PAGAN SECTARIANISM

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1931, Page 2

PAGAN SECTARIANISM

“A BLIGHTING CURSE.” INJURING THE WORKER. It was morally certain that the present and immediate objective of pagan sectarianism in Australia was the material impoverishment and utter moral degradation of tile worker, declared the Jtev. r ather P. Davoren, preaching at St. Joseph’s Church, Cessnock, Sydney, on hiay 17.

The pagan sectarian would say that lie had devoted lii.s life to the uplift o. the worker, said the preacher. How did he uphold his claim ? He did so by con-

stantly fomenting strikes, irrespective of the justice or otherwise of the workers’ claims, irrespective of the probable success or failure of the strike, and irrespective of whether an abortive strike left the workers’ state more impoverished than before. If such sectarian devotion to workers’ cause was persisted in, it must succeed in making the worker materially and morally the poorer. Moreover, how' could the dignity of tin worker or respect for his just rights be maintained by such a, ruthless policy? How long would Labour men of spirit tohrate this studied pauperisation of their families, this degradation of their manhood, and this debasement of their just rights at the hands of the sectarians ? He hoped that it Would not be for Ipng, for who should believe or trust in these mullahs when even the school child was aware that their intemperate and nauseating zeal for the worker and h s cause was merely a veil to mask innate insincerity. They attempted to bring about the utter moral degradation of the worker by dangling before his eyes a state ol prosperity purely material, a state \vh- re the worker should live in the lap of luxury, and where but a modicum ol labour should suffice to mahitain it. They called this state the “Millennium.'’ It

was nothing more than a degrading appeal to the mere animal instinct in man. and Christianity, by the very essence of its message, must be declared completely and thoroughly opposed to it. Knowing th’s, the sectarians declared that before the worker could even remotely appreciate this nvllennium of theirs it was imperative that his mind should be thoroughly expurgated of what they termed that “colossal and superstitious fallacy'’ known as Christianity. Hence those voracious monsters strove •to gnaw into the very vitals of the workers’ religious belief. “ft is self-evident,’’ Father Davoren said, “that this irreligious teaching is pre-emimntly calculated to beget the complete moral ruin of the worker. Men of Labour, the votaries of pagan sectarianism, have deliberately planned the pauperisation of yourselves and your families. They nne knowingly debasing your just rights in the eyes of honest men. They are wilfully not only degrading your manhood but persistently striving to evolve the utter moral downfall of you and those (tear to you. Surely you will not take this debasing treatment lying down. Surely you will r d your great movement of this the most blighting curse that has hitherto overtaken the human family. If you strive conscientiously and manlike to set your house in order you will find many staunch friends in Australia —friends who are men of learning and culture, men of the spirit of the Anzacs, men of the sterling blood of me homelands, men of grit, and sane, good Australians, who will stand up for you and defend you against the voracious attacks of these ruthless barbarians,"