STRONG WORDS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1927, Page 8

STRONG WORDS

PERILS OF DANCING

CONDEMNED BY MINISTERS

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Eveni-Q Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. At the Methodist Conference yesterday, the Rev. H. Eyan, of Bemuera moved that the conference draw attention to the regulation of the Methodist Church against dancing, to its moral and spiritual perils, and to the fact that rlie mission of the Church could ■well be carried out without the introduction of dancing in any shape or form. Mr. Ryan said he took up the matter with great hesitation. "The Methodist Church has set its face against dancing practically all through history," Mr. Eyan said. "This is not through narrowness but because we have seen something of the evil in its atmosphere, influence, and results. In these days it is simply chock full of temptations. In my own ministry the greatest and most terrible tragedies I have had to handle in our people's homes have come directly through dancing. In many respects it is causing these tragedies more than drink. . . . There are some good church people who buy art union tickets, some who drink wine—particularly at wedding parties—but that does not say tho voice of the Church should be silent. Even good people are not immune from the possibilities of modern ruin. Dances in the home can easily lead to the wider field of the public dance with its semi-savage and immoral dances." The conference secretary seconded the motion.'

The Hcv. E. T. Cox, of Whangarei said that they had recently granted £100 for the military camp work of the V.M.C.A., yet this organisation encouraged dancing from one end of the Dominion to the other. He drew attention to the conduct of numerous bocial gatherings held under the auspices* of the Young Men's or Young Women's Bible Class movement, where dancing "was always held. "There are dangers attached to dancing to-day, and I know it," continued Mr. Cox' "but I want you to consider these questions. Dancing is a form of beauty-in motion just as the drama is beauty in action and music, a form of beauty in sound. How many members of the conference witnessed the dancing of Pavlova? That was one of the most charming and exquisite programmes I have ever seen."

"Dancing is an unspeakable curse and one of the biggest abominations of modern society," declared the Rev. T. F. Fee, of Christchurch. "The vilest passions of human nature are calculated to be appealed to and I defy anybody to refute that."

The motion was carried, one or two voices being raised in dissent.