Editing Cosmo Gordon Lang (section)

===International and domestic politics===

[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=Interior photograph, showing in the foreground the five main signatories to the Munich Agreement, and in the background their various aides and assistants. Of the five, the two to the left are in black suits, the remainder in military uniform.|The signatories to the [[Munich Agreement]], September 1938. Lang hailed the Agreement, and called for a day of thanksgiving to God.]]
Lang often spoke in the House of Lords about the treatment of Russian Christians in the Soviet Union. He also denounced the anti-semitic policies of the German government, and he took private steps to help European Jews.<ref name= Wilk5>{{cite odnb|last= Wilkinson|first= Alan|title= (William) Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864–1945)|id=34398}} ("International Affairs" section)</ref><ref name= L381>Lockhart, pp. 381–83</ref> In 1938 he was instrumental in saving 60 rabbis from Burgenland, who would have been murdered by the Nazis had the archbishop not obtained them entry visas to England.<ref>Fuchs, Chapter 1</ref>

In 1933, having commented on the "noble task" of assisting India towards independence, he was appointed to the Joint Committee on the Indian Constitution.<ref name= L381/> He condemned the Italian invasion of [[Ethiopia|Abyssinia]] in 1935, appealing for medical supplies to be sent to the Abyssinian troops.<ref name= Wilk5/> As the threat of war increased later in the decade, Lang became a strong supporter of the government's policy of appeasing the European dictators, declaring the Sunday after the [[Munich Agreement]] of September 1938 to be a day of thanksgivings for the "sudden lifting of this cloud".<ref name= Wilk5/> Earlier that year, contrary to his former stance, he had supported the Anglo-Italian agreement to recognise the conquest of Abyssinia, because he believed that "an increase of appeasement" was necessary to avoid the threat of war.<ref>Hastings, pp. 327–28</ref> Lang also backed the government's non-intervention policy in regard to the [[Spanish Civil War]], saying that there were no clear issues that required the taking of sides.<ref name= Buch170/> He described the [[bombing of Guernica]] by the Germans and the Italians, on 26 April 1937, as "deplorable and shocking".<ref>{{cite journal|last= Street|first= Peter|title= Shockwaves from Spain|url= https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/21-april/features/features/shockwaves-from-spain-1|journal= The Church Times|date= 21 April 2017|access-date= 21 September 2017}}</ref> In October 1937 Lang's condemnation of [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Imperial Japanese Army actions in China]] provoked hostile scrutiny by the Japanese authorities of the [[Anglican Church in Japan]], and caused some in that church's leadership to publicly disassociate themselves from the [[Church of England]].{{sfn|Ion|1990|p=245}}

On the domestic front, Lang supported campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty.<ref>{{cite news|title= Parliament will be asked to abolish death penalty|work= The Independent, St Petersburg, Florida|date= 10 December 1928|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19281210&id=3KELAAAAIBAJ&pg=4664,1443550|access-date= 6 March 2011}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He upheld the right of the Church to refuse the remarriage of divorced persons within its buildings,<ref name="Lockhart, p. 378">Lockhart, p. 378</ref> but he did not directly oppose [[A.P. Herbert]]'s [[Matrimonial Causes Act 1937|Matrimonial Causes Bill]] of 1937, which liberalised the divorce laws – Lang believed  "it was no longer possible to impose the full Christian standard by law on a largely non-Christian population."<ref name="McLeod232" /> He drew criticism for his opposition to the reform of the ancient [[tithe]] system, whereby many farmers paid a proportion of their income to the Church; in the subsequent "Tithe Wars", demonstrators at [[Ashford, Kent]] ceremonially burned his effigy.<ref name="Lockhart, p. 378"/><ref>{{cite magazine|title= Foreign News: Tithe War|magazine=Time|publisher=Time Inc.|location= New York|date= 14 August 1933|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745901,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101122133957/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745901,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 22 November 2010}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
Near the end of his term in office Lang led a deputation from several church groups to the [[Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Education]], to present a five-point plan for the teaching of religion in state schools. These points were eventually embodied in the [[Education Act 1944]].<ref>Lockhart, pp. 368–69</ref>