ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to understand and to scrutinize the ecclesiastical activity within the realm of the study of politics and foreign policy, not theology or ethics, although it necessarily traverses such boundaries. It aims to establish why and in what measure religious leaders, ideas and practices can be conceived as possessing political power in western liberal societies in general and Canada in particular, in what is widely assumed to be a secular age. In December 1982, the leaders of several major Canadian churches met with Prime Minister Trudeau for the first time to articulate their concerns. The chapter describes the central defense-related themes, assumptions, moral judgments and policy alternatives revealed in the pronouncements of major Canadian denominations and inter-church organizations. It examines at least some of the sources—international and national—of peace activist critique of defense policy. The chapter explores the apparent tension between what might be called globalist and nationalist thrusts in the churches' statements.
