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Show Kathleen Norris Says: 'Where Is God in All This?' (Bell Syndicate WNU Service.) "God," said the lovely mother of a houseful of sons to me, on the church steps last Sunday, "could stop all this overnight. WHY DOESN'T HE?" LIVING HATE Wars are so obviously wrong. This one will end, with both sides retiring to lick their wounds, bury their dead and begin to rebuild. And Kathleen Norris wants to put an end to all this. Read her sane, American plan for peace. years. Our marital, property, business busi-ness laws are similar; in our home towas are the same books and rugs, the big chair for Daddy, the comfortable com-fortable low rocker for mother, the cribs and play-pens, the delicatessen delicates-sen store at the corner, the kindergartens kinder-gartens and libraries and concerts, and the ringing of church bells. These people who are killing each other have everything in common. They even have in common the hallucination hal-lucination that a greater nation has the right to oppress a weaker one, to enrich herself infinitely at that weaker weak-er one's expense. Or perhaps I should say that some of them are only outgrowing that hallucination a I little faster than the others.. Discuss Terms for Peace. If I had the power today I would ask each warring nation throughout the world: "What are your terms for peace?" I would have all the world know and discuss these terms, adjust them, modify them; concede this island there, that trade concession conces-sion there. I would have the President's Presi-dent's opinion, the pope's opinion, the opinions of rulers and kings. I would know at last just what all these men ane fighting for; just what trade advantages were threatened when these great nations went into war. This should have been done 18 months ago; 18 years ago, before we ever heard the names of Hitler or Mussolini. This should have been done when beaten and crippled Germany Ger-many was attempting to struggle to her feet as a republic, when we were all laughing at her, and buying million mil-lion mark notes for five cents. They were playfully called "book marks," do you remember? They should have been called marks of starvation, marks of ruin, marks of revenge. Try God's Way. We know only one thing of this war. It will have to end. One side, the side counting the most ruin and the most dead, wiD take a certain amount of ruin and loss when it ends. The other side will take slightly slight-ly less. Both will retire to lick their wounds, bury their dead, and begin to rebuild. They've done this since the days of Charlemagne; they'll continue to follow this pattern pat-tern until there slowly seeps into hearts of the rulers and war-makers not the people, not the men and women who die in the wars and pay for the wars! but the rulers and war-makers, that it might be as well to try God's way. It might be as well to see how long these boasting dictators would last, with God against them. How long injustice and religious intolerance intoler-ance could flourish, with All-powerful God opposing them. How quickly quick-ly little centers of love and faith and brotherhood would spread until they touched borders, and all His world be inundated with the greenness green-ness and glory of peace and confidence confi-dence and security. Until that day begins let's blame men, the insincere men who say love and live hate, who say forgiveness for-giveness and live revenge. If ever we really turn to God He will not fail us. But until we do let's at least refrain from blaming Him for what we do. By KATHLEEN NORRIS WOMEN by the hundred write to me pathetic and bewildered letters about the fearful wars that are rocking the world today. Most of them are praying women, and they have been praying a long time for peace; some of them, like myself, have been for twenty years members of peace organizations. organiza-tions. Their faith has been heavily tried during the last eighteen months; they feel that their fervent and incessant inces-sant prayers are unheard. "Where is God in all this horror?" hor-ror?" they ask. "Why doesn't God help us?" "God," said the lovely mother moth-er of a houseful of sons to me, on the church steps last Sunday, Sun-day, "could stop all this overnight. over-night. WHY DOESN'T HE?" Personally, I don't see how any thinking woman can ask this. As well scratch a match, apply it to curtains you have already soaked in gasoline, and then wonder that the house burns down. To rush about then screaming, "Oh, God, hear us! Put out this fire!" would be nothing short of blasphemy. A Plan Never Tried. A long time ago wise men, good men, agreed that the world should have a new plan. Enemies should be forgiven; won by love rather than hate. Evil should no longer be overcome by evil, but evil should be overcome by good. Did they ever try this, among the then scattered and weak tribes that were the beginnings of the nations of Europe? Never. Never once. They always said just what good and wise and Christ-professing men are saying say-ing today. "We'll destroy this one enemy and trample him into the dust. And THEN we'll all live in peace and harmony forever!" If 15 hundred years ago the law of love, brotherhood and forgiveness had been observed, what would have happened? Christian lands would have been Invaded by infidels, answer an-swer the histories promptly. Well, it is highly possible that bands of Asiatics might have penetrated into central and southern Europe, and attempted to foist their types of civilization upon the hardier and more enlightened northern stocks. For a generation or two they might indeed have influenced them. Then the higher law that recognizes love as its root and reason would have triumphed. The invaders would have been absorbed, would have been won to the new and miraculous mi-raculous creed. Europe Eternally Warring. But it wasn't the danger of barbarian bar-barian invasion that began to destroy de-stroy Europe a thousand years ago and that has been eating at her vitals vi-tals ever since. It wasn't the outsider. out-sider. It was the Christians themselves, them-selves, eternally warring. It was religious re-ligious wars, territorial wars, boundary boun-dary wars, family wars; one war for 30 years, one for 100 years. It was wars of Christians against innocent if unconverted, alien races; it was militaristic power, and militaristic abuse, generation after generation. Was there ever forgiveness, restitution, resti-tution, apology? Never. Among these brothers and all of the European Euro-pean nations are brothers, and the same blood flows in all their veins, was not the insolent reply of Cain rather than the law of Jesus Christ made the international answer? "Am I my brother's keeper?" Being Schooled in Hate. We are being carefully schooled in hate for everything German today, to-day, because of one mad German house-painter who has been raised by war and famine, pestilence and crime to power. We forget that among the Germans are home-loving, music-loving. law-Iovir.g people. We forget that all European civilization, civiliza-tion, our own included, has been following fol-lowing one line for hundreds of |
