Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 189, 31 October 1927, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

THE £IOO FINE Sir.— With full apologies to Thomas Hood: “O, God. that motors should be so dear, and flesh and blood so cheap.” W. A. BATE. PROPHETS AND PROFITS Sir, Many instances can be quoted where prophecies made centuries ago come true —or, more truly, have been made to become true. A so-called prophet, who bases his prophecy on the stones of the pyramids, is already trotting the world prophesying with mouth and books that a war is to start next May, and that millions of Russians and French are to be destroyed, which of course will also mean that hundreds of thousands of our own youths will also be slain. The point is this —who is financing this “prophet” to print millions of books and trot round the globe making people think that a war is inevitable? Nothing is more dastardly than this creating of a madness for war. and the people should be warned of the trickery in the whole rotten business. No doubt certain groups of two-legged creatures would make piles of money if a war could be made. There are certain men who find it pays to make such “prophecies” come true as they often have—and unless the people use their reason this will happen againIt is time that it was made impossible for a country to engage in war except by a direct referendum of the people. The bunkum preached by those who predict immediate war needs immediate squelching. . ELS. “A SOOTHING SYRUP CHORUS” Sir.— I am sorry that some of my words are “meaningless” to Mr. J. Sim. In writing for intelligent readers of THE SUN it is inevitable that the correspondence will be over the heads of some of the readers. If Mr. Sim will state which words of mine were ‘ meaningless” to him I shall endeavour to remove the “smoke screen,” which is certainly not due to my obscurantism or wish to “scuttle aw r ay.” I have already stated that Genesis does not make the age of man 6,000 years. The Hebrew word Adam simply means man. The “Baptist” Bible, published by Chicago University Press, so translates it consistently. The Authorised and Revised Versions of the English Bible render the word sometimes as "man” and sometimes as “Adam.” If Mr. Sim can prove his assertion that the Bible makes the time of “Adam” 6,000 years ago, let him do so. Why it became necessary to create “Adam,” any more than why it became necessary to create Mr. J. Sim, I do not feel called to explain. I bold that all that | Transpires does so of necessity, for I am ! a divine determinist, holding that 1 divine intelligence and power plan and | execute all things. Even the work of i Darwin and Mr. J. Sim I accept as

coming inexorably In the inevitable sequence of events. I do not “snarl” at t Darwin, for 1 know that he could do no i other than he did. He deserved all the ; “persecution” he received from reli- - gious quarters, for he first persecuted J those of religious persuasion, and un- ! settled the foundations of existing * civilisation. < The “soothing syrup chorus” has 1 called forth the howling mob of secu- \ larists, who see their position made , logicaly untenable. I will go further , and say that religious forces will unite on the matter of the eucharist as well ' as on that of creation by telic evolu- i tion. All reality known to us is relative, hence the real presence exists in ] the sacrament to those who believe it, , but not to those who disbelieve. And . therein lies the solution of this problem which has divided the Church for ages. 1 J. G. HUGHES. ( 1 BERMUDA ] Sir, — - j I read in THE SUN of October 8 an ! 1 article on Bermuda by Mr. E. A. An- j < son. If Mr. Anson had studied the his- i; tory of Bermuda at all he might have been more correct in some of his state- : ments, and thus have given the public a better impression of this lovely little island. My ancestors were among its first settlers, having gone out there in 1612. The gentlemen who went out were styled “The Bermuda Company of Adventurers.” Their descendants are still there, so I claim to know something of its true history. There were never any convict settlers there. Convicts were at one time sent out from England, but they were kept on hulks, being taken ashore during the day to work on the roads and marshalled back at night. When their “time” was up. they were taken back to England. The • last yellow fever cases occurred in j 1864, and that was a very slight outbreak. The quarantine regulations are very strict. One need only to think of the large tourist business which is done to imagine that such would be the case. I have never seen leafless oleanders, but there are great varieties of shades. I am not surprised the missionary was not needed, as the Church of England has held sway there from the beginning. There are nine parish churches of that denomination; also a cathedral, with a bishop. BERMUDIAN. SCIENCE AND RELIGION Sir, — “There is nothing discreditable in holding an erroneous opinion,” writes j “A.E.C.” Yet one who taught the flat- | earth theory to-day would be so dis- j credited as to be dismissed from teaching in our primary schools. One who held the opinion that he was the President of America would be so discredited as to be put into a lunatic asylum. An athiest would be so discredited as to fail of admission to Free Masonry. Let “A.E.C.” or Mr. J. Sim indicate any mutually destructive statements’* of Mr. Hughes’s if they can. Thev have not succeeded yet. But Mr. Hughes has , succeeded in forcing “A.E.C.” to admit

that he was mistaken in misrepresem Ins him as “a fundamentalist in “ . guise.” Mr. Hughes has ''A.E.G- *• tight corner and he tries to =.« with the assertion: “All clas r , knowledge is science. But we na classified knowledge about God or mortality.” A child knows better that. The assertion is so pueru thoroughly to discredit A.E.C. dared to reveal his identit}’. “j simplicity he thinks “natural set rests on a “solid basis of facts, "theology rests on a foundation oi r speculation.” Antiquated tnin still attempt to differentiate bet the natural and the supernatural, t "A.E.C.” evidently belongs to class. And advanced physicists uy those things which are commoiuj garded as “solid” as being °PP°f~ reality. Professor Worley tells usi u--if all the electrons which consutui human body could be brought tog they would be invisible. To disprove Mr. Hughes s that there is no conflict between sci ‘ - and religion, “A.E.C.” and “Ratio ■- # quote statistics to show that scientists believe in God and tality and other scientists do notabsurd! That simply scientists differ among themseiv - j religious questions, as they do on . ‘ T ,^ c tifie ones. By selecting the sCy',. men or institutions to which a Q "j tionaire is sent one may eassii views from scientists with a r "'” heo . or an irreligious bias. On such > . | logical questions the doctors i# logy and not doctors in science a n 3 authorities, as all intelligent P' . . i realise, j t we were sheep we m- • j blindly follow the crowd on the a* ance of "A.E.C.” and * m i the mob is going away from j God and immortality. on . tC cei* names given by "A.E.C.” d° 3 as that of a scientist of note so*#* not believe in a Supreme Being oj- ( l 8 sort: there is no escape froni jis only on the nature of l" aI j that we differ. -.l^-