PEACE PLANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1942, Page 4

PEACE PLANS

METHODIST ATTITUDE PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS. REPORT SUBMITTED TO CONFERENCE. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Ten principles and standards for the ordering of international life to obtain a righteous and secure peace were summarised by the peace committee in a report presented to the Methodist conference in Wellington yesterday. “The root causes of war, the committee said, “are the failure of men to recognise the authority of God, to acknowledge the sacredness and worth of men as children of God, and to accept Christian belief and Christian morals as the basis of civilisation. Such failure has produced secondary causes of war which include economic systems based on motives of gain and selfish monopolies over the bounties of nature. . . “We regard the five peace points enunciated by Pope Pius XII as acceptable basic principles for the orders ing of international life, but with them we would associate five standards approved by church leaders jn England by which economic situations and proposals may be tested, believing that such Christian principles and standards are a true basis on which a lasting peace may be established. The ten principles and standards may be thus summarised: The assurance of life and independ-j ence and equality of rights for all nations.

All round disarmament ensuring to the nations deliverance from the tyranny of material force. An international institution to guarantee fulfilment of agreed conditions and for revising the peace settlement. Removal of incentives to violent action and adequate attention to the needs and demands of nations, of populations and of racial minorities. The development among the peoples of a sense of responsibility which weighs human statutes according to thd standard of the law of God.

Extreme inequality in wealth and possessions should be abolished. Every child should have equal opportunities of education suitable for the development of his peculiar capacities.

The family as a social unit must be safeguarded. The sense of a Divine vocation must be restored to man’s daily work. The resources of the earth should be used as God's gift to the whole human race and used with due consideration for the needs of the present and future generations. The report was received and will be sent for full consideration to May synods and men’s fellowships.