Rushbrooke did not literally mean what he said. His words imply a theory
of the war more monstrous even than that of Archbishop Carr. To punish
Europe for the sins of unbelievers has at least a genuine medieval
plausibility about it; but to send this indescribable plague on the
nations of Europe because the clergy failed to do their duty.... One
must really assume that Mr. Rushbrooke did not mean what he said, and
leave the sentence unfinished. What he meant it is impossible to
conjecture. To the religious mind "God's judgment" means a chastisement
sent by God. But, whatever Mr. Rushbrooke meant, he had been wiser to
leave the idea of God out of his comments on this war, and to say
frankly that it would bring on them and on their predecessors, on the
whole of Christianity, the judgment of man and the judgment of history
for their neglect of their opportunities.

The Rev. A. T. Guttery addressed the Council in a more cheerful mood,
and his reflections are characteristic of a large group of the clergy.
He would not for a moment allow the failure of Christianity. The
Churches had, he said, been so successful in compelling the world to
recognise the evil of aggressive warfare that even the Germans were
eager to describe their action as purely defensive. "The Pagan glory of
war for its own sake was gone." And when we acknowledge the comparative
failure of religion in Germany, and restrict our attention to the sphere
of our own clergy, we find that they have created an entirely new
spirit. The lust for territory and for gold is felt no more in England.
Here there is no mafficking over victories, there are no hymns of hate.
The British nation has been sobered by the influence of Christianity. We
may regret that the German people has not proved equally susceptible,
and its pastors equally energetic, but we cannot bear their burden.
Their naughtiness alone has disturbed the moral progress which, even in
this department, Christianity was fostering.