CORRESPONDENTS, VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 266, 9 November 1944, Page 4

CORRESPONDENTS , VIEWS

A UNITED CHURCH (To the Editor) The truth that "the son! of reform is reform of the soul" seems to be increasingly recognised among thoughtful men, whatever their attitude towards orthodox religion; bat the assumption by the Presbyterian Moderator, in his address reported in your recent issue, that this end would be attained by the union of the Christian churches is very much open to question. It is founded on the common, and if possible even more questionable, assumption that "the churches" — or "the Church"—, and Christianity are two names for the same thing. As a matter of fact, they denote two different things! The churches are aggregations of individuals, all calling themselves Christians (but not including all Christians), and the standard of the corporate character and conduct of a church must necessarily be a compromise between that of the best and the worst of its members. Even the best of them are subject to human error and imper. fection; some of the worst ecclesiastical crimes have been committed at the instigation of sincerely religious men. Admitting, as I readily admit, that the churches have done much good, can it be said of any of them that their record is entirely free from stain? Moreover, a united church would be so enormously powerful that it would be joined, and its policy consequently influenced, by multitudes merely for the sake of what they could get out of it. The Moderator's ideal is a noble one; but though an ideal should rise above the facts it should not disregard them; and any attempt to put this ideal into practice, if it got so far as to take concrete form, must result in an intolerable tyranny. M. ALDIS.