nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

PROCEEDINGS 65
the rule of a high military command. We should be Christian enough and brave
enough to cooperate toward abolishing militarism from the face of the earth.
General MacArthur has said all nations must now renounce war for being
utterly futile as an arbiter of national disputes; all nations must at once strive
to eliminate the suspicion, .distrust which result from' power threats; we must
have world leadership with moral courage sufficient to implement the will of
the masses who abhor war and upon whom fails the main weight of war's
frightful carnage; this must be effected by action—not words alone—because
with the development of modern science another war may blast mankind to
perdition, and the childlike, irresponsible faith that somehow we could manage
to survive such a war is in itself civilization's greatest peril. Nations, one and
all, we agree, must, therefore, break decisively with this outmoded, impossible,
unthinkable militarism which has dominated the past. We must work in a
brave, determined effort to place the world's security on a basis of intelligent
cooperation and universal regard for human rights.
3. In closing we would earnestly argue that the hope of a just and permanent
peace depends more than ever upon the spiritual transformation of the race.
Invaluable as may be international agreements embodied in political organization,
the establishment of brotherhood among men awaits the regeneration of
individuals and the real Christianization of leaders. The United Nations will
be helpless to carry on without moral standards, moral conscience and conviction.
The ultimate security of the world is not to be found in the Kremlin of
Moscow, in Number Ten Downing Street or in the White House at Washington.
It does not stand in vast armaments. It will be based on the spiritual attitudes
Of men. Those attitudes will be created by Christian evangelism, Christian
missions, Christian education in the United States and in the other nations of
the world. Ten righteous men could have saved Sodom. It is not necessary
to have an actual majority of Christians of the right sort in order to save the
world from destruction. As.Dr. Carroll used to point out, a righteous minority
would have saved the world from the ancient deluge, and the continued existence
of society in every age of the world rests upon a saving few, the salt of the
earth which prevent its decay and death. We must make sure that saving
number is sufficient in our time. Far more, we must expand, accelerate and
intensify all our resources of talents and means to hasten the day for the
coming of Christ's Kingdom, when God's will shall be done on earth as it is
done in heaven.
J. M. DAWSON A. PAUL CAUDILL
ELLIS A. FULLER DUKE MCCALL
MERRILL D. MOORE RYLAND KNIGHT
N. B. TIMMERMAN THEODORE F. ADAMS
A. L. CARPENTER F. CLYDE HELMS
I
The period of the writing of peace treaties, to bring formally to an end the
era of war, lies just ahead, of us. We believe that statesmen entrusted with
this great task need the prayers, planning and active assistance of Southern
Baptists. Therefore, we pledge our continued efforts to build a peace based
upon the Christian principles of justice, mercy and righteousness, among all
peoples of all nations. To that end, we instruct the Committee on Public Relations
to assume the work of the World Peace Committee, and to strive earnestly
to realize the ideals, aims and recommendations of its 1946 report.
II
We believe that the goal of peacemakers must be a world organized on the
Christian principles of order and justice. We further believe that in the field
of international relations, such a goal can be accomplished only by some type of
world government. Accordingly, we recommend that Southern Baptists endorse
the principle of world federation, and work toward amending and improving
the present United Nations organization to achieve that end.
On motion of Frank Tripp, the Convention by standing vote expressed
appreciation of the work of the Committee on World Peace.