The Nature of a World Peace

Abstract

The present European war is not an economic or a political or a social war. If it were, it would be possible to patch up some sort of compromise. But this is a religious war; it is a clash of life ideals. Men are using languages which are utterly incomprehensible to each other. As in the religious wars, men see in those who are in the opposite camp not simply enemies, but unbelievers, for whom the only practicable remedy, after excommunication, is hell’s eternal fire. How could a written settlement change this attitude of mind? There must be a beginning of a common language, of a common ideal, before reaching an understanding leading to a durable settlement. There is not the least probability that such a beginning can be made during the war, or after a compromise peace, which would be only a temporary truce. A durable settlement is possible only after the crushing defeat of one of the two opposing religious deals.

First published in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (Philadelphia), vol. 210, July 1940, pp. 66–7.