BISHOP RICHARDS'S VIEWS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 97, 21 October 1924, Page 7

BISHOP RICHARDS'S VIEWS

MISTAKE TO ENTER^INTO THE 'CONFLICT: -- -

(BI WLEORAPH.— SPECIAL TO THE POST.)

.DUNEDDJ, TliisvDay. • Bishop Richards, in his addressat.ths opening of the Anglican Synod yesterday,, said: "I think it would be a mistake foi* the Church to enter "into" thecpnniiti which is being-carried on'inrcpnnection with Prohibition: The Church approaches the.subject of temperance from, within; Prohibition is an approach fromiwith-i out. ; It. may be urged' that .the/iesulf desired in each case is the same, and that in .endeavouring to secure national-tern, perance Prohibition is itself a- religious question, and therefore should have the co-operation of the Church. In so far, however, as it is a religious question, the bnurch has already.pronounced upon i 6 by obedience to her Lord's command ia the consecration of wine to the most sac~ red user But.Prohibition is other "than, a religious question. It is a social one, andvto a large extent, also, it is polk tical; while even amongst devout and high-principled men, there is room for divergence of opinion upon it on tha grounds of expediency: It may be posaibly the best means that can.be devised for freeing the nation' from the enslaving ar.d deadly evils of intemperance, which we all deplore, .but pnthe.othes hand it* may not be. If cannot.be regarded as the ideal way for making men really temperate, and where it had bfjeu already tried it is. not • clear that ife -resulting action is altogether good. . Tha problem is by no means so simple as ib appears. It is both complicated and difficult. The fact is the drinking habits of the people, do not -stand, alone-; -they are connected intimately with the social instincts, with .the . conditiofir.liti'ltha home, with home-trajping, and with^other] things \ too . numerous now to specify. , These all. i, have . "to - be! reckoned with, and .it, .can liard-: ly be expected that'- a satisfactory settlement can be attained by the" simple: expedient of a stroke of :thWperi.at~elec-< tion time, cpmpelling a nation to such a; perilous adventure as Prohibition. But! the question should not" be shelved. "We are all vitally concerned, and" surely if) would be well for the people of different; views to make it a matter-of study and prayer, and to meet together for discusj sion and for counsel upon. it.. But this is not the spirit in which Prohibition ia usually presented in New Zealand. Ifc is brought violently into the region of party strife and of politics, and should the Churclf in her corporate being allow, herself to be dragged into it, just ■■like, any political association, she would be; in danger, of losing her vision" of the; eternal, and. -would certainly ..be weaken-! Ed in spiritual influence, which is hei; peculiar glory. . :