THE NEW ORDER

Southland Times, Issue 24868, 7 October 1942, Page 2

THE NEW ORDER

Sir—D. E. Duncan says in effect, in his letter of October 3, that the present economic system stands condemned before God and man. Then he goes on to say that a change, however desirable it may be, will not remedy the world’s ills, that we have to go deeper than the framework of society. May I suggest to him that he advocate, that a start be made with the economic system, and that the deeper things be dealt with as we come to them. He would probably find that as a result of changing the present system, which has often been described as the “jungle” system, to a sane, humane system based on Christian principles that would give economic security and individual freedom to all, many of the deeper things had automatically righted themselves. Surely such a system is not impossible in a world where the eternal principles that must be observed have been taught by the church for nearly 2000 years. Mr Duncan must face realities. It is not the duty of the church to declare which of the many movements, political or otherwise, which advocate the changing of the present system it should support as the one and only Christian solution, as he very well knows. But it is the duty of the church to condemn in no uncertain manner any system that does not work for the best interests of all the people, that fails to give bounty to the advantage of all the people. How can the people have confidence in the church, when it countenances a system the results, of which are the very antitheses of what it preaches. Why have I, like many others, no confidence in this campaign for Christian Order? Because I feel it is just so much “lipservice” to distract the people from the real cause of the trouble. Listening to a broadcast by the “brains trust” set up during the campaign to answer questions, what do we find, mixed up with such questions as why a Bishop wears gaiters. There was one question on the economic problem, which drew the reply “that the only thing to do with hungry men was to feed them.” According to that, the cure for the next slump is to have a plentiful supply of soup kitchens, and all will be well. No, sir, I am afraid that this campaign has mis-fired, either because of the appalling ignorance of the church of any practical solution, or else because it has allowed itself to be led away from its real objective. R. J. HENDERSON. Invercargill, October 5, 1942.