GOD: THE MAN OF TO-DAY

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 34, 1 March 1935, Page 5

GOD: THE MAN OF TO-DAY

(CANON PERCIVAL JAMES, in an interview published to-day, expresses some concern for the future of church broadcasts in New Zealand, and suggests several reforms. We agree with him when he says that "radio religion" can never be a worthy substitute for worship in a church, but it is well to bear in mind that radio has done much to bring the church and the mass of the people into closer contact. . There was a time -not so very long ago-when the church and the main body of worshippers were poles apart. These people attended church not because they hoped to gain any actual knowledge from their visits, but because it was the right thing to do. The preacher's doctrines were shadowy, dry-as-dust things for the most part, and the congregation’s boredom was but thinly disguised. Today that is all changed. The church has come to grips with modern. problems, realising that God has a definite place in this twentieth century world-and people are coming to understand that the church can be just as fruitful a place for earnest discussion and enlightenment as the lecture hall or the smoking room. And wireless has played a manful part in parading the ageless messages of peace and hope and goodwill before the eyes of Mr. and Mrs. 1935.