PERSECUTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 21

PERSECUTION.

religion abroad. CONDITIONS IN GERMANY. NEW ZEALANDER RETURNS. Christianity and National Socialism '■""Many were finally and completely incompatible, said the Kev. Lex Kerno- '•«». M.A.. 1t.!)., of Wellington, speak in* to the congregation of St Andrew'j AV ''»ington. He lias just returned " New Zealand after his t lieolo-i,-a | ? " e -1 "> Scotland, and while ahmad. ic -pent s,,ine time in (Jermanv. While he concentrated most on Cvrimin conditions. he pointed out that the fact that Missia a,,,] .lapan were also pcrsecutiii" religion should not be overlooked. Mr. Kcrnohan said that in Cermanv no church papers of any type were I'lihli-hcd. A great deal of information '•li the.,, matters was conxeyei! by people 11 a\ el ling from town to town'. The n|M' s encyclicals wore carried bv t'cuiriers. If they rem I that the ficrnian (lov- 1 ernmeiit was lH>oinnin<* tolerate < hri>t ia nit y it was* cjuito untrue, said Mr. Kcrnohan. Christianity and National Socialism were finally and completely incompatible. National Socialism would admit of nothing international-- it believed in a national or t ril.ii I god. W hut Ik> had said about the Concessional Church also concerned the lioinan Catholic Church, stated the speaker. All the attacks about ministers or priests meddling with polities in iJermany and Austria were quite false. Shortage of Pastors. In conversation after the service, Mr. Kcrnohan said that services could still be attended in flerniany, but he had '"■eii told that they had had to be discontinued in some of the smalier towns because of the shortage of pastors, numbers of whom had been sent to concentration camps. The churches were also affected by the lack of students. Students had been going to Switzerland for training, but passport* for this purpose were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Mr. Kcrnohan •■aid that when he was in (U'rmany there was some talk about closing the theological faculties of the universities. Mr. Kcrnohan said he had Im'cii told that the National Church created by the Nazis wan simply a part of the Department of Propaganda, and it was not possible to attend any services of this church, which had reduced the Old Testament to a small part and deleted the Sermon on the Mount and any references to love and forgiveness in the New Testament. The Nazis had abolished the Roman Catholic boy : -coirts and various other movements of j t hut church, and in taking over the hospital in Vienna that ••orresponded to the Lewishani Hospital in Wellington, i had turned the nuns out on to the streets to fend for themselves. German Christians. The Nazis had a certain admiration for the German Christian*", said Mr. Kcrnohan in conclusion. In the past thev had said that German Christianity was like Christianity in Kngbind. very largely a matter of social oltservance. but this had all been changed. They had no doubt about the sincerity of the (iermans who had remained loy Church. YH. because of the iund.ilYiental differences between Christianity and National-Socialism, the Church as we knew it had to iro, according to the edicts of the officials. The N'azis. of course, denied accusations of persecution. but these fundamental differences remained.