“'Anti-God Campaign”

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 30, 29 October 1932, Page 13

“'Anti-God Campaign”

Sir, —It is to be feared that the New Zealand Welfare League’s mode of reasoning is a trifle nebulous. The league says: “It is no concern of ours what France does within her own boundaries. Had France instructed her agents here to inaugurate a campaign against religion in the Dominion,” etc. This. is a piece of flimsy sophistry. Atheism is atheism, no matter how it is circulated, and the method of its circulation is immaterial to God-fearing people, who should denounce with righteous indignation atheism how, when or where it may come.

The noted works of atheistic or antireligious writers from France or any other non-Russian country have found their way to New Zealand, and the influence is felt (and has been felt even before ibe Soviet came into existence!) just the same. Has the Welfare League confined its atheistic study to Russia? If the league has a genuine concern and trembles for the spiritual welfare of people who may be influenced by atheism or atheistic writers and their propaganda—any book circulated on a subject is propaganda—from whatever source, it would denounce all of them impartially and' not confine its pious onslaughts to Russia. That is the point which the league either does not or cannot see. The league’s reference to working up youths in our industries to strike action is away from the point, as I was discussing only the religious (or non-reli-gious) aspect of the matter. The league further says that I must be “dense” if I really believe that the “league’s views on religious matters would affect the fact that this auti-God campaign has been ordered from Moscow.” As no such statement was made by me, the “denseness” does not, in this particular, rest with me, but rather with the league. Certainly the league’s statements about “Russian atheism” do not affect the presumed fact that an atheistic campaign from Russia is afoot. Nor is it likely that the “Russian atheists” would feel upset or in any wise affected by the league’s castigations. But the league’s concern for the religious welfare of New Zealand is quite another matter, and it is to be profoundly regretted that anyone who is worried about the souls of men and women should be dismissed with the report that it is “irrelevant” when such souls inquire and seek spiritual light from, the pious regarding the latter's religious views.—l am, etc., OMEGA. Wellington, October 25.