A Disciples of Christ minister, Kirby Page (1890-1957), proved a most effective and vigorous leader in rallying the churches behind the cause for peace.
[7] He supported to some extent, the outlawry of war movement, led by men such as Salmon Levinson, John Dewey, Charles Clayton Morrison, Senator William E. Borah and Raymond Robins, but argued that it would remain an insufficient unilateral action without international organizations for enforcement and cooperation.
[8] He supported the League of Nations and the World Court, but with reservations, recognizing their limitations in a context of the rival military industrial empires.
"[citation needed] He declares: "As long as ministers and laymen labor under the delusion that contemporary Christianity is the same religion that Jesus practiced, they will remain immunized against his way of life and will lack the vision."
He maintained that historically the peaceful message of Christ was distorted into a religion of war by Constantine the Great, by the Crusades, and by the Church being deeply embedded in the medieval feudal system.
"[9] In 1933 Page warned that due to the economic collapse from the depression; fascism, anarchy and communism were looming on the horizon, and recommended that capitalism be replaced by democratic socialism.
It is my contention that the present generation of religious leaders, with conspicuous exceptions, have been afflicted with the same ethical obtuseness which caused our forefathers to sanction slavery, serfdom, and tyranny.
[10]Kirby Page believed that true Christians should work tirelessly, not only for faith in, but in active social progress toward, the Kingdom of God on earth.
His convictions rested on the belief that man, as a child of God, must work toward developing his inherently good nature as revealed by the life of Jesus.
[1] Working as a community or family of God, man must "lay hold of spiritual resources and relieve human misery, transform unjust social systems, gain vision and serenity through silence ... and run risks.