“I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or indirectly, will I sanction or support another.”

— Harry Emerson Fosdick

Armistice sermon The Unknown Soldier (preached Sunday 12 November 1933, immediately following Armistice Day), published in The Secret of Victorious Living (1934); also in I Renounce War : The Story of the Peace Pledge Union (1962) by Sybil Morrison. The sermon inspired Canon Dick Sheppard to write a letter to the press in 1934, leading to the founding of the Peace Pledge Union.

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Harry Emerson Fosdick 40

American pastor 1878–1969

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