"THE PERIL OF POLITICS."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1222, 2 September 1911, Page 9

"THE PERIL OF POLITICS."

Under tho heading "The I'cril of Politics: Is there a .Now Tyrannyi" Mr. 1\ A. Atkins, a well-known English religious journalist, has moused a controversy by asserting that i'ree Churches are now largely used for political purposes, and that the Churches should couiino their efforts to evangelistic v.-r.rk. The Nonconformists are greatly divided on the subject, judging bv letters in the London "Christian World'." One correspondent declares definitely: "I think tho time has come when ministers and pastors must bo plainly and faithfully told thai' they have not tho right to a boundless liberty in the churches and pulpit for tho proclaiming of their politics, good or bad, and t'heir new. doctrines and theologies as they like. They must know there arc reasonable and jusliiiablo limitations to themselves as well as to congregations and Churches." On tho other hand, another correspondent writes: "My reason tells me that the man who objects to pontics in tho pulpit must, to bo logie.il, abstain from voting, for if his vote is to mean anything, it proves to the utmost of his power the reality of his daily supplication, "l'hy Kingdom comc.' And unless the mechanical act embodies this spirit it is only waste energy. To accept: from one the teaching of a practical ideal and resent his guidance to a means for its speedier consummation is contusing."