Thoughtful Moments OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE (Supplied by the Whakatane Ministers' Association).

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 189, 5 December 1941, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE (Supplied by the Whakatane Ministers' Association).

GUARDING NEW ZEALAND The Government of New Zealand has, quite rightly, shown concern for' the guarding of the shores of New Zealand from the possibility of an enemy attack. A great deal of time, energy and money is being spent on the training and maintenance of the Home Guard. There is, however, one danger of the future welfare of New Zealand which is being greatly neglected, and is, indeed, being fostered. Neither the Government itself nor a great many of the people seem to realise that the greatest danger to our country is not in the possibility of an invasion by some enemy but the spiritual well-being of the nation. Wo. have been told over and over again that the cause for which our country is fighting is the maintenance of those Christian principles which form the basis of our democratic ideals. What is not realised, however, is the fact that the ideals cannot be maintained if the spirit that gives them life is absent., The tragedy of our day is that men give lip service to the ideals, but are not willing to accept the implications which lie behind the ideals. They cannot have the one without the other. The chief sign of this lack of appreciation that the welfare of New Zealand is bound up with the spiritual development of the people is to be seen in the encouragement given by the Government to practices which cut across Christian ethical teaching. Perhaps the outstanding example of this is the spread of gambling through the incnace of art unions. The Patriotic j Fund Board, which could not have acted without the permission of the Government, has increased and developed the so-called Art Unions until they have invaded every department of life. Gambling, as every clear thinking* citizen knows, is a vice which brings in its train other evils even worse than itself. and when these evils are encouraged in the name of patriotism the evil is multiplied. If patriotism is a virtue. it ought to be encouraged by virtuous means. But it is the very reverse of true, patriotism to encourage those acts which lead to the destruction of moral principles.

Another act of the Patriotic Fund Board in some districts is to encourage Sunday entertainments. The sanctity of the Christian sabbath was one of the principles upon which our pioneers built. Within

the last twenty years or so, it has been the Jot of successive Governments to encourage the breaking of that sanctity in many ways. Now the Patriotic Fund Board is in the name of patriotism increasing that movement away from the Christian Sunday. It is bad enough -when men and women as individuals so far forget what they owe to their Creator a& to> break the sanctions Avhich bind them to Him, but the situation becomes much more desperate when it is developed by the State, and by those whose business it should be to care for the true welfare of the community. When this is done officially in the name of patriotism, there is reason for great concern as to the future of our country. It is this refusal to conserve the ■ high principles of its Christian foundations that has made it possible for such a country as Germany to produec a Hitler. There is a word of our Lord's which is a warning to- communities ami to States aswell as to individuals: "You cannot serve God and Mammon#" Writing in the Australian Christian World the Rev. F. G. Spun says that the English Christian Sunday has slipped away. For millions it has vanished almost entirely. The thing has now become a menace. Many arc violently protesting against the broadcasting of religious addresses on Sunday. They clamour for vaudeville and music of a light character. But now wc are hearing voices of protest from unexpected quarters. Mir Winston Churchill has written strongly about the matter to the Daily Telegraph. An M.P. who for thirty years has been an official of the Trades Union Council, raises his voice against the secularisation of the Lord's Day, claiming that the Christian Sunday has done more for the working classes than all the work of the trade unions. j The greatest surprise, however, J was a radio' speech by Mr Beverley Ni.cholls, the brilliant writer and dramatist, who has been amongst the Philistines of the Wells and Julian Huxley school. Speaking to some millions of listeners he confessed that he had changed his mind with aspect to the Christian Gospel. He declared that the Sunday quiet was essential to the culture of the soul, and he urged his hearers to begin at once the habit of Church attendance. A welcome surprise indeed. A few more courageous voices like these might well set men on a new track.