CHURCH'S PART.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 275, 20 November 1935, Page 8

CHURCH'S PART.

POLITICAL ACTION. CHARACTER-BUILDING WORK. DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. "The time is opportune to consider the function of the Church in the field of political action," declared the Eev. E. D. Pat'clictt in his opening address to the Auckland Methodist Synod in the Pitt Street Church hall this morning.

: "The Church is always concerned in any change ill the structure of society calculated to affect the'well-being of the people," said. Mr. Patehett, "but her chief contribution to that change, which is alwaye in progress, lies along tho line of indirect action. She,makes her power felt through the moral enthusiasm she evokes and through the good citizens she sends out into the world. It is in character building that the work of the Church is supreme, for the character of a people is largely the product of their religion. "That the Church . should take an active and partisan part in political wrangles is neither consonant with her genius nor consistent with her mission. That she ought to create a spirit of brotherhood and good will for the resolving of political problems and also a passion for social righteousness in the interests of the Kingdom of God is surely self-evident. It is to be'regretted that the party system tends to make electors lose sight of the paramount importance of the individual character and ability of the candidates seeking their suffrage. The destiny of the country in the long run is safest in the hands of the most trustworthy and farseeing statesmen whatever their label.

. "There is an element of pathos in many of the fantastic and nebulous (schemes that arc the political obsession of the moment. They arc so palpably the product of the unparalleled period of wretchedness and want through which we -have been passing. What is making a powerful and growing appeal to the Christian conscience is the need for a satisfactory and generous remedy for the unemployment problem. Unemployment on a large scale ought not and must not be allowed to harden into a tolerated evil. Surely it ie not beyond the wit of man to cTevisc some method of effectively spreading the profitable work of the nation. Why not explore the possibilities of shortening the hours of the working week and limiting the years of the working life?

"Another demand of the Christian conscience is that the wealth of the community shall be spread by peaceful revolution so that the terrible inequalities of life shall no longer be an affront to high heaven. That it is difficult to devise means of carrying thie out, without serious injustice and confiscation, is admitted. That all the portente point to it being done some day cither by violent means or by reasonable adjustment through more complete sharing of profits and graduated taxation can hardly be denied. Meantime, the ideal of the Church is becoming fixed upon a more equitable division of the wealth of the community."