Page:Women and war, an appeal to the women of all nations.djvu/15

 Rh women lose faith in their religious teachers. Educated women have no respect for the compromises of religious teachers. They see the fallacies underlying the distinctions drawn between private and public life, between conduct reprehensible from man to man, deemed advisable in Governments. They question the practice of excusing wrong in the aggregate, while the same wrong is condemned in the unit, such as the fallacy that the taking of many lives in war is heroic, while the taking of one is criminal.

The Church's services daily echo with the principles of Christ's teaching, against hatred, murder and all uncharitableness in individuals, but in practice, collective hatred, murder and all uncharitableness wins solemn Te Deums in buildings dedicated to the Prince of Peace. The Sermon on the Mount is quoted, discussed, admired, and then—explained away. Or the Millennium is made the excuse for inaction. What an anodyne is the Millennium to conscience! When is war condemned? Even missionaries who denounce the feud and battles of the heathen lift up no voice of protest against war being waged between "Christian Countries." Let the Church of God, as Mr. Asquith says, "take her share in expelling the greatest scourge which still threatens the unity and progress of mankind," and she will retain the allegiance of women. The absence of clergymen at Peace Congresses in Europe is very marked, and often commented on.

is a woman. Let the symbolism be translated into fact; for is not woman the fore-destined champion of Peace? Emancipated, she must emancipate. She must put her shoulder to the wheels of peace-making, adding her strength to that of good men who are striving for the same end. Then the momentum will be sufficient, and not till then, to crush out "the futile ferocious folly of war" from civilization.