When a group of theologians in Germany published a manifesto seeking to justify the actions of the German government, Davidson was ready to respond. At the government's request he took the lead in collaborating with a large number of other religious leaders, including some with whom he had differed in the past, to write a rebuttal of the Germans' contentions. But unlike some of his colleagues in the Church, Davidson, in Bell's words, "felt the horror of war too keenly to indulge in anti-German rhetoric". As "The Times" put it, "He was never betrayed into the wild denunciations and hysterical approval of war to which some ecclesiastics gave utterance". He donated to a fund to help Germans and Austro-Hungarians in Britain, where they were classed as enemy aliens.