It has often been called "the last good war." Most people who lived through the Second World War drew a straight and clear line between the side that was right and the side that was wrong. Evidence was easy to come by. Germany and Japan were the guilty aggressors: totalitarian, expansionist, evil. America and its allies, with the exception of Russia, were the innocent defenders: democratic, peaceful, good. There was little doubt in the minds of most Americans about the justice of their cause.

World War II was the kind of war that the American churches could have supported without reservation. Clearly the United States was above blame, or so it was assumed at the time. It had avoided belligerency and, until 1940, lagged behind in military preparation. It had tried to remain neutral and refrained from practicing brinkmanship. It took a Pearl Harbor to force the nation to fight. Never had America been pushed so relentlessly toward war. Never had America been so slow to respond. the churches, then, had every reason to be singlemindedly patriotic. Considering their record in other wars, such patriotism would have been the expected response.

It was surely the response of the vast majority of Americans. Business leaders, journalists, entertainers, and politicians did not hesitate to proclaim America's innocence, extol its virtues, and denounce the enemy. They only reinforced the pressure put upon Christians in general and church leaders in particular to give unquestioning and uncritical support to America's war . . .