Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
H®P Vol XX Special Number 1968 No 2 158 (07939) a platitude^ albeit with truth in it. that the invention of modem technology have reduced the distance between continents and peoples« Mankind is one and indivisible (also by virtue of the high level of technological development )i particularly in relation to the is sue of war or peace. This new situation contains grear potentialities in regard to peace, but there is no automatic progress toward universal peace. Neither can we expect a merely mechanical solution of the problems of coexistence -which too, in our new situation, appear in their complexity, not in isolation, but in the horizon of universality. In order to make use of the available opportunities and to further the solution of the common problems of mankind, we need a new international ethos, new norm's which would suitably serve the interests of humanity and the peaceful and just order of the whole human community in a world 131) which is narked, on the one hand, by pluralism and polarisation and, on the other hand, by a trend toward uni ver sáliam« Y/e quote the el as— ■ sic formulation of v, Y/eizsaoker, the famous atomic scientist end philosopher ; "Peace is the condition of our life, but it will not arrive automatioally, neither shall we obtain automatically its really beneficent ferm« As far as we can trace back human life, there has never been world peace in the life of humanity« We are called on to do what is unparalleled in history« The history of mankind teaches us that, on one day, this unparalleled thing will become a reality« But this will not take place without extraordinary exertions, and inasmuch as we wish that peace shall be worthy cf man, these exertions must possess a moral character"«132) To define specifically the content of the new international ethos, we must say that we must respect the principle of peaceful coexistence and unfold its positive and constructive potentialities (See the chapter on peaceful coexistence)« In the nuclear age and at the time of the simultaneous existence of divergent social systems, if is the only alternative to the final catastrophe cf mankind. Peaceful coexistence is based on the recognition cf inexorable facts and hence its basic requirements can hardly be left out cf account in international life« We must nonetheless state that its principles are not yet observed in all areas and aspects cf life0 There are also tendencies which would reduce the requirement of peaceful coexistence to the most necessary tilings - thus5 for instance, to the task cf averting a full-scale nuclear confrontation or a world war. Such a tendency is, first of all, imperialism which - although it has not yet led to a world war - by successively creating crises, by causing "local" conflicts and even by causing the progressively dangerous escalation of aggressions, keeps the world "on the brink of the abyss"« This is the abuse cf the situation which has been brought about in the world by the invention cf the nuclear weapons« Another serious threat to peaceful coexistence a.nd to the just urdpea.ceful order of the future is the failure of sane to recognize the inevitable necessity of revolutionary changes in many areas cf the wer Id, who then repeatedly help to suppress these revolutionary moves by merciless interventions. The same can be said of neo-colonialism vihich, in increasingly large areas of international life and with a growing resoluteness tries to press the progressively unfolding uni ver sadism cf the world into tlx. service of
