Editorial January 2, 1943 Issue

Why Should I Go to War?

Paul Stark Seeley

Many thousands of young men have been, and are being, confronted with this question. In the thinking of their dear ones the question repeats itself many times. It is a question that deserves a straightforward answer. Why should the young man in the vestibule of his human life, his education perhaps but partly completed, his life plans in the process of unfoldment, suddenly be taken, separated from home, family, his native land, and sent to combat a cruel antagonist in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, or on the high seas? Why? Why is it so necessary to war?

From the standpoint of spiritual Science war is barbarism. From the standpoint of present-day human thinking—and we all have a part in that—war appears to be, in this crisis of human history, a necessary means whereby to protect the steps of human progress already taken. Where should we be today if earlier generations had been unwilling courageously to defend, though with carnal weapons, humanity's advancing steps out of human bondage into freedom's realm?

Christian Scientists will do well to remember that their wise Leader, who saw so clearly the absolute truth of God's allness, also saw, as did the Master, that the period of human transition from the night of selfish materiality to the day of spiritual reality would be fraught with mighty conflicts, individual and collective. On page 278 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy indicates God's purpose for lasting peace may, in this period, "be subserved by the battle's plan," meaning that such a course may accord with her statement on page 289 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "From a human standpoint of good, mortals must first choose between evils, and of two evils choose the less; and at present the application of scientific rules to human life seems to rest on this basis."

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