For God, King, and Country: The Canadian Churches and the Great War, 1914-1918

Abstract

Canada in the early twentieth century was a profoundly religious nation, with nearly 95 percent of the population identifying as Christians. The churches were important nation-building institutions, active in social welfare and education, but they also played a more intimate role in the lives of Canadians, determining moral values, providing social gathering points, and offering emotional and spiritual support in difficult times. Throughout the Great War (1914-1918), the churches continued to fulfill these important functions, providing an ideological framework that helped people make sense of the war, understand their duties as both Canadians and Christians, and cope with the sacrifices required of them. This dissertation examines the four major Canadian denominations (Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, and Anglicanism) in French- and English-speaking Canada. It looks first to establish the varying justifications offered for the war by the churches before using them to contextualize the variety of activities undertaken on behalf of the war effort, activities which included prayer and considerable charitable giving in addition to military service. It then examines the difficult final years of the war. In 1917, as conscription divided English and French Canada over the extent of the commitment to the overseas war effort, differing ideas of imperialism, internationalism, and the division between the moral and the political brought conflict both within and between denominations. Finally, an attempt is made to consider how the churches played a role in mourning the war-dead and imbuing the hoped-for peace with a meaning sufficient to justify the immense sacrifices. By using the churches as an interpretive model, this dissertation adds nuance to the Canadian historiography of the Great War, looking beyond the military effort to the experiences of the home front. It also looks to bring together the histories of French and English Canadians, showing the ways in which French-speaking Catholics supported the war in their own way and illuminating some of the conflicting interpretations of the war held by otherwise supportive English-speaking Canadians.