APPEAL TO THE CHURCHES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 5

APPEAL TO THE CHURCHES

TO THE EtUTOB OF THE PRES3, Sir, —This is Christmas 1936, when all Christian peoples are wishing each other all good wishes of hoppiness and prosperity. The irony of it all is, that beneath the surface lies smouldering hate, jealousy, and strife among the nations. , , . , The churches’ appeal for a revival of the spirit of religion; a reaffirmation of belief, and a renewed dedication ol their adherents to the service of the Great Teacher they are supposed to emulate. They are calling on youth to accept their old, worn-out dogmas, to consecrate themselves anew; to prostrate themselves in fill humility before the shrine of their own contriving. What have the churches to offer? Dare the churches sweep out their own Augean stables, and, after full purification, preach the Gospel of Christ dwested of all superstition and error? Will they henceforth close their doors to all wrong-doers, though by so doing they lose much material wealth, yet gain that which is beyond all price, the love and esteem of humanity; close "their doors to the exploiters who fatten on the needs of the poor; expel, drive out of the sacred precincts those who wax fat from dividends from armament firms which manufacture “things to kill” so that they alone may enjoy the fruits of the earth? Or dare they drive out the money-changers who grace the seats of tabernacle and church in all the pomp their ill-gotten gains may provide? This is too much to expect. Already the church has spoken. Again the old platitudes are uttered; yet again does it close its ears and shuts its eyes to the results of its erroneous teachings during these last 2000 years. Still more openly and flagrantly does it stand for the privileges of the rich, v/hi'e at the same time it counsels the poor to accept the harsh stone of reality with the false promise of eternal and exuberant happiness. Nor does it raise its voice, all powerful though it claims to be, to suppress the envious and malicious spirit of the times. It lacks the power of belief in its own dogmas, hence its weakness and failure to attract the people to itself. Believe, and all things shall come to pass is as true of the church to-day as ever it was. Truth attracts, just as surely as a magnet does a piece of steel, while untruth repels just as surely. The great weakness of the church is the precepting of truth but itself wearing a false What wonder that modern youth is seeking a fresh source of enlightenment; that it welcomes error in its many guises; that it is like a moth which is attracted to the lighted candle and ends in death, so youth in, its mad endeavour to escape from the thralldom of these present times may be seared and burned in the flame of false teaching.' And all these new movements which challenge orthodoxy are dubbed as “the spirit of the devil” and must be exterminated at all costs, root and branch; they must be destroyed body and soul rather than the sanctity of existing things. They are the iconoclasts who would help to generate the world. And that is the last thing to be desired by the privileged ones of the earth. There will be more letting of blood, and an ocean of agonised tears ere truth rides triumphantly over error. Looking at the world at large, Christmas 1936 is a time of sorrow, rather than, as it ought to be. a time of feasting and rejoicing.—Yours, etc.. X.y.Z. December 25, 1936.