayed for his
victory; while the Pope himself is still neutral in respect to it.
M. Maritain at the time of the Nazi-Soviet Pact declared that the
war against Hitler was a just war but not a religious one. He
also asserted "it is entirely understandable" that the German
bishops should support their government; indeed, that it was naive
to be scandalized by the divisions among religious groups on the
war. Today the just war has become transformed in M. Maritain's
eyes into a "religious" war. Yet no matter how they characterize
the war, religious groups do not contest the validity of opposite
statements made about the war by other national religious groups
who take their point of departure from the
same
religious premises.
Now this is extremely odd. No one would tax theologians
with insincerity. But if it is true that a religious principle or
dogma is compatible with two contradictory positions in respect
to the defeat of Hitlerism, then the principle or dogma in question
is irrelevant to the nature of the war. And since it is true that
the defeat of Hitlerism is of the very first importance for the
social reconstruction of Europe, we are justified in entertaining
a lively suspicion of the relevance of Christian principles to such
reconstruction, if at the same time they can reconcile themselves
equally well to Hitler's victory or defeat.
The only implication that can be drawn from this strange
state of affairs is that religious groups are seeking, as they always
have, to make of God an instrument of national policy. One of
