The Truce of God

The Church once had power to enforce peace from Saturday nights to Wednesday mornings, and during Lent. Offenders were tried in ecclesiastical courts, and disciplined by lay authorities. Churches now seek not a truce, but permanent peace.

The week of March 18 was Anti-War Week, sponsored by four bodies--The Church Peace Union, The World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches, The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America (headed by Robert E. Speer), The World Peace Foundation.

A mass meeting was held in Carnegie Hall, Manhattan, on Monday, at which the speakers were General John F. O'Ryan (Catholic) and Dr. Harry E. Fosdick (Baptist). Before the meeting 600 clergymen met in a nearby church. Two thousand similar meetings were held in various parts of the country.

The churches have two immediate aims--first, to educate their members in regard to the need for a league capable of enforcing peace; second, the need for a court that can give authoritative decisions on international questions.