Boni CANON COLLINS (in our correspondence columns) and Dr. Soper
(in Tribune) have replied to my comments on the sermon in which Canon Collins asked : 'How can any Christian, be he the Archbishop of Canterbury or the humblest member of any Church congregation, suppose that it is consistent with the gospel of love to support the making and testing of atom or hydrogen bombs?' ' But he misses my point. The fact that Christians have been wrong in the past about the way to deal With heresy or schism has no relevance to the proposition which Canon Collins asserts by implication : namely that all those Christians, of high estate and low, who think it essential to manufacture hydrogen bombs, and 'other modern weapons' in defence of Christian civilisation against an enemy well armed with like weapons, are not Christians at all. My main objection to Canon Collins's argument is that it boils down to this : 'The only real sort of Christian is my sort of Christian.' This is the arrogance which I find disturbing. In Tribune last week Dr. Soper made a courteous retort with much of which I heartily agree. But when, towards the close of his argument, he says that 'for me, Socialism and the way of non-violent love are just as essential beliefs as the Divinity of Christ and the resurrection of the dead,' he amply confirms the point which I was trying to make.
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