Concerning Chaplains

Many are the men of God who are famed and glad for their ministrations to men of War. Last week Col. Julian E. Yates of Washington, chief of U. S. Army chaplains, went to hear a Lenten sermon at Washington's First Congregational Church. Minister of that church is rugged, cheery Dr. Jason Noble Pierce, himself a Wartime chaplain, presidential pastor during the Coolidge administration. But Dr. Pierce was away; occupying his pulpit was Dr. Peter Ainslie of the Christian Temple, Baltimore.

Chief Chaplain Yates sat in a pew directly under Dr. Ainslie, who preached on the subject: "If the Jews Killed Jesus,

Have the Christians Accepted Him?" Strongly Dr. Ainslie deplored War, deplored the fact that the Church should play any part in it, chose the circumstances of the World War to point his utterances. Suddenly Chief Chaplain Yates was astounded to hear Dr. Ainslie remark: "There is no more justification for being a chaplain in the Army or Navy than there is for being a chaplain in a speakeasy!'

When the service was over, Chief Chaplain Yates sped to his office, composed an answer, a rebuke. But as he wrote his ire diminished. He did nothing with what he had written. "I got my sentiments off my chest," he later explained, "and upon more sober reflection did not deem it necessary to add my voice to that of Dr. Pierce other than orally."

The voice of Dr. Pierce was lifted as soon as he heard of the incident. It took the form of a forthright but courteous open letter to Dr. Ainslie. Excerpts: "I cherish such high admiration for you personally and for your noble efforts to promote the spirit of religious unity that it grieves me to be compelled to differ from you. . . . In my judgment, you have insulted your country, insulted the churches of the U. S. and insulted en masse the chaplains of the Army and Navy. . . . [The U. S. and the churches] did not want the War, did not start the War, were powerless to prevent the War, but once drawn in ... prayed and fought for victory and peace. . . . You have no right to ignore underlying moral issues and to fail to distinguish between the will for peace which characterizes America and the will for war which has animated other parts of the world. . . . I know a great number of chaplains. . . . I do not know of one who does not hate war, who does not hope for the outlawry of war, who does not work and pray for peace."

Dr. Ainslie was quick to reply. He stated he would not have broached the subject of chaplaincy had he known of Dr. Pierce's service. But he did not renege. Said he: "I have no hard words for those who took part in past wars, other than to express my general condemnation of war. My father was a Negro slaveholder in Virginia, but I do not have to uphold Negro slavery in order to revere his memory. I condemn Negro slavery and I condemn war, and particularly do I condemn the churches for furnishing chaplains for an institution that my government has outlawed." Inviting Dr. Pierce to preach a return sermon in Baltimore, he concluded : "I assure you that there will be a hospitable mind both on my part and the part of my people, even though you discuss the moral aims of the last war and a place in the Army for chaplains, from which we may differ, but we will have the satisfaction of having heard the other side. For there are two sides to all questions."

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