Letters to the Editor
Christians and the H-Bombs Canon L. J. Collins The Insolence of Office Alison Blair Unpardonable P. Fleetwood-Hesketh The Mystery of a Diary Professor T. D. Williams
J. W. Kilsby
Scholastic Philosophy Dr. A. T. Macqueen
Professor D. W. Brogan
Hey Now! Bulganin Rev. P. A. Openshaw
Guy Deghy
Voice from the Grave Pansy Pakenham Strategy for Macmillan Lord Broughshane The Nation's Medical Advisers Dr. Hugh Paul Proof-reader's Picnic? F. R. Bell Working-class Conscripts Roderick Thomson Call, to Conflict Russell A. Clarke
CHRISTIANS AND THE H-BOMB
SIR,—In 'A Spectator'i Notebook' of January 6 reference was made to my sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, January 1, when I asked, 'How can any Christian, be he the Archbishop of Canterbury or the humblest member of any church congregation, suppose that it is con- sistent with the Gospel of love to support the making and testing of atom or hydrogen bombs?' Pharos comments : 'The fact remains that a great many Christians, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the late Archbishop of York and countless humbler members of church congregations, have thought the manu- facture of the H-bomb essential for the de- fence of Christian values against Communism.'
A great many Christians, including the Pope, many archbishops and bishops, and countless humble members of church congregations used to think the use of torture and burning at the stake essential for the defence of Christian values against heresy; and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Pope and countless other Christians believed the Inquisition to be essential for the defence of Christian values against Protestantism—and countless Protes- tants held to equally fantastic notions.
Thank God, Christian conscience rebelled against such ideas. And it is my belief that Christians of tomorrow will wonder how Christians of today, including archbishops as well as countless humble members of church congregations, could have brought themselves to so manifest a repudiation of the Gospel as to think that even so vital an end as the de- fence of Christian values against Communism could justify the manufacture or use of hydro- gen bombs, or any other modern weapons of war.—Yours faithfully, L. JOHN COLLINS 2 Amen Court. EC4
[This letter is referred to in 'A Spectator's Notebook.'—Editor, Spectator.]
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