The Rise and Fall (and Resilience) of the Peace Movement Among Presbyterians and the United Church in the Interwar Years, 1919-1939

Abstract

The post-war years were uncertain and filled with angst. Nations clashed, democracies fumbled, and economies struggled. The Western world was in perpetual crisis, and countless book titles with words such as “decline,” “decadence,” “catastrophe,” and “sickness” expressed the sense of uncertainty and alarm for the future. Long held views on economics, morals, art, politics, and religion were in flux, including views related to war. Canadians were not immune to the uncertainty, and, during the interwar years, Presbyterians and United Church members (and, for a brief time, Methodists) experienced a dramatic shift in discourse surrounding war, and radical revisions were proposed as ways forward in a war-torn world. During and immediately after the Great War those denominations were – at least in their public statements – firmly in the just war tradition. However, throughout the twenties and thirties an increasing number grew disenchanted with notions of a “just war” and were quite vocal in advocating against supporting any war for any reason. Others, though, were not as enamoured with pacifist notions. The outbreak of war yet again in 1939 was met with a unified just war response by the Presbyterian Church of Canada (PCC), but the United Church of Canada (UCC) was deeply divided over support for the war. This paper explores the trajectory of and motives for that fluidity between the two world wars (1919-1939), as well as identifying the