DOOR OF DIVORCE

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1921, Page 4

DOOR OF DIVORCE

rXIH'LY OPKXKD. Nov. ii. Tin* Anglican Bishop o 1 Auckland ami representative clergy ami laity o| la 1 din e. e have pm it ioned Parliament, through llu* Prime Minister, ivtpiesting in earnest. almost strongly worded, terms (lie repeal of tlie recent legislation alio •tin#' the marriage law. particularly Section 7 ot I lie Marriage Act Amendment Act ami Section I of the Divorce ami Matrimonial Causes Act, I!)2<>. “The former law." says the p.-titioii. “makes the expression oj opinion math* under t onscientioiis conviction. and in the ordinary course o| duty imposed upon the clergy, a. mi<* fleet, «!j { ri!r pennhaMe !.y fine. I.ihoriv of private opinion is invadetl and the path opened to State or private persecution for conscience sake.** The amendment of the Divorce law hv permitting divorce without cause, at the joint will of husband and wife, is ■celarc the petitioners, the first example of such an enactment in the history of any Christian State. It violates the Christian idea of the indissolubility of marriage and offers great temptation to destroy many marriages which would otherwise be happy and successful. “Your memorialists” concludes the* petition, “therefore urge that in consideration of possible benefit to the few your honourable Mouse has inadvertently opened the door of divorce unsettling the lives of many married persons, to the designs of evil minded men, to the great detriment of women l and children ,to disintegration of the stability of social order, and in forgoti fulness of the responsibility of the Store and the whole of its inhabitants to Almighty God.”