Task Of “Living Church” With “Live Issue”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29010, 26 September 1959, Page 18

Task Of “Living Church” With “Live Issue”

A living church should grapple with such live issues as nuclear war, race relations and economic justice, said the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand (the Right Rev. Dr. J. D. Salmond) when he spoke to a large congregation in St. Paul’s Church, Christchurch.

Dr. Salmond was presenting an account of his observations as New Zealand delegate to the recent World Presbyterian Alliance held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. South America. said Dr. Salmond, was a continent of great variety, of extremes of wealth and poverty and of undeveloped resources. It was also a continent in which moral integrity in public life was not of the highest quality. He said that religion in South America was set against a background that was pre-reformation Catholicism. It appeared at present that the Roman Catholic authorities there were as concerned about the growth of the

reformed churches as they were about the growth of communism, said Dr. Salmond. Rapidly Growing Brazil, he said, had the most rapidly - growing Presbyterian Church in the world. More than 500,000 were baptised in the faith, he said. Also within that country there appeared a complete absence of colour problems ‘‘from the lightest shade of white to jet black, they all live, work and worship together.” Dr. Salmond said it had been an education to learn that “today, only a small percentage of the world’s Presbyterians speak English with a Scottish accent.” The general council was deeply concerned that the church should not isolate itself from the burdens of human relationships but that it should deal with the burning problems of today. Ethical Religion As poverty, disease and injustice often provided the seeds for communistic infiltration, the council thought the only answer to communism was an ethical religion which would inspire its people to wage unrelenting warfare against such causes. At the conference, one South African delegate had expressed surprise to him about the Rugby controversy in New Zealand, said Dr. Salmond. In conversation with a South African professor, Dr. Salmond said he was told there was no reason why Maoris hould not be included in the 1960 All Black team. The professor told Dr. Salmond the decision was the New Zealand Rugby Union’s. South Africa stood neutral.

Dr. Salmond was welcomed by the IFoderator of the Christchurch Presbytery (the Rev. K. L. Warren) and by the convener of the assembly’s committee on economical affairs (the Rev. R. M. Rogers).