THE FIELD OF EDUCATION

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21707, 14 February 1936, Page 10

THE FIELD OF EDUCATION

SCENE OF CHURCH’S BATTLE

WAR AGAINST “NEW PAGANISM”

TASK REVEALED BY MODERN CONDITIONS

"The conflict between Christianity and modern paganism will be fought in the field of education, and it cannot be too solemnly emphasised that, the church must be effectively at work in that field,” declared the Rev. E. P. Blamires (newly-elected president of the Conference of the New Zealand Methodist Church, and also director of that Church’s youth work), when delivering his inaugural address last night in Christchurch. Taking as his theme “The Creative Tasks of the Church,” with special reference to Christian education, Mr Blamires said the need for the church to call and inspire men to these tasks was revealed by the condition of the world to-day. Looming large in the foreground of the modern world were the age-long enemies of human well-being—ignor-ance, fear, greed, cruelty, hatred, unbelief, and all the ugly brood of human lusts, in their twentieth-century manifestations in a secular materialism, atheistic communism, imperialistic capitalism, and mammon-worshipping materialism. One name—paganism—would suffice to brand that terrible array. Amid such conditions every nation was watching the church; for her it was a time of testing. Happenings in Germany and Russia revealed that the' last thing a totalitarian state would tolerate was that a church should give its first loyalty to Christ. “I may not be a prophet,” said Mr Blamires, “but it seems to me inevitable that the church all over the world, if she will not compromise, if she is faithful to her own world-wide brotherhood and loyal to her Lord, if she will not trample on the Cross, must face the fires of persecution in our time.” Meeting “Massed Forces” After suggesting that the problem was basically an interior, personal one, requiring a sense of God-consciousness in. individuals, Mr Blamires spoke of the corporative creative task of the church in facing up to the battle with “the whole massed forces of paganism,” and to expound the part that Christian education must play in that undertaking- He mentioned four aspects of creative education —education by sharing, especially in relation to spiritual fellowship; education with freedom, emphasising the sacredness of personality; education scientific; education for “wholeness." “We are at present pre-occupied with preaching,” he said. “I do not undervalue preaching. May preaching power in the church, increase. But seriously I say that the church will decline unless the minister is teacher as well as preacher, or at least has a trained co-worker for the educational leadership.” Emphasising the desirability of a radical change in Le method of pre l sentatiort ofMhe messagfe, and of church life* and work in general, Mr Blamires ysaid that in advocating education in these matters there was no thougnt whatsoever of superseding evangelism, but only of adding to its effectiveness. While aggressive evangelism, if by that expression they meant earnest and challenging evangelism, was certainly desirable, there was a danger of evangelism being aggressive, in an objectionable sense—impatient, coercive, violating the sacredness of personality in a way that was quite alien to the spirit and method of Jesus. Educated evangelism would avoid that snare. Mr Blamires, emphasising the value of scientific method in religious education, to correct the present wastefulness and futility of much religious effort, instanced the example of many nations —more alert than most of the churches in this respect—in putting education first in their policies, believing in its power to mould national life and destiny, anu equipping teachers, to that end. with a knowledge of psychology in its relation to the laws of child development. State Education “On Trial” Viewed in the light of the desirability for “wholeness” in education — education of the whole personality and for the whole of life, and not merely a compartment thereof—and remembering, with Ruskin, that either education was good for everything, or it was good for nothing, it must be boldly affirmed that State education was “on trial.” Referring to New Zealand, where ' religion was excluded from the schools, though it was the basis of character, which was the declared aim of the system, Mr Blamires said it must be admitted that but for sectarian quarrels in the past that would probably never have happened. The Nelson system was a “back door” concession. The Bible-in-Schools Bill would be a real step forward, even if it did not bring them to the terminus. All who taught the Bible must be helped regarding content and method, and qualified by spiritual sympathy. Until a good solution was found of the problem, the State system of education, under which at present children were denied their spiritual birthright, must be deemed to be on trial. If necessary, sooner or later, the Christian community must cease to depend upon the State, and at all costs provide real education. In any event the State must not be allowed to assume that it had a monopoly of education, as was assumed in some countries where education was in danger of exploitation in the interests of militarism, capitalism, or exclusive' nationalism. In order to achieve the “wholeness” af education, it should be made a matter of unified co-operation between the honie, the church, and the State.