THE CHURCHES OF TO-DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 6

THE CHURCHES OF TO-DAY.

A DISTORTED PICTURE

(To the Editor.)

I must protest against the grossly unfa},, criticism of ministers of religion and church peoplo generally contained in your report of a recent sermon by the Rev. C. G. Serim<*cour It is not true that "the various sections of the Church hate each other." Mr. Scrini<*eour may hate me because I am an Anglican" but Ido not hate him. I give him credit for dbins hia best, but I wish he would not try to ennha" sise his own virtues by throwing bricks at others. The Archbishop does not hate the Rev Lionel Fletcher, and I feci sure that Mr Fletcher docs not hate the Archbishop. I lia Vl > not heard these expressions of hate from the pulpit, nor have I read about thenu in the Press. It is not true to say that church people J "mistake the kingdom of comfort for the King. doni of God." They are just as able to distinguish between these two kingdoms as Mr Scrimgeour. I do not quite know what Mi\ Scrimgeour means when he states tiia't "a popular preacher with a credit balance is the hallmark of success," but I do know that there are not many clergymen in Auckland with big credit balances. Mr. Scrimgeour is not the only minister of religion who desires to abolish slums. All ministers are. I have been a churchgoer all my life, but I have never heard a preacher apologise for- poverty with the ([notation "The poor ye have always with you." The average clergyman could not be guilty of such imbecility. Mr. Scrimgeour may find "glaring inequality and snobbery within his own organisation," but I have not met with much of that sort of thing. Clergy and churchgoers are certainly not as Christ-like as they ought to be. They would he the first to confess that. But they are not as black as Mr. Scrimgeour paints them. They are not altogether ignorant, callous and hateful. The work of our ministers of religion is always hard and often discouraging. Their honesty and intelligence is above the average. Mr. Scrimgeour's jeers are quite unjustifiable. NORMAN BURTON.