SACERDOTAL BIGOTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 9

SACERDOTAL BIGOTRY.

(To the Editor.) . ' f} T, ~ "Bara Fostus" expresses indi-r- ---, nation on account of recent evidence of sectarian bitterness, and in this all sane ».. people are with him. The distressing factor about it is that while the act of a saeerdotalist at the other side of the | world may be regarded as a solitary example of sectarian bigotry, it is not : ;60, for here the Anglican "authorities, including the bishop-elect, have nppar- :. ently acquiesced in an utterance, actu- --:. . Mcd "by quite similar spirit, by the ■ .head of the institution for instructing k and training clergymen. So far we agree I -■'-. ■ R - lt »- i "Bara Fostus." But I think ho ;_■ altogether loses the point as to the raison : ,-•■':.' O°tre and duty of Christian churches. J- 1 ; Many others inside as well as outside the ;■ ■• Church do so. His suggestion is that ; . each (sic) Christian denomination '.'J; should cruise their eternal bickering and : ■-' Unite for the purpose of considering the ! -■: following." Then follow suggestions for *._ . United effort in social and eleemosynary -•—works, winding up with the proposal to establish a brotherhood devoted to these • -*pd s i thus unconsciously admitting my contention. Incidentally he says that Christians should overlook whatever has been evil in the record of some. Let that i .pass. ' i No "i"B ara Fostus" tells us that such i ;is the Rationalist conception of Christian i progress. And it is the conception of i:rs? n y others who are not Rationalists. ;• Btrt I want to say that it is an utterly tttoneous conception, and it is a good ;. opportunity to press home the fact that Christian denominations, bodies, and £ churches do not exist for any siich purt poSe. They exist for the assembling . - '.themselves for Worship, edification, and Sjj I wmmunion, and for the spreading abroad 11 ef the knowledge of God and His Christ. J •'All. the other ideals of "Bara Fostus" they join in and work for as citizens— \ . J-Jriatian citizens. They unite, and their Christianity compels them to unite in S '™ c labours on the City Council, Hos- • .'>. ;;Pital Board, Sailors' Home, Benevolent ■.Asßociations, and the like, as individuals \. ""Christians—and they make bold to say IS. that such works —the world—are better *orks, a better world, because of them I fed their Christianity. As the Church ;> of England itself declares, "They (these w doings) do spring necessarily out of a true and lively faith." But, as Christian v. bodies, churches exist for no such pur--44, and just so far as they meddle in '■•■ them-as churches, is disaster. That is Jhere we differ from "Baxa Fostus."— limjetce H.S.