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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 791, 17 September 1954, Page 5

Sir-I regret Mr. Collins’s haste to misunderstand the meaning of the phrase "his timid treatment of religion in Russia." I did not expect him to say that he saw "secret police listening in at services of worship," or even to hear him speak of "harrowing tales of oppression.". What I had in mind was_ that there was one conclusion waiting to be drawn and he ought to have come out with it. It is this: since the churches in Russia are not allowed to undertake welfare work, or to run schools and hospitals, and are not allowed even to teach

Christianity to children under 16 years of age, it is evident that while Russian individuals may worship if they wish, the churches may not carry out their mission. In other words, Christianity in Russia has been narrowed down to worship and piety, and entirely deprived of witness in a meaningful social context. This is not freedom of religion. Christianity can survive only if it concerns itself with every aspect of man’s life, and if it is allowed to exercise this duty in the widest sense. Otherwise Christianity is submerged and finally replaced by materialistic and totalitarian ideologies. There is every reason to believe that the restrictions on the churches in Russia are just for this purpose, and they make Mr. Collins’s assertion that Communism is not our enemy all the more confounding. ‘A.B.C. (Wellington).