Thursday, September 3, 2020

H. Verlan Andersen on the topic of War

 

H. Verlan Andersen (1914-1992), as with myself, was strongly anti-war and only believed war was justified within a framework of what one would call a "just war theory." I rarely discuss politics on this blog except for making reference to my opposition to infanticide/abortion, but I am a Libertarian, just for those curious.

 

Writing during World War II, Andersen wrote the following about the topic of war in his personal writings:

 

Wars

 

Should hate replace faith in an ideal as a driving force toward winning the war? Would we not find ourselves engaged in another world war at some future date if we fail to find tolerance in our heart for our enemies and a helpful attitude toward the solution of their problems?

 

What statesman is there today who will say that hate, jealousy and the spirit of revenge at the peace table at the close of the last war are not directly contributing factors to the present struggle? What man is there who has studied the events leading up to this conflict who will deny that national selfishness, which is the result of individual selfishness, is not also a major cause?

 

Who among us can point an accusing finger at the John Doe of Germany and say I would have done differently had I been born a German? I would have withstood the Nazis’ attempt to indoctrinate me with their creed. I would not have gone to school and believed their false history books. I would not have listened to their radio broadcasts. I would not have read their newspaper. I would not have believed the Nazis, whose methods have deadly efficiency and a scientific approach.

 

You and I may thank God that our forefathers were imbued with a faith in their ideals strong enough to cause them to seek religious freedom in America. We may be thankful that we still possess that freedom to search for truth so that we may act and think without bias.

 

The urge of necessity and the extremities to which man is forced in this era of violent change should be the means of exacting from him his great contributions to humanity. The existing candidates should be able to make plain the necessity of faith in correct principles.

 

As individuals may we see to it that we evaluate properly the gospel of Jesus Christ as a guide in the solution of social problems. May we renew our faith in the necessity for religion not only in the lives of others but in our own lives. (Personal Notes,//1943)

 

We are today witnessing a conflict, the magnitude of which has never been equaled as far as we know. Millions of men are opposing each other in a struggle to the death. It is strange to know that man in his knowledge could bring himself to engage in such wanton destruction of life and property. No one man has a personal quarrel with a single opponent in the other armed camp nor even with the mass of men who are his opponents. His fight is against the ideas for which his opponents stand. It is a war of ideals. Each soldier possesses a faith in the superiority of his own way of life, a way of life which he feels called upon to preserve.

 

This is but to further demonstrate the tremendous power of faith in men’s lives, that type of faith which moves men to supreme effort and brings out the potentialites found in man in a degree unattainable in any other way. Man’s desire for wealth, his thirst for glory and approval of his fellows, his quest for security, all of these incentives fall into insignificance as a driving force when compared with the power and will to action produced in man through his faith.

 

If faith can become such a power in a man’s life, how essential it is that man possess a faith in a true philosophy of life. How necessary that such faith will inspire man to righteous living. How regrettable if the ordinary man must become engaged in a destructive way to preserve his freedom before such an exalted faith can become effective in his life. (Personal Notes,//1944) (Teachings of Elder H Verlan Andersen [Defending Utah, 2020], 270-71)