Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1949

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 60, 7 November 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1949

CHRISTIAN POLITICS

A statement made last week at Tauranga on behalf of the Christian Frontier movement by the Hon W. E. Barnard, a past Speaker of the House of Representatives, is worthy of everyone’s attention at the present time.

Mr Barnard, with the penetration and fair-mindedness characteristic of his public pronouncements during his service in the* House, has drawn attention to the real issues at stake at the coming election and has appealed*?,(as the Beacon appealed when the campaign began) to candidates to refrain, from tedious recitals of what their adversaries has done in the past, to judge their opponents’ principles and motives as charitably as they judge their own.

Br Barnard’s statement says, in part, “The Frontier would remind all electors that jsvery generation must fight afresh the battle against selfishness and greed; that the liberty which democracy supplies must not be allowed to degenerate into the license which takes no count of the need or of the good of the community as a whole; that the great danger in Marxism is not so much in the threat of force from without, but rather in the acceptance Within the fortress of democracy of materialist ideas and ways. “In their pre-occupation with ‘Left’ and ‘Right’, the Frontier would ask men not to forget that there is an ‘Above’ and ‘Below’; that though loyalty to a class—* in a sense a development of loyalty to a family—has a necessary and admirable quality, it must never preclude the wider loyalty to the whole community and the higher loyalty to God.” Could the issues be more clearly stated? Could candidates have a better guide as to what the average citizen expects to be their ideal of service should they be elected?

Service to the whqle community,, with a constant recognition of their; duty to their God and their fellow men should make ideal legislators. The references to selfishness and greed are unfortunately very necessary, and are highlighted by later references to the fact that there are signs that the natural desire for a good standard of life is giving place to a jealous and selfish desire to prevent others from enjoying any comfort not secured for oneself. The Christian Frontier charges the successful party to rise above mere party interests and lealise their responsibility for the interests of the people as a whole. It urges them not to yield to the clamour of the most vocal groups, not to pander , to popular demands, when so doing would weaken and undermine the personal character of any citizens. It points out that devotion to duty and the common

good leaves ample room for honest differences as to ways and means.

Such a statement of such opinions is timely, and worthy _ of wide publication and serious study. That selfishness and greed logue of human frailties at one can be eliminated from the catabiow is too much to hope. But if our legislators set their faces firmly against any pandering to sectional interests, resolve firmly to frame laws for the greatest good of greatest number while remembering never to outrage the substantial and law-abiding minority, we shall have reason to be proud of the representatives' we elect. That there is such an organisation as the one Mr Barnard represents attempting to propagate the views he expresses is one of the most hopeful signs on our national horizon. Such 7 opinions, sincerely held, boldly proclaimed and courageously acted upon cannot fail to enhance the quality of our citizenship.