RIGHT OF ASSEMBLY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 206, 1 September 1941, Page 5

RIGHT OF ASSEMBLY

RATIONALIST PROTEST

ADDRESS BY MR. J. A. LEE

"The present is no time for a 'mental blackout,' " declared Mr. J. A. Lee, M.P., speaking at the Rationalist Open Forum at the Strand Theatre last evening. A unanimous resolution was adopted by the meeting protesting against the action of the City Council in interfering with the Sunday activities of the Auckland Rationalist [Association.

Not only Rationalists, but the founders of new religions, had been interfered with and their liberty curtailed, said Mr. Lee. History dis-

closed that truth had perpetually to fight against error. The liberty ourj forefathers had handed down to us had been won in the face of the I i fiercest opposition. We Britishers! had many faults, but one thing we! i prided ourselves on was the rights |of minorities. Logically speaking. I a minority should have more •.privileges than a majority.

No nation had attained to greatness through suppressing free speech. Battles won by force were not necessarily productive of good, unless the rights of the people were uppermost. The mental liberty of our Empire was the envy of the world. Freedom was the handmaid of intellectual progress, and standard of liberty was the gauge of the strength of a nation. Freedom of discussion and the right of assembly was the safety-valve of society. "Reforms have always been sponsored by a few at first," said the speaker, "and it is the duty of all of us to keep open minds when new doctrines are expounded, even though they may run contrary to the accepted order of things."