"A World without God."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 July 1912, Page 4

"A World without God."

Under the heading above quoted, newspapers as a whole .are roughly handled in a late issue of the New Zealand War Cry. The editor sayis:—"Observant readers of tho secular Press to-day cannot fail to lie struck with the absence both of the name and of tho thought of God in its pages. Story, adventure, record of scientific investigation, report of Parliamentary or Municipal proceeding, account of public meeting or public demonstration — from all these recognition of the superhuman is banished. High-class journal and gutter-press broadsheet aro alike in this respect. If there should chance to bo an occasional exception to this rule, it will be found chiefly in the ft ponny dreadful" publication, whore the Divino name is taken in rain by the doublooyod villain in «vdor to express tlio depth of his passion, or by the highly sentimental heroine, so as to otnphasise- the intensity of her virtuous resolve. Quarterlies, monthlies, weeklies, dailies—they dieeuss their themes, tell their stories, and "bold the mirror up to nature, , " without perceptible thought that inn-thing higher or greater than man exists. Tn modern novels the case, as a rule, is still worse . Tho Deity, when referred to, is n nebiiJous abstraction, ami belief in the Divine government of the world is scouted as an old wives' fable, so utterly discredited by modern consideration. Even whon we come to the " religious journals," the. case is not satisfactory. Imports of Church gatherings frequently consist of a list of sentimental songs sung, comic recitations givon. ;ind parlour frames indulged in. With this . state of things Salvationists are probably less conversant than are others. Their loyalty to tho Army, and their readiness to confine their outlook to the newF supplied in our various publications, with the help to lie gained from a perusal of the outside religious literature which out leaders recommend, saves them from going very far afield in their search for reading matter."