NATIONALISM AND GOD [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sm,—May
I be permitted to express my gratitude for yoUr leading article under this heading ? I belieYe you are right in suggesting that moral and religious leadership is what a dis7. illusioned youth is, perhaps subconsciously, waiting for. No real enthusiasm can be aroused among young people today for a policy of expediency the main object of which is the defence of BritiSh interests._ Our closer contact with other countries has enabled- its to see how this defence of British interests appears to them. The result of a competitive and defensive policy can only be war, and while a peaceloving youth will not shirk sacrifices Which are'constructive of goodwill, the thought of a wholesale slaughter for the sake of British imperial and financial interests is inexpressibly repulsive.'
Any statesman who would stand for a policy which appealed to the post-War generation as a genuine attempt to apply the teaching of Christ to national policy might find, as you suggest, that he was surrounded by a devotion that would both astound and humiliate him. Great risks would be involved in any such policy, but one thing is certain : there is no safe way out of the present impasse. The question we each have to answer is whether we will take risks for the sake of a non-defensive . policy of co-operation, creative of trust and goodwill, or for a competitive policy which can achieve nothing but destruction. It may be true that to choose the first alternative with confidence a man must have faith in God, though many an agnostic would think it the better policy to gamble on.—Yours faithfully,
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