RELIGIOUS BELIFE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16423, 17 January 1919, Page 2

RELIGIOUS BELIFE.

TO THE EDITOR OF "TBI MOSS." c: r _T prav that some abler pen than • , n to vou regarding t>u> mine mas j to-day's issue of tho heading "Mili>our . t seenks to mo that — to jCM* S, I' does ?r in some measurt, r p„ r i ,• '• hich 1 am referring runs thus •'Thi l?onrd will concern itself only with icligious roisons lor objecting to serve No scruples based on any other ground "than thlt of rehgion can undo r i'" An, v »»" Strict the moral com has oi.jector. aiid of it> un U> 5S £t part oi the code which guided him in his Objection to ™t In recommending : e„« ,vhid, men e»«»» :STbdi. f*» 8« "Lord uad Ate of us nir in the refusal to maun or slaughter any m H'-s dulartMi. _ cause thov belong to 7, sc ; religious faith to men ,<vho h.i\t borne what- the conscientious objectorsde ported from New Zoatanc , ' who stood firm through tho . J®" o ]* ° f the Warganui Barracks. h-rve done, seems to be. as illogical as it is unjust. May I conclude by quoting the fold - ing paragraph from a speech made hy my uncle, William Sanders, 31.P-, at a largo meeting m Bull, 111 1- •' ; ' "Urotrian vecommenAs tho re-irnposi-tion of disabilities and tests on account of religious beliefs. gentlemen, that is a matter of the utmost seriousness. "What is a religious belief? Religion involves belief m the unseen, and von cannot compel a man to il belief of that kind. You may induce him, bat von cannot compel hini;and it is the most unwise, the most unjust, the most injurious thing that can possibly lie attempted, to i>ut a strain ■upon the consciences of men, ana impose uoon them disabilities on aecouni of their religious beliefs, or .absence of religious beliefs. A man who lias tho misfortune to be without a- religious belief is a man greatly to bo pitied. Ho is by no means a man whom we ought to attempt to subject to anv injustice. Nothing that a man believes or disbelieves can justify lis in depriving him ol' his pohticalrights. It is to mo 0110 of the first principles of (Christianity that wo have no right to say to an v man, 'Stand by thyself, for 1" am holier than thou! And it these men are to bo pitied, how are we to bring them into the field of belief ? Wo certainly cannot do it by imposing injustice upon them. I remember young days being delighted with those lines bv Thomas Hood, in which he lays down the hroaclest principles ol reli"iotiK liberty, and not only of religious liberty, but of, shall I say, consideration and approbation of every Reeling or sentiment respecting religion, which° ought to have our completo .tolerance. He says : — "E'en tlie poor Pagan's homage to the sun I would not harshly 6corn, lest even there, I 6purn some elements of Christian prayer — An aim, though erring l , at a world ayent. Acknowledgment of good, of man's futility, A sense of need, of weakness, and, indeed, That very thing so many Christiana wajit— humility." —YourS, etc, ANN SAUNDERS. "Papanui, January 15th, 1819. (