POINTS FROM LETTERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 183, 24 December 1942, Page 3

POINTS FROM LETTERS

There are seven days in the week, and on all of them listeners write letters, Unfortunately there are only two columns in which we can place all this material. We are glad to receive it, and hope that it will continue to flow in; but at present we are so far behind on several subjects that we are compelled to drop whole bundles of letters and pick single points out of the few that remain. In the meantime we cannot accept any more letters on Christian Order, God In Nature, Communism and Atheism, and Wedding Rings. GOD IN NATURE: Rob (Ahipara) asks, in reply to Lionel Cooney’s remark that "what is good for the kea is bad for the lamb,’"’ how bad it is for the lamb. We must not, he says, attribute torments to animals that are the reflection of our own imagined sensations. Lionel Cooney (Auckland) agrees that "much of Nature is beautiful’ but argues that since beauty may be "totally i table to man," its existence is no proof of a beneficent Creator. ; CHRISTIAN ORDER: Student (Auckland) says that although the teachings. of Christ as we. find them the ls are not "specifically socialist", Christ "did on occasions utter words’ that pointed to socialism. M. A. ‘Stephenson (Ramarama) says that Christ was crucified not merely because He declared Himself the Son of God but because He exposed the rottenness of the social system, H, C. McDonald (Ashburton) finds it surprising that "highly educated men" should find an "obvious connection" between faith and morality. . D. Ellwood (Riccarton) has "seldom seen such dodging and twisting" as he found in the Any Questions? sessions of the Christian Order Campaign, and suggests that it was ‘‘socalled religious le’ Christ had in mind when He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." G. M. Dymock (Gisborne) regrets that school-children to-day are ‘robbed of the lovely language of the Psalms and ls" and of tho inspiration of Bible personalities. NEW ZEALAND CUTURE: "Nostalgic New Zealander" (Auckland) regrets that Professor Sewell in his English Literature talks did not take his hearers into less familiar ground. C.C.C. (Cambridge) reminds critics of New Zealand culture that although "our life out here has only just begun’’, the sacred fire burns within us. THE RING: "Silver Wedding" (Dunedin) says that if women "are content to go through life wearing no ty they should be "content also to get ‘dirty looks’ from those who see a ringless hand plus an infant." "Fifty-fifty" (Palmerston North) wants to know why women only have to wear the badge of ma . If "a man is single until proved otherwise" why "all this fuss about a woman who removes her ring?"