ARE WE ABANDONING CHRISTIANITY?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 399, 14 February 1947, Page 14

ARE WE ABANDONING CHRISTIANITY?

Blunt Farewell Message From Rev.

H. W.

Newell

N the eve of his departure for Geneva, the Rev. H. W. Newell, who for the past three years has been full-time secretary. of the National Council of Churches in. New Zealand, called at The Listener ‘office. He came to tell us. something about his new appointment as assistant general secretary to the World Council of Churches and the work of that organisation; and since he Was leaving this country and might therefore feel himself able to speak more candidly than would otherwise be the case, we took the opportunity to ask him his opinions on the "spiritual climate" of ‘New Zealand at present. The two topics were, as it turned out, by no means unrelated, for. although Mr. Newell is full of enthusiasm about his new job.and: the work of the World Council of Churches, he is "under no illusions about the difficulty of the task and the spiritual state of the world today. Of Néw: Zealand he says quite bluntly ‘that it seerns in effect to be abandoning Christianity. Yet though he was prepared to speak frankly, said Mr. Newell, he would like it to be understood that he was also ‘speaking with great diffidence and he was fully prepared to gdmit that he might be’ doing .so from incomplete knowledge of. the situation; he was really not ‘sufficiently in touch with certain sections of the community to form an opinion on their spiritual ‘state of health, hae: "Still, I do’ wonder whether, from a spiritual point ‘of view, the people of New Zealand’ as a whole are to-day asking the right questions, the really important questions. For instance, the question: ‘What is good and evil?’ Those are very familiar terms, but they are still. of .the utmost importance for humanity. Yet people now don’t seem to be at all sure what they mean, and they aren’t as concerned as they should be to think out an answer. Then there is the important question of what use we are going to i1iake of our inventions so that we do not become their slaves. Again, on what basis is world peace pos-sible-in particular, perhaps, peace between the white and the Asiatics? How are we going to reconcile the clash between the desire on the. one hand for freedom and the desire on the other for social justice? What is the place of the family in society? The Chisrch’s Sliere'6f Blonie "Those are the questions which, the Christian Would say, God is asking our generation-but are we as a people thinking along the right lines: in an effort to find the answers; are we even aware that these are, in very fact, the paramount: questions of our day? I am by no means sure that we are. "And I am equally sure that the Church itself must take a full share of the responsibility for this failure. One

big question which the Christian Church should be asking. itself is how it can really get in touch with the vital probJems of the day; in fact, how it. can avoid, by its nature, being merely either Utopian or ‘escapist. There are, : unfortunately, a lot of people in the Church who are not trying to answer that one, are not even bothering to ask it. And the fact that we Christians are not doing so nullifies many of those good qualities in us which we owe to our Christian traditions-our altruism, our urge towards kindliness and gentleness, and so on." But, we suggested, granted that Mr. Newell was right, this was not a new situation. Surely it had happened nike this before? Yes, it had, he replied. In fact, he wondered whether an interesting parallel might not be drawn between the spiritual climate of to-day and that of the so-called Period of Enlightenment in the 18th Century. Though they would not actually admit the fact, great numbers of New Zealanders had thrown over religion and now pinned their faith to gentle cynicism, tolerance, and vague humanism. They didn’t actually deny God and the value of religion, but their attitude was without backbone; there was no place for dynamic or dogmatic belief. It had been very like that in the Enlightenment Period of the 18th Century; the result had been a crash, and. the revival of Romanticism, which was equally futile. "Spiritual Bankruptcy" "T can’t feel that New Zealand as it is to-day has anything much worth while to say inthe world’s state of spiritual bankruptcy unless we do find a. faith of ‘some sort," Mr.. Newell continued. "Europe is in its death throes-in a letter I have just had from Bishop Holland he speaks of ‘this starving, free7ing, dying Continent’-and yet how much do we really care? Frankly, I don’t see many signs of «earnest ‘thinking and real concern: at least® not: in those sections of the community with which I am familiar. Again, the Church cannot escape much of the blame. "However, it is perhaps unfair of me to generalise like this. A friend who has been working in a wool store recently tells me that he has found much more awareness there, more real convictions on the things that count, than would be found, say, in many University circles." "Would you prefer real. opposition, even hatred, towards religion, than the attitude you say exists?" we asked. "This Gentle Cynicism" "Yes, I think I would. It is this gentle cynicism of our intelligensia which is so appalling and so dangerous-this attitude of patronising tolerance towards religion. The Christian faith is as explosive as dynamite-and you find

people patronising it! Well, if Christianity is going to be chucked overboardand the fact is that New Zealand seems in effect to be abandoning it-we must ask whether there is anything to put in its place; and whether the religion of scierice and materialism which we are smore and more following will bring a teal love of humanity as such, a sense | of world brotherhood, and that quietness of spirit which is to be found along with Christianity." " "You certainly seem to find our spiritual climate depressing. Do you see much chance of an improvement?" "Well, it is no use becoming pessimistic about the situation. The Churches must, I think, get together in order to gather together and preserve the valuable things which do remain. And this is probably a good point at which to say something about the World Council of Churches. Two Parallel Movements This council, Mr. Newell explained, was still only in process of formation. In fact, whenever it officially mentioned itself by name it put those words, "in process of formation," in parentheses after the title. The whole idea of the Churches’ working together arose out of two parallel movements. One had. been started by Archbishop Soderblom of Sweden, who had seen clearly that the Churches were living in a world apart and who had therefore taken steps which resulted in the formation of the Universal, Christian Council of Life and Work, the purpose of this body being to examine the relationship of the Christian ethic to the life and work of..the modern -world and to seek its application to the problems of the day, Then, under the leadership of Bishop Brent of .America, the Faith and Order Movement developed, this being concerned more with the ins ternal problem of unity among the Churches and an examination of their common ground. Bishop Brent was followed by Archbishop Temple; but the latter had been interested in both these aspects of the ecumenical movement and thanks largly to» his inspiration the World Council of Churches, combining them, was set up. In 1938 the machinery of the World Council of Churches started moving in Geneva, under Archbishop Temple and Dr. Visser ‘t Hooft, the present general secretary (the man with whom Mr. (continued on next page) _ _

~The World and the Church _

(continued from previous page) Newell will now be directly associated, in his position as assistant secretary). The plan had been to hold a big conference of the Churches -in 1942 to ratify and formally establish the Council, but the war had intervened. "So the Council-still ‘in process of formation’-had to carry on during the . war under great difficulties,’ continued Mr. Newell.. "Yet in spite of these difficulties, it has done and is doing remarkable work, particularly in dealing with displaced persons and the enormous task of reconstructing the devastated churches of Europe. It is, in fact, probably the

biggest thing. of its kind since the days of the Crusades, this present getting together of Christian people all over the world, regardless of denominational affiliations, to assist in reconstruction. There is a'real feeling of solidarity and corporative endeavour, and huge sums of money are being given without consideration of which particular denomination may be getting the benefit of any particular contribution. "And now at last the.time has come for this tentative organisation of the. World Council to be given formal shape. That step will be taken at a world conference planned for August, 1948, in Amsterdam. This will be the first General Assembly of the Council, and my particular job will be to help organise it-it is under way already, of course. "To administer the World Council of ‘Churches, a Christian Civil Service is assembling in Geneva. The present Archbishop of Canterbury has taken the late Archbishop Temple’s place as one of the vice-chairman, and there are four others-French, American, Greek Orthodox, and Scandinavian: A Scotsman, Dr, Cockburn, is head of the Department of Reconstruction; a Scandinavian, Dr Ehrenstrom, is head of the Study Des partment; and an. Englishman, Francis House, is head of the Youth Department. There are branches of the Council, with secretaries, in London and New York. Altogether there are peTrgp like 75 members of a staff which, you can see, is truly international. "All denominations of the Christian Church except the Roman Catholic are united in the World Council. It is interesting to notice the important part being played by the Greek Orthodox Church. My own feeling is that this Church may act as a bridge and perhaps do a great deal towards reconciling, some day, the two great sections of the Christian world. For the Greek Orthodox Church has a strong sense of solidarity with tradition but at the same time it is not bound by the dead past; it is not too tied up by organisation." Still a Long Way to Go — "So you are really not so pessimistic after all?" we asked. "Well, the ecumenical movement has a long way to go yet. The aim of the World Council is to bring the Christian Churches together, but it is a matter of getting together with a purpose, not just getting together. The Church cannot hope to speak to the world and be listened to unless it has itself a clear conception of its own faith, and unless it can demonstrate that that faith has relevance to the needs of the day. Perhaps our biggest problem in’ New Zealand, ds elsewhere, is the great gap that lies between the select and comparatively small section of Christians who are aware of the ecumenical movement and seized with its significance, and the large-and in their way no doubt equally good and valuable-section who find satisfaction in the Church as it is and are not aware of the need for change and development. The World Council is not by any means taking itself too seriously. It is an instrument rather than an end in itself. It js not in the least intended to be a kind of superChurch, but rather the hand-maiden of _ the Church as it is, working for it and within it, and not trying either to sidestep or control it."