FOOTBALL AND PRAYER

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22201, 18 September 1937, Page 20

FOOTBALL AND PRAYER

to roa iditob or tub puss Sir, —"Verb Sap" in his letter of September 16 is very upset it appears, because I have seen fit to condemn Mr Craven's statement. The first thing I would advise "Verb Sap" to do, is to read my letter carefully, and having done so, reply. I did not insinuate that Mr Craven was not a Christian, neither did I convey the impression that football was an unchristian-like game. There is no doubt a time and place for everything, and to pray for divine assistance in a sporting game against one's fellows does not seem to be very sportsmanlike. This, it seems, is Mr Craven's practice, and according to him, he had to pray very hard to beat New Zealand in the second test match. His prayers were answered, result, victory. I have no doubt Mr Craven is a gentleman and a good player, but I do maintain that he made a very foolish statement when he said that Christ was always with them (the Springboks) on the field, just to assist when necessar-y This gives us the impression that our New Zealanders must be terrible heathens when divine assistance is given to the opposing team. "Verb Sap" will do well to remember that it is advisable to stick to

facts, and not to twist words round to suit himself. I also wish to inform “Verb Sap” that I do not wear a long face, am not a bigot, and have always been a keen supporter of all sport.—* Yours, etc., A. RYAN. September 17, 1937. to rat eoitob or rax raxss. Sir, —I know no more of Mr D. H. Craven's philosophy of life than I read in the daily papers. But I imagine your correspondent. A, Ryan, has mistaken it rather badly. He is evidently startled, when confronted by a-modern young man to whom Christ is a living reality, not a myth, or even a long dead historical figure. Mr Craven, I take it, makes the tremendous, but quite familiar claim, that it is possible to have a friendship with Christ, a friendship which expresses itself, like other friendships, in constant and familiar intercourse. And, since our Friend is omniscient and omnipresent, as well as very human, we can speak to Him at any time, even in the split second of a football field crisis. Nobody would make the absurd claim that a professing Christian, because of the power of prayer, had the fortune of the match in his pocket. The reported summary of Mr Craven’s First Church address nowhere stated that ihe New Zealanders “owe their defeats to the neglect of prayer.” But given this tremendous hypothesis of a risen and eternal Christ, whose delight is to be with the children of men, can your correspondent not understand that a sudden emergency on the football field or elsewhere would naturally evoke a lightning petition to that ever-present Friend, that here and now, Ho would help one to play the man. And if that be incomprehensible to your correspondent—certainly Mr Craven is not the one to be pitied.—Yours, etc., LISTENER. September 17, 1937. TO THE EDITOR OX THE TRESS. Sir.—Your correspondent, A. Ryan, concludes, as if no other conclusion were possible, that when a prominent Springbok prayed ho prayed for victory for his side. Your correspondent concludes; “Christ has been blamed fon many things, but I think this is a new one on decent-thinking, Christian people.” As a rationalist, I think decent-think-ing people, Christian and otherwise, would have supposed that a better spirit between some of the contestants, who were inclined to be overwilling once or twice, was the object of the prayers.—Yours, etc., J.E.H. September 10, 1937. [This correspondence is now closed.— Ed., “The Press.”]