The Editor, Friday 08 May 2020

7 minute read

Today, 08 May 2020, marks 75 years since the end of World War Two in Europe.

At 3pm on 08 May 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced over the radio that the war had come to an end following the surrender of Germany the day before. Victory in Europe (VE) Day, as it came to be known, saw throngs of people pouring out into the streets of towns and cities across Britain and the United States to celebrate.

It was the end of a bloody six year conflict, the like of which the world had never seen and hopefully will never see again. In the struggle against Hitler’s Nazi regime, millions of soldiers and citizens from numerous nations payed the ultimate price. Among the dead were six million Jews, ethnic minorities and others deemed ‘inferior’, exterminated in Nazi death camps.

In May 1945 the war in the Pacific still raged on and it would be some months before fighting ceased altogether. However, the source of the conflict, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi high command, were overcome. On 30 April, Hitler had killed his dog and then committed suicide along with his new wife Eva Braun. Today, the spot where his body lay is concreted over and unmarked, that no shrine be attributed to him.

This morning, Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland observed two minutes silence for those who gave their lives in pursuit of this great victory. Amazingly, there are still veterans of the conflict alive today – the silence was also a tribute to them.

“In the struggle against Hitler’s Nazi regime, millions of soldiers and citizens from numerous nations payed the ultimate price”

As we mark the sacrifice of those who died and who still live, we also mark the abiding values that the Allies fought for in WW2. 

Hitler’s Germany was built on hatred, bigotry, racism, greed and corruption. The Nazi’s believed the Aryan race to be superior. They sought to ‘purify’ Germany by exterminating Jews, Gypsies, the disabled, the mentally ill and other vulnerable groups. Hitler ruled with an iron fist, suppressing the German people, demanding all-out-control and obedience to the state and exalting himself to the place of a God. He crushed academic, religious and philosophical freedom, and extended the tendrils of Nazism into every sphere of public life, demanding complete assimilation to its warped ideology.

Nazism was at its core atheistic, holding the fascist state to be the highest authority, and demanding that religious institutions submit to it. It is well-noted that Hitler admired Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century philosopher who held that there are no rules for human life, no absolute values or certainties on which to rely. It is easy to see why, with this outlook, the Nazis operated in the way that they did.

The Allies, men and women of free nations, opposed this evil. They rose against the subjugation of the German people, the murder of innocents, the death of liberty – the shaking of the Nazi fist against God. Their values were apposite to Nazism, and these values won the day. It’s worth reflecting on what they were, and are to this day.

In 1948, in the wake of the Second World War, the values of the Allies were enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Amongst other things, this document affirms the inherent dignity of all human beings, the right to life, liberty and security, freedom of thought, religion and expression. It opposes slavery, torture, and unjust treatment at the hand of the state or any other person. It is still the cornerstone of our liberties in the UK today. A full summary can be accessed here.

“The Allies rose against the subjugation of the German people, the murder of innocents, the death of liberty – the shaking of the Nazi fist against God”

The value system described in the UDHR reflected that which was in place in many Western democracies before the Second World War. However, the value system was not merely the product of their democracy. Its roots lie in the Judaeo Christian history of Europe.

Before Christianity, there was the Roman Empire – hardly famed for its beneficence. It too enshrined Emperors as Gods and demanded subservience to them. Disobedience to the Emperor was met with unthinkable cruelty. The advent of Christianity brought a recognition – albeit imperfectly – that there is a higher authority, God, to whom the state must submit.

The Bible teaches that all men and women are created ‘Imago Dei’, in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Each human being, from life to natural death, is imbued with an inherent dignity and is worthy of respect. Christianity provides a coherent moral framework for societies, commending righteousness, justice and peace, and opposing evil – murder, theft, adultery, greed, hatred and abuse. The Bible sets out in detail the pattern for human life in work, relationships and families set out by the creator. In doing so, it establishes how earthly societies may flourish and prosper. When states act in step with the Bible’s moral values, societies are blessed.

“When states act in step with the Bible’s moral values, societies are blessed”

Of course, true societal change is never truly achieved by a mere political or philosophical adherence to the Bible. True change comes when sinful men and women repent and follow Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ effects heart change and results in a new outlook where human beings can live in step with God. True faith compels men and women to live out justice and righteousness and oppose wrongdoing in whichever sphere God calls them to serve. Christian men and women are behind many of the great societal changes of past centuries – the abolition of the slave trade and the civil rights movement to name just two.

On this anniversary of VE Day Salann marks the abiding Christian values of the West. Long may our Governments, at Holyrood and Westminster, uphold these. And we pray that God would be pleased to bring revival, effecting true change in our society for decades to come.