The United Church of Canada: A History

Chapter Three - The United Church and the Second World War

57 Chapter Three The United Church and the Second World War Ian McKay Manson Moderators 1938–40 Rev. John W. Woodside 1940–42 Rev. Aubrey S. Tuttle 1942–44 Rev. J.R.P. Sclater 1944–46 Rev. Jesse H. Arnup Women’s Missionary Society Presidents 1939–42 Mrs. L.F. Stephens 1942–43 Mrs. Frank J. Day 1944–45 Mrs. A. Roger Self Key Reports, Statements, and Actions of General Council 1939 General Council sub-executive speaks against “A Witness against the War” 1942 General Council declines to support conscription 1943 Publication of John Dow’s This Is Our Faith 1945 Launching of “Crusade for Christ and His Kingdom” Demography 1941 Number of persons under pastoral care: 1,737,186 UCC membership: 2,208,658 Population of Canada: 11,506,6551 In the small farming community of Domain, Manitoba, where I was raised, the annual Remembrance Day Sunday service held in the local United Church was one of the holiest occasions of the year. On those days, the service began as a procession of veterans, including my dad, dressed in grey flannel pants and navy-blue Legion blazers, marched down the centre aisle and filed into the front pews. The music for the day was solemn, a minute of silence was observed, and the sanctuary became eerily quiet as a Legionnaire read the names of those from our community who had fought and died during the two world wars. As I looked around the packed sanctuary and watched some of my adult neighbours become visibly shaken at the mention of a brother, uncle, cousin, or friend who never returned home, I understood that war was a painful, costly, albeit sometimes necessary business. I now realize that the tone of those Remembrance Day services during the 1960s and 1970s accurately reflected the spirit with which the United Church approached the Second World War.“With the onset of another great war, our church was sobered,” recalled long-time Board of Evangelism and Social Service secretary J.R. Mutchmor.2 When war was declared in September 1939, memories of the First World War were still vivid, and the advent of European conflict once again raised the haunting spectre that a new generation ’s best and brightest would be slaughtered. While some younger Canadians hoped the war would provide more opportunities for employment and adventure than had been available during the Great Depression, many older citizens feared that only more sorrow would result. These concerns were well founded. During the Second World War, 1,086,343 Canadian men and women served full time in the army, navy, and air force, and 42,042 lost their lives.3 While some surviving soldiers recalled the events of those years with fondness, countless others returned home with physical and emotional scars that never fully healed. Many of the men and women who kept the home fires burning also endured significant hardships . News that a loved one was killed or missing in action was devastating. A great number of couples faced lengthy periods of separation, and many relationships dissolved under the stress. Supplies of gasoline, meat, and sugar were tightly rationed, families were instructed to plant large gardens and recycle anything containing metal, and consumer goods such as refrigerators and cars became unavailable. Of course, not every change that took place during those years was negative . Long-suffering Prairie farmers could finally sell their wheat at excellent prices, and demand for the country’s lumber, ore, and fish dramatically increased.As a steady stream of Canadian men signed up for armed service, 58 I A N M C K A Y M A N S O N thousands of women had the opportunity to fill the factory and office jobs that men had traditionally occupied.Wages increased, and many Canadians had more disposable income than ever before.4 However, as the casualty lists lengthened, the war’s trials and challenges became increasingly apparent. As most United Church members were of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, they believed that Canada had a responsibility to defend Britain and defeat Hitler, whatever the cost. So they looked to their church to support them and their country through these perilous times. As historian John Webster Grant observed, the United Church approached the war with a “sober determination to finish a messy but necessary job.”5 The Theological Basis of the United Church’s Responses The United Church’s approach to the war...