Mars in White Raiment

Many people at home & abroad were horror-struck when a so-called Christian nation used the atomic bomb against its enemies. But one Methodist clergyman was not at all surprised.

In Boston's independent Methodist weekly, Zion's Herald, the Rev. ]. D. Townsend, pastor of the Providence (R.I.) Methodist Tabernacle, last week reminded his readers that "the story of Christianity is an almost unbroken chronicle of warfare."

The Rev. Mr. Townsend notes that there is a difference between "the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the four Gospels," and "the practices of the organized Christian Church. These two have little in common besides their name." He traces the decline of the faith from the 4th Century, when it became a national religion under Constantine (who went forth "to slaughter his enemies inspired by the ecstatic vision of a blazing cross") through the Crusades (where "it had become firmly established that fire and rapine were acceptable means of propagating the faith") to the history of modern colonization ("unequal conflict between Christian might and pagan right").

Historian Townsend concludes: "There can be no peace" unless Christians become aware of "the wide chasm lying between their religious beliefs and practices."

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