From Mr Symon Hill
Sir, - Well done to the Church Times for covering the
overlooked topic of conscientious objectors in the First World War
(Features, 31 October). As
Tim Wyatt rightly points out, there were at least 16,000 British
conscientious objectors in that war. They were not alone. The
semi-illegal anti-war newsletter The Tribunal had 100,000
readers in 1916. There were also anti-war movements in Germany and
elsewhere.
Your reporter perhaps overstates the extent to which
conscientious objection has since been recognised. He states:
"Today, even volunteer soldiers have the right to change their
minds, become conscientious objectors, and be discharged."
This is true in theory. In practice, as the group Forces Watch
points out, there is considerable evidence that most British
soldiers are unaware of this right, and many more are pressurised
not to exercise it. Michael Lyons, a member of the Navy, spent
several months in a military prison in 2011 after his application
for discharge on grounds of conscientious objection was
rejected.
While we no longer have physical conscription in the UK, our
money is conscripted through taxes that fund the sixth highest
military budget in the world. Our minds are conscripted through
constant pressure to idolise the armed forces. Our very language is
conscripted, as words such as "defence" are twisted into euphemisms
for war.
If more people in Britain, Germany, and elsewhere had refused to
fight a hundred years ago - and if churches had supported them -
they could have stopped the Great War. Now, as then, the first step
to stopping war is to refuse to be part of it.
SYMON HILL
19 Thayer Street
London W1U 2QH
From the Revd Geoffrey F. Squire
Sir, - For as long as I can remember, the service at the end of
the annual Festival of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall was one
of great dignity, which brought that rather grand and colourful
event to its climax. The processional cross was carried in by a
server, and he was accompanied by two acolytes, and there was a
robed choir and a banner.
Now all that has changed. We now have a soldier walking in
glorious isolation, carrying the processional cross, which is as
inappropriate as a server carrying in the Union flag. The acolytes
have been eliminated, as have the robed choir and banner, and the
clergy now wear a mismatch of purple stoles and hood and scarf.
Apart from the fact that this is now an undignified muddle for
such a grand occasion, it means that two groups of people, robed
choir and servers, have been totally eliminated, just as other
groups present have been broadened in their inclusiveness.
I used to encourage young servers to observe this dignified but
simple bit of liturgy, but not any more. In fact, after seeing that
service on the television, a young server telephoned me to ask me
whether I knew what had happened, but I have not the slightest
idea.
GEOFFREY SQUIRE
Little Cross, Northleigh Hill
Goodleigh, Barnstaple
Devon EX32 7NR
From the Revd Alan W. Wright
Sir, - My wife, my son, and I were at the Tower of London ("Drowning in a sea of
poppies", Comment, 7 November) on the day to which the Revd
Bertrand Oliver refers: the Thursday of half-term week. This was
the day before the barriers were erected. Although it was very
difficult physically to get around (we had walked over Tower Bridge
and so perhaps got a better view than some), it was obvious that
the scene wasn't some mass-hysteria, mawkish,
"must-see-at-all-costs" event such as there has been in times past
-I think of the days that followed the death of Diana, Princess of
Wales. There was a sense of wonder and awe at the enormity of the
scene; individual battles gave rise to many deaths, but only seen
as an entirety does the cost of war become apparent.
Many have decried the immediate disinstallation of the poppies,
but the whole is a living work of art; the dispersing of the
ceramic flowers to individual homes represents the individual homes
from which those who perished came. I notice that 11 November 2018
- the centenary of the signing of the Armistice - falls on a
Sunday. Perhaps that can be a suitable occasion for a similar but
permanent memorial.
ALAN W. WRIGHT
1 Birchdale, Barton-upon-Humber
North Lincolnshire DN18 5ED