Dear Cynthia O’Neil, of past Hillgrove fame near Oxford, has made a
courageous come-back regardless of much sickness and invalidity. Like
myself, she believes that God is with her as she bravely speaks out for
our animal brethren. Indeed, this time she has not only inaugurated a
nurses fellowship to oppose vivisection – see:
www.nmrm.org which means: Nurses Movement For Responsible
Medicine.
But she has also
highlighted to me the drab condition of war memorials for animals and
pigeons. The photo appended is of Cynthia on Armistice Day this year,
at the memorial near Hyde Park. Indeed, Cynthia struggled in her
disablement to get to the site. She waited and prayed for those innocent
creatures that had been goaded in to two past World Wars; and how many
more activists were there to join her as it struck eleven? No more than
two others who were also, obviously, very dedicated and compassionate.
Well, I know this that ‘God Willing’, there’ll be a special service at
the site next year because I’ll be down there myself . Yes, to join Dear
Cynthia – and I trust, many more! – and to ask God for forgiveness
concerning the thousands of animals that suffered through man’s
instigation of unjust warfare.
Cynthia remembers, and later two more remembered! Cynthia was there
alone for a full
hour. Where were the
Forces, the padres and – sad to say it! – the local animal activists?
The Christian churches
hardly ever recovered after the 1914-18 war. I learned from war
veterans, first hand, how even the occupants of the pulpits had endorsed
‘to the hilt’ the notorious placards of Kitchener, with the words:
‘your country needs you!’ Need one wonder that the very cream of
the nation who survived then turned their backs on the so-called leaders
of Christianity? The fact is that during such an era the voice and
authority of the various church leaders held tremendous moral sway; yet
they came across, in Isaiah’s words, ‘as dumb dogs that cannot bark’.
Yes, anthropocentric jellyfish; with apologies to the latter!.
During both the First and
Second World Wars, which our politicians plunged us in to, the church
hierarchies could have intervened in the name of Jesus Of Nazareth who
said: ‘Love your enemies!’ But instead, they proved shamelessly
mute; And certainly in the latter war with Germany, none proved as
shameless as Pope Pius the 12th. For had he commanded
that the Catholics of Germany and Britain - and their respective allies
- must love one another, and must consider war between them as nothing
less than mortal sin – then the church of which he was pontiff would
have been as a heaven sent beacon, or a ‘city set on a hill to which all
nations would have been drawn’. Instead, he had already been responsible
for signing a concordat with Hitler - and his leading henchmen. Yet -
quite amazingly - there have been Catholics in this present decade who
have eagerly sought to bring about canonisation – sainthood! – for this
person they even now still proudly refer to as a past ‘Vicar Of Christ!’
Mind you, ‘let not the
frying pan call the kettle black!’, for how many of us – excepting many
Salvationists, all Jehovah Witnesses and Quakers! – would be willing to
stand by and let our children, wives and fellow humans be butchered or
raped if it were in our power by force or arms to stop it? Indeed, if
the average citizen will not intervene to stop defenceless creatures
from being ‘led as a lamb to the slaughter’ because it could be contrary
to the law of the land, such citizens are hardly ever likely to ‘fight
in defence’ of humans. Yet, as a great man of insight stated: ‘As long
as there are slaughterhouses there will also be battlefields’. How true!
Yes, indeed, we must never instigate war. We must love our enemies and
be aware of the fact that: ‘he who takes up the sword will perish by
the sword’. However, Jesus surely equally implied that His followers
needed to defend themselves as well as the defenceless and vulnerable:
‘Let him that has not got a sword go out and buy one!’ Sadly,
far too many, pick out certain sayings of Jesus while they conveniently
ignore other ones. ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing’ and this is
never truer than in quoting the holy scriptures of Christendom.
And as for breaking lower laws that relate to property so as to fulfil
laws relating to charity, we have Jesus Himself, desecrating laws
relating to the former as well as to established religion, For one
example: in order to liberate defenceless pigeons and oxen from ritual
slaughter, He cleansed the temple! Therefore, in a very practical sense,
the ones who come closest to following His example today are - in my
mind – many of the dedicated animal liberationists; and I salute them!
Somehow, I feel sure that if Jesus of Nazareth were with us in the flesh
today, then He’d chose a balaclava in preference to any Canterbury cap,
biretta or mitre!
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