ABSTRACT
British spiritualists had been able to ignore the practical problem of war until 1914. During the later part of the nineteenth century the minor colonial wars in which this country had been engaged had not aroused much attention among spiritualists. Spiritualists were in theory against war and violence, as these were contrary to their belief in the brotherhood of man. Killing in any circumstances is murder in the view of Spiritualism, since it ends a man’s earthly life prematurely. Killing the body cannot of course destroy the soul, but it is to be condemned for three reasons. In the first place the earth life is an important aspect of the whole life of spirit, a period in which the soul has important lessons to learn and consequently not a period of existence that should be cut short either by others or by the individual himself. Suicide is thus condemned as well as murder.
