REV. FLANAGAN AGAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 95, 10 April 1908, Page 4

REV. FLANAGAN AGAIN.

To tli» Kditor. —A- you Ihivc, printed » letter signed -M... which i- in ~,llll' im-1 sure trying to throw »,.|a water 011 a-id to Tll-tll distril-l uf Mr. l''lailav.Hl 111 the mind- ~f ni.iriy win, .111 cikli-iI liiil gentleman'- lccl*irc- in ,\eu I'lwauuth, 1 hope you will alo ~].an- mr'little styaee in yuur vaUmuU' not to exactly reply to ml. but to defend sunt-? 01 the flints attacked. In tlie tir-t pi IB accu.-e- the , T v. geutieiua'i 01 making exaggerated statements re- • iding the fall of atheism in England, ell tilis statement is easily dealt wilii. ic Kev. Flanagan ha* personal e\- • rienee on his side, and proof positive L the closing of building, where atheists held their meetings, and can prove ; that many of these buildings au places of worship. ' contend.- that this is not a sign of atheism living out in Kngland, lmt that intellectual atlieists have only altered their methods of propaganda. lhey may have altered their methods of propaganda, but I challenge anyone to show me where any church has had to close its doors to re j ligious meetings and make wav for atheism. 1 do not think, if siich a thing ever occurred, that the mumberof that church would state they had not lost ground, hut had only altered their methods of propaganda." With regard to his statement concerning the Freethinkers' Conference of 1 ill 14 held in Rome, this may lie true. There may hare been thousands attending this conferenee, but still that would not prove that atheism was not dying out. We will suppose that a conference of believers in God was held there and drew their members from France, Spain, and Italy: I make so bold as to statu that it would be attended not by thousands, but tens of thousands. .Now comes his statement concerning Dr. -Jessop: ''Yours is a rising, mine a decaying profession.' "J.Ci." does not make himself quite plain. Which does he mean is the rising profession—atheism or belief in (iod? Again, he draws attention to statements by several clergymen; but do these gentlemen represent the whole of England? Coming nearer home and taking our own Dominion, 1 can speak with authority as one who ha- moved much among the working class, of whom, as he states, in l»ndon only one working man out of fifteen attends a place of worship. I have been among them here in the backblocks of Taranaki where a clergyman was never seen; I have been in some of the remotest parts of the bonth Island where the name of God was never spoken except as a curse; bat were these men atheists t No. Behind all this rough exterior many a time beats a truly religious heart, "but the surroundings are against them; they are not taught to go to church to worship God. Here in Taranaki, with our backblocks tracks not fit for people to travel on nine months of the year, asK one who travels the roads week after week and year after year if these backblocks workmen are atheists. I have : heard one man spoken ol in reverencj by some of the roughe-t of our sons of toil. The man I speak of is lluiek the Salvationist, a man who labor- faitli--1 fully for his (!od. "I.i;.'' will say, : ''What about our towns, where time 1evcry opportunity for our workmen to attend church':"' Again 1 say that is 110 proof of atheism among them. Are lhey invited to churchy Do our clergymen go among them, visit them in tlie r homes, see to their wants, and do real , Christian work among them': Xo; there i- too much in the present day prcaehing to the rich, pouring nil 011 tlie troubled waters to keep everything in ■ the church working smoothly. Let our clergymen preach straight out to siu--1 ners, lie 110 respecter of persons, make friends with every one in the lower . cla—, and then ,-ee if they do not at-

tend eliureli mere regularly. I have said more than 1 intended In v. lien I Link u|i my pen. luit I eaniint sit still and limr tlie w.irk of a good man dii|iar.i):ed. I trn«t tliat young men. hi whom I -;nv many at the lUv. .Mr. meetings and lecture", will nut lie led s> Wiiy by a few words from an atheist who does not even si;;ii his name to his epistle, but who hides behind two btters. There is .something more tangible in the faith of .lesns Christ than any man has in atheism.— I am, ele.. VISAXK AROA.