STUDENTS AND RELIGION

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27676, 4 June 1955, Page 11

STUDENTS AND RELIGION

RENEWED INTEREST IN AUSTRALIA

Religion has displaced politics as first interest among the students of Sydney University, and the same could be said about many other universities in Australia, said the Dean of Melbourne (the Very Rev. Dr. S. Barton Babbage) yesterday. Dr. Babbage, who is principal of Ridley Theologic?! College, Melbourne, has been conducting evengelical missions in Australian universities for .the last few years, and has been impressed by the renewed interest in the Christian faith among students and college staff members. The missions follow the pattern of those held at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in Britain.

Next week Dr. Babbage will give a series of addresses on the theme, "Modern Man in Search of a Soul” at the Evangelical Union’s' mission at Canterbury University College. The title of the addresses had been taken from an essay by Jung, the Austrian psychoanalyst, who pointed out that mans’ problems were ultimately insoluble, apart from a faith in God, ne said.

"Today’s multitudes are frustrated, cynical and perplexed, and only the Christian faith can bring them sanity,” Dr. Babbage said. “Our present state of spiritual sterlity is indicated by the increasing prevalence of suicide and mental illness. One in seven persons spends some time in a mental hospital and I believe that sanity and sanctity are closely allied. Spiritual assurance will bring emotional stability and mental peace.” Signs of a spiritual revival in Australia could be seen in the fact that theological colleges were packed to capacity with students, he said. At Ridley College, the numbers of students had increased fourfold in the last few years. Signs of a revival could also be seen in the works* of modern novelists and poets in Britain and other parts of the world. Dr. Billy Graham, the American evangelist, would visit Australia some time before the Olympic Games next year, he said. “I have been immensely impressed by Dr. Graham’s campaign. He is a man of passionate sincerity and of unusual sanity. His campaigns have been marked by wise restraint and careful planning and he has taken infinite care to link-up his converts with their own churches. The significant point is that every Christian denomination has testified to the power and value of his missions. I confidently expect that his mission will strengthen the Christian witness in Australia,” said Dr. Babbage. Dr. Babbage graduated M.A. with first-class honours in history from Auckland University College in 1936. He continued his studies in England, where he gained his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1942.