CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 408, 18 April 1947, Page 5

CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

Sir,-Your correspondent J. Malton Murray has epitomized the position of Christianity \very well and there is no doubt that the recent public statements of H. W. Newell had a very pessimistic ring about them. Mr. Newell is, however, in the position to know what he is talking about and I believe that, in his wider sphere of activity, he will find that the attitude of New Zealanders to Christianity is one shared by the people of Great Britain and of Europe gener-ally-not excluding the Catholic countries. My experience of the people in those couritries is that most of them are indifferent to religion, but that small minorities are fervently religious or antireligious. A "gallup" poll conducted by one of the large London dailies before the war'showed in the three capitalsLondon, Paris and Berlin-that the percentage of church-goers was roughly the same, that is, 10 per cent. So Mr. Murray is correct when he says "You can’t chuck overboard what you have never had on board." But when Mr. Murray wishes me as a New Zealander, to make a start at re-creating Christianity and indicates that our legislation has "declared the practicability of applying some of the fundamental commands of Jesus to daily life," I am entitled to ask what are these commands and whether they are suitable for our daily life. Apparently the great majority of people (despite the optimism of John Johnson, who says \that "The life of the spirit is very real in this country") consider that Christianity is impracticable as'a way of life. What would have been the effect of the strict observance of the fundamental command of Jesus to "resist not evil," but to "turn the other cheek to the smiter," had it been applied to Nazi or Japanese invaders? How do normal mortals love their enemies when they have been in prison camps? What kind of society would we have if we all practised the commands to "lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," or "také no thought for your life, what ye shall

eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet f your body, what ye shall put on"? It appears to me that the teachin of the Gospels were those current at th time among civilised people. The Greeks, Romans, and Jews all taught similar ideas, as witness the writings of Talmud, of Plutarch, Epictetus, Senec Plato, and others who put these though on record before the time of Christ. Th ideas may have been suitable for nation held in thrall by a conqueror al though we moderns dislike, the injunc: tion to meekness in face of oppressio: but they are of no use to-day and Mr Murray will have to answer the la part of H. W. Newell’s question, " Christianity is going to be chucked over. board .... we must ask whether ther is anything to put in its place?" To this question the average Ne Zealander has evolved a_ satisfacto: answer. In place of outmoded commands to do the impossible and in place. the exercise of faith (which meant lieving that which we knew to be

true) we have a firm belief in ourselv as men and women capable of much little, able to master the elements un aided by any supernatural forces, an capable in the light of increasing scien tific knowledge, of evolving a social tem which will make life more enjoyabl for all. This capability requires educa tion for its development: not the half. baked schooling which is all the majorit can at present afford, but an educati which will teach people to think an to make full use of each progressive st in scientific knowledge.

NABAL

(Moa Flat)