THE REMEDY FOR THE WORLD'S ILLS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 148, 24 April 1942, Page 4

THE REMEDY FOR THE WORLD'S ILLS

Sir.-The Listener letter page has been rather interesting these last few weeks, as the letters deal mainly with some of the serious questions of the day, and as the average man in the street is often a thinker but a poor speaker, he feels so impotent when he reads news apparently biased by the political or religious views of the writers. Your page therefore fills a useful purpose, as subjects are discussed from different viewpoints that are barred by some other publications. This is a healthy sign for the future. H. H. Fountain closed his letter with the words that it "still remains true that, Christianity alone has the remedy for the world’s ills and nothing else has." Surely this is a half truth, as many who profess in and believe the whole story of Christ are neither honest, truthful, nor just, while others who do not believe the whole story, have all those virtues. Surely the latter are more trustworthy and likely to understand and put things right than the former. As you say in a recent editorial (March 27), the best men and women any of us know are Christian in spirit even if they hesitate to call themselves Christian in

belief. No doubt British tolerance in India gives Gandhi’s theories any success claimed for them. Probably if Japan gained control of India, the last would be seen or heard of Gandhi. If the latest report of part of Gandhi’s speech is true, he, himself, has no real faith in his theories; he says that if the Chinese had not opposed Japan and simply refused to co-operate, the Japanese would have been defeated, though carried to its logical end, it might have meant the death of the last Chinese. After that, one wonders if he is simply a victim of his own egotheism.

REMEMBER

(Carterton).