PREACHERS PRESENT ARMS

Written in 1933. Allied Governments have always been keen about recruiting the Church’s help in aiding the push for war in the public’s eye, through the skillful handling of propaganda by the puppet masters, especially designed to appeal to Clergy and Church members. The author shows how the ideology of Nationalism and religion grow out of the same social cloth and make their appeal to the same emotions of fear, love, hatred and revenge, the longing for a satisfying object of worship, a need for fellowship in a common cause, and a sense of security. The Christian religion, inheriting (by force?) the forms of Old Testament Judaism, also copied the concepts of politics for its theology – God as sovereign ruler giving the laws, demanding absolute obedience from his subjects, expiation for sin, and inflicting punishment upon all his enemies. This book concentrates on the 1914-1918 period but it is so applicable and explanatory to our present day situation with U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.- that the similarities are staggering. Now add the role of the “Hidden Hand” and its financial interest in this equation and you will realize a truly curious situation.