– Duty and Destiny –
LIBRARY OF RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY Mark A. Noll, Kathryn Gin Lum, and Heath W. Carter, series editors Long overlooked by historians, religion has emerged in recent years as a key factor in understanding the past. From politics to popular culture, from social struggles to the rhythms of family life, religion shapes every story. Religious biographies open a window to the sometimes surprising influence of religion on the lives of influential people and the worlds they inhabited. The Library of Religious Biography is a series that brings to life important figures in United States history and beyond. Grounded in careful research, these volumes link the lives of their subjects to the broader cultural contexts and religious issues that surrounded them. The authors are respected historians and recognized authorities in the historical period in which their subject lived and worked. Marked by careful scholarship yet free of academic jargon, the books in this series are well-written narratives meant to be read and enjoyed as well as studied. Titles include: Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson by Edwin S. Gaustad Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat by James D. Bratt Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President by Allen C. Guelzo A Christian and a Democrat: A Religious Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt by John F. Woolverton with James D. Bratt For a complete list of published volumes, see the back of this volume.
Duty and Destiny The Life and Faith of Winston Churchill
– Gary Scott Smith –
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 www.eerdmans.com © 2021 Gary Scott Smith All rights reserved Published 2021 Printed in the United States of America 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ISBN 978-0-8028-7700-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Smith, Gary Scott, 1950– author. Title: Duty and destiny : the life and faith of Winston Churchill / Gary Scott Smith. Other titles: Life and faith of Winston Churchill Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020. | Series: Library of religious biography | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “An analysis of Winston Churchill’s enigmatic religious convictions, his use of biblical and religious rhetoric, and how his beliefs helped shape his objectives and policies”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020026558 | ISBN 9780802877000 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Churchill, Winston, 1874–1965—Religion. | Prime ministers—Great Britain—Biography. | Prime ministers—Religious life—Great Britain. | Christianity and politics—Great Britain. Classification: LCC DA566.9.C5 S578 2020 | DDC 941.084092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026558
To Gideon, God’s mighty warrior, who shared Churchill’s courage, tenacity, sense of adventure, and kindheartedness
Contents
Acknowledgments
xi
Abbreviations
xii
Introduction
1
1. Competing Conceptions of Churchill’s Faith “Not a Religious Man” Not a Conventional Christian Guided by a Biblical Worldview Churchill’s Powerful Sense of Destiny
9 11 12 14 16
2. Setting the Scene
19
3. Seeds of Spirituality 1874–1894
34
William Wilberforce (1759–1833) Lord Shaftesbury (1801–1885) William Gladstone (1809–1898) Lord Salisbury (1830–1903) Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) Tony Blair (1953–)
A Neglected Child Woomany’s Spiritual Influence The Impact of Boarding Schools A Pastoral Calling?
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19 21 22 24 26 28 31
34 35 36 39
Contents
4. Soldier and War Correspondent 1893–1901 & 1914–1918
41
5. Political Roles 1901–1931
57
6. The Wilderness Years 1931–1939
79
7. Statesman and Wartime Prime Minister 1940–1945
92
A Bout with Religious Skepticism Debating the Value of Missions Helbeck of Bannisdale Savrola Miraculous Escapes
Churchill as a Social Reformer Churchill as a Social Critic Churchill and Missions Churchill on the Great War Resisting the “Utter Fallacy of Socialism” Defeating the Bacillus of Communism Churchill as a Prophet “What a Disappointment the Twentieth Century Has Been” Churchill the Imperialist
The “Deepening and Darkening Danger” of Germany “Every Prophet Has to Go into the Wilderness” Churchill’s Fascination with the Jews Churchill’s Mixed Views of Islam
Safeguarding Christian Civilization A Struggle of Good versus Evil Invoking God’s Aid Hitler as the Devil Lambasting Nazism and Communism A Partnership Based on a Shared Faith Religion in Britain, 1900–1950 Churchill and Christian Politicians Churchill’s Prelates
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41 45 47 48 49
59 64 65 66 68 70 72 73 75
81 85 87 88
93 95 98 99 100 101 110 112 113
Contents
8. Cold War Warrior and Peace-Promoting Prime Minister 1945–1955
119
9. Retirement Years 1955–1965
139
Answering for the Bomb An Iron Curtain Ending the Cold War Churchill’s Religious Rhetoric, 1946–1955 The Statesman and the Evangelist
The Black Dog and the Meaning of Life “I Married and Lived Happily Ever Afterwards” Clementine’s Faith Mary Soames—My Religion is “an Unspeakable Comfort” The Bible—a Source of Inspiration, Exhortation, and Ethics Churchill’s Religious Beliefs and Practices
121 125 129 133 135
140 142 145 146 148 151
Conclusion
166
A Note on Sources
187
Notes
193
Index
239
Churchill’s Funeral—a Global Spectacle Churchill’s Character Churchill’s Use of Religious Rhetoric A Final Religious Assessment The Unrivaled Statesman of the Twentieth Century
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166 172 178 180 182
Acknowledgments
I
n writing this religious biography of Winston Churchill, I am indebted to dozens of scholars. My book builds on many excellent studies of Churchill’s life, insightful analyses of various aspects of his thought and activities, penetrating articles about his religious views, perceptive monographs about religion in Britain, stimulating biographies of British Christian politicians and prelates, and informative memoirs by his contemporaries. Two of the editors of the Library of Religious Biography series—Mark A. Noll and Heath W. Carter—provided helpful comments and constructive ideas for revision. David Bratt, my editor at Eerdmans, skillfully guided this book from its inception to its conclusion. Tom Raabe did a wonderful job copyediting my book and saved me from numerous errors. I also want to thank Linda Bieze, the project manager who shepherded my biography through the editorial and production processes, and Laura Bardolph Hubers, who handled the marketing and publicity for my book. My ability to complete this book is due in large part to my mentors at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Johns Hopkins University, especially Timothy L. Smith, and to my delightful colleagues at Grove City College and friends who teach at many other institutions. My greatest debt is to my friend Bruce Barron, who meticulously reviewed my book and provided dozens of suggestions to improve its prose and strengthen its analysis. Bruce runs marathons, including one to the top of Pikes Peak, climbs the 2,768 steps of the Manitou Incline twice as quickly as I can, trained a US Olympic speed walker, and probably walks on water. His assessment of my study was invaluable.
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Abbreviations
CC CHC CS CV
FDR PPAFDR SFT WSC
Christian Century Clementine Hozier Churchill Robert Rhodes James, ed. Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches. 8 vols. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1974. Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert. Winston S. Churchill— Companion Volumes to the Official Biography. 8 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966–1988. Franklin D. Roosevelt Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 13 vols. New York: Random House, 1938–1950. Mary Soames, ed. Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. London: Black Swan, 1999. Winston Spencer Churchill
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Introduction
T
he accolades accorded Winston Churchill are seemingly endless. He is described as almost single-handedly slaying the dragon of totalitarianism and as saving Western civilization from the diabolical plans of Adolf Hitler. As the British journal the Spectator succinctly stated when he died, “we are a free people” because of Churchill.1 Not only did this indispensable man preserve the West’s culture and institutions, but after World War II he foresaw and warned the world about the Communist menace. Numerous historians have hailed him as the greatest person of the twentieth century. In a 2002 BBC poll, Churchill was named the greatest Briton of all time, beating out William Shakespeare and Charles Darwin. His life has been the subject of numerous movies and television shows, including the BBC’s series The Crown, which began in 2016, and the motion picture Darkest Hour (2017). Public fascination with Churchill’s exploits and legacy is almost insatiable. Churchill’s gifts, interests, and accomplishments are indeed impressive. He was the closest thing to a Renaissance man in his age: a courageous soldier, talented artist, exceptional journalist, best-selling historian, celebrated author, spellbinding orator, and renowned statesman. He has also been depicted as an adventurer, internationalist, dreamer, Zionist, imperialist, big-game hunter, spy, bricklayer, sportsman, and horseman.2 Often dictating eight thousand words a day to a secretary, Churchill wrote more than eight hundred articles for magazines and newspapers, three short stories, 150 pamphlets, a movie script, and fifty books, including a novel, two biographies, three memoirs, and numerous historical surveys. He even won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature. His most notable works are his six-volume series titled The Second World War and the four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Churchill was also a consummate speechmaker whose stirring addresses -1-
Introduction lifted the morale of the British people and steeled their determination to withstand Nazi bombing blitzes and fight valiantly in the face of tremendous odds. The entire free world is indebted to his indomitable courage and brilliant strategy. After World War II ended, Churchill denounced dictators, most notably in his “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri, and helped strengthen the West’s resolve to resist the spread of Communism and to assert the moral and spiritual superiority of democracy. Churchill was elected to Parliament in 1901 and named home secretary in 1910 and first lord of the Admiralty in 1911. As the political head of the Royal Navy when World War I erupted in 1914, he was thrust upon the world stage. The failure of Anglo-French forces at Gallipoli in 1915, his decision as chancellor of the exchequer to return Britain to the gold standard in 1925 (which was a financial disaster), and his opposition to limited self-government for India discredited him. As a result, by 1931 his political career seemed to be over. Churchill’s strident opposition to Nazism during his wilderness years (1931–1939), his military experience, and his personal traits led members of Parliament to appoint him prime minister in May 1940 when they lost confidence in Neville Chamberlain. After the Nazis conquered France, Britain, in Churchill’s memorable words, “stood alone.” He mobilized both the British armed forces and public opinion to withstand Germany’s continual air bombardment and prevent a potential invasion. Although Britain had no major allies until the United States entered the war in December 1941, Churchill defiantly refused Hitler’s peace overtures, created an air defense that achieved victory in the Battle of Britain, and daringly sent most of the British army and much of its navy to combat the Axis Powers in the Middle East and northern Africa. The “British bulldog” told the House of Commons in his first speech as prime minister, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”3 But he offered much more than that. His courage, tenacity, perseverance, and moral defense of their cause helped the Allies defeat the Axis Powers. Despite his heroic leadership during the war, Churchill shockingly lost a general election in July 1945 and was replaced as prime minister. He served again as Britain’s leader from 1951 until 1955, when his poor health and clearly diminishing abilities compelled him to resign. Like other great figures in history, Churchill’s ideology, actions, and legacy are complicated and contested. As Peter Stansky argues, “every facet of Churchill’s life is marked by controversy and drama.”4 He has been viewed as both an idealist and a pragmatist, a progressive social reformer and an unapol-2-
Introduction ogetic elitist, and a defender of democracy and an advocate of imperialism. “Churchill was a patriot, a paternalist, a product of his time—and, by those standards, a progressive,” one New York Times opinion writer claims.5 He has been frequently criticized as a bloodthirsty bomber who “indiscriminately and inhumanely” murdered civilians during World War II. In addition to allegedly employing “cruel and inhumane tactics” against England’s enemies, he has been denounced as a racial bigot and an obstinate imperialist who was responsible for the starvation of three million Indians in Bengal in 1943.6 Churchill believed, as did numerous other British leaders, that God had chosen Britain to play a vital role in world history. This conviction helped justify his concept of Christian imperialism. Citing the classic arguments imperialists employed, Churchill asserted that the British Empire had brought great benefits to India and the other nations it controlled. The British had substantially upgraded the lives of subject peoples in Asia and Africa by teaching Christianity; improving morality, health, and transportation; providing education, technology, and jobs; ensuring order; and protecting the poor. Churchill’s paternalistic attitude, belief in whites’ racial superiority, and cultural imperialism were similar to those of leading advocates of the Social Gospel such as American Congregationalists Josiah Strong and Lyman Abbott and numerous American politicians, most notably Woodrow Wilson, who promoted American exceptionalism. Like Churchill, they wanted to create a Christian civilization based on Western, white, patriarchal, upper- and middle-class values. For them, Cara Lea Burnidge argues, “social stratification based on distinctions of race, class, and gender was not counter to the spirit of democracy but rather an integral part of it by providential design.”7 Driven by their understanding of the Bible, noblesse oblige, and compassion, American Social Gospelers and progressive Christian politicians strove to pass reform legislation, uplift the destitute, and promote international brotherhood. Both Britain’s and America’s exceptionalism rested on belief in their divine chosenness and was validated by their guiding principles and achievements and by God’s overriding providence. In many ways, Churchill was a creature of his age and culture; his views were widely held in the West during the first half of the twentieth century. Whereas the religious life of many American presidents has been studied in substantial detail during the last decade, the faith of British prime ministers has received much less attention. Several of them have been devout Christians, most notably William Gladstone, Lord Salisbury (Robert Arthur -3-
Introduction Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil), Stanley Baldwin, Margaret Thatcher, and Tony Blair. Because of his monumental role in twentieth-century history, Churchill’s life story has been told by numerous distinguished historians, political scientists, and journalists, including Martin Gilbert, William Manchester, Paul Johnson, and Andrew Roberts. Nearly every facet of his life has been examined and discussed. However, scholars have written little about Churchill’s religious convictions or the impact of religion on his life. This is not unusual, as academics frequently ignore the role of religion in the lives of politicians or treat it as inconsequential. Their use of religious rhetoric and their personal religious practices (i.e., church attendance, Bible reading, and prayer) are often portrayed as either irrelevant to their work or a political ploy to win votes and attain approval for themselves and their policies rather than as a genuine expression of their convictions. In making a case that it is time for the United States to put an “unapologetic atheist in the Oval Office,” Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist, uses Churchill as his prime exhibit. Boot argues that Churchill illustrates “how righteously a nonbeliever can act.” Citing biographer Andrew Roberts, Boot insists that Churchill “was a nominal Anglican” who “had no belief in God,” adding, “If atheism was good enough for Britain’s greatest prime minister, it should be good enough for a U.S. president.”8 But what Churchill actually believed is much more complicated and disputed than what Boot suggests. Most biographers have paid scant attention to the role religion played in any aspect of Churchill’s life—his upbringing, military service, work as a journalist and author, or political career. When scholars and popular writers have discussed Churchill’s religion, they have presented him in very different ways—as a traditional Anglican, a conventional Christian, a “God-haunted man,” a deist, a secularist, a skeptic, a “stalwart nonbeliever,” an agnostic, “a lifelong freethinker,” a “critic of organized religion” who possessed a “somewhat murky” religious faith, a proponent of the “Religion of Health-Mindedness,” and even a potential convert to Islam. Churchill’s faith is difficult to decipher in part because he usually kept his religious views private and personal. Churchill was not religiously devout or personally pious. At no time in his adult life did he attend church services regularly; he visited cathedrals primarily in connection with state occasions and rites of passage—baptisms, marriages, and funerals. Despite intellectual doubts about Christianity that persisted throughout his life, Churchill valued the Christian faith and frequently drew on its resources, especially when facing personal and political -4-
Introduction trials and troubles. For Churchill, as for American founders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Christianity’s message and benefits were more important than whether biblical accounts and creedal claims were literally true. In the various roles he played throughout his life, Churchill was driven by his powerful sense of duty and irrepressible belief in his personal destiny. Duty was one of Churchill’s key watchwords in dealing with Britain’s colonial empire, especially India, defeating the Nazis, and preventing the spread of communism. “With the help of God, of which we must all feel daily conscious,” Churchill asserted in June 1941, “we shall continue steadfast in faith and duty till our task is done.” Many of his other World War II speeches trumpet this same theme. Even during his most skeptical years, Churchill had a profound sense of his own destiny, but who or what he believed determined his destiny—God or fate—is ultimately unclear. 9 After he became prime minister in 1940, Churchill’s use of religious rhetoric increased substantially. Many of Churchill’s most memorable wartime speeches are laced with biblical terminology and references to God. Like his ally and friend Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was a more devout Episcopalian, Churchill framed the struggle against Nazism in scriptural terms. Some authors suggest that he did so because the urgency and bleakness of Britain’s situation evoked a deeper faith within him, whereas others insist that he was simply using language that many Britons expected, understood, and found motivating and comforting. The faith of many political leaders becomes stronger in times of crisis, and Churchill’s unconventional faith grew deeper during the dark days of World War II. He accentuated God’s providence, insisted that God supported the Allied cause, and drew upon the Christian experiences of his youth. Like Roosevelt, he described the conflict with the Axis Powers as a contest between light and darkness. In the final analysis, Churchill’s faith is an enigma. Like most people, he professed stronger faith at some times (typically in periods of distress and danger) than at others. Churchill clearly believed that he was destined to make a difference in the world, and he often attributed this to God’s direction. Drawing on the resources of Christianity, he played a decisive role in saving “Christian civilization” from the onslaught of both Nazism and Communism. The story of Churchill’s faith, like that of his life, is complex, colorful, and compelling. The chapters that follow analyze Churchill’s religious beliefs and practices, -5-
Introduction his use of biblical and religious rhetoric, and how his religious convictions may have influenced his objectives and policies. Chapter 1 evaluates the conflicting interpretations of Churchill’s religious views. Chapter 2 examines the most devout Christian British prime ministers and members of Parliament— William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper), William Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, Stanley Baldwin, Margaret Thatcher, and Tony Blair—to provide a context for Churchill’s religious views, practices, and rhetoric. Chapter 3 portrays the spiritual foundation laid during the first eighteen years of Churchill’s life by his nanny Elizabeth Everest, his education at three boarding schools, and his attendance at worship services of the Church of England and his confirmation in that denomination. Chapter 4 describes Churchill’s reassessment of his religious convictions in his early twenties, while he was serving as a soldier and war correspondent, and his religious experiences while a battalion commander for the British army in France during World War I. During his military service in India, Churchill became a religious skeptic by reading the challenges to Christianity posed by William Winwood Reade’s Martyrdom of Man, William Lecky’s Rise and Influence of Rationalism, and other philosophical, scientific, and historical works. Nevertheless, Churchill prayed fervently during battlefield crises, and his seemingly “miraculous” escapes from death in Cuba, North Africa, the Boer War, and World War I convinced him that God, fate, or destiny had a special role for him to play in history. Chapter 5 analyzes how Churchill’s religious views affected his work in the various political positions he held from 1901 to 1931. It assesses Churchill’s political philosophy, which strove to balance his reverence for law, tradition, and social class with an understanding of and compassion for the underdog and the downtrodden. Churchill argued that Christianity was crucial to the development of civilization and applauded its advancement throughout the British Empire, especially in his address at the 1908 London Missionary Conference. Chapter 6 examines Churchill’s so-called wilderness years of 1931–1939, during which the future prime minister, although still a member of Parliament, was denied a leadership position by his own party. During these years, this neglected prophet warned about the Nazi threat and the dangers of technology; he also wrote an intriguing essay titled “Moses: The Leader of a People” that provides insights into his religious beliefs. Moreover, this chapter considers
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Introduction Churchill’s understanding of Islam and Judaism and his relationship with Muslims and Jews. Chapter 7 evaluates the impact of Churchill’s religious convictions on his work as prime minister during World War II. It focuses on Churchill’s sense of divine destiny; his quest to save “Christian civilization”; his relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, especially the worship service they held on HMS Prince of Wales off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941 and their attendance at a New Year’s Day worship service at Christ’s Church in Alexandria, Virginia; and Churchill’s use of scriptural and religious rhetoric in many of his key speeches. To provide a context for the analysis, this chapter also describes religious conditions in Great Britain during the first half of the twentieth century and the role religion played in British political life. Finally, it discusses Churchill’s relationships with Christian politicians and key church leaders during the war. Chapter 8 assesses Churchill’s work from 1945 to 1955 as a Cold War warrior and a peacetime prime minister, focusing primarily on his perspective on the use of nuclear weapons and efforts to promote détente with the Soviets and world peace. Chapter 9 describes his retirement years from 1955 to 1965 and analyzes his expressed beliefs about God, providence, Jesus, the Bible, humanity, morality, sin, salvation, and the afterlife. After describing Churchill’s funeral, the conclusion discusses competing views of Churchill’s character, political policies, and accomplishments. It also considers why he employed biblical and religious language and offers a final assessment of his faith and life.
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