CHURCH AND THE AGE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1933, Page 3

CHURCH AND THE AGE

SUNDAY HOLIDAY-MAKING

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT / CRITICISED :

. (Special to "The • Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. "It is passing strange that it is only on-Sunday that one can get a cheap ride on a railway train," said the Bey. A, J. Seamer, president of the New Zealand Methodist Church, when criticising the policy of the Eailway Department in the matter of Sunday excursion traffic, during his inaugural address last evening at. the. opening of the church's annual conference in Auckland. ( ■ '•■The-right-use of-Sunday, remarked Mr. Seamer, had much to do -with' character-building, and grave loss ■would: result to themselves and to posterity if it were misused. While conceding the right of all to ,■ decide hpw they should observe the day, provided they did not spoil it for others, the church did not thereby imply that everything that people did on;that day I ■was. right. ./- ' . - . . : j .... "Probably one of the. most unsatis- j factory developments of late years^n oiir Dominion" use of Sunday," the speaker continued, "is the flagrant way in which our Government Rail- ■ Ways, of which after all the Christian /public are part owners, have used public in the placarding of towns; and other widespread publicity efforts, to advertise Sundaygalas and excursions. This criticism, is not directed against legitimate Sunday traffic where the need and demand really exist, but it is opposed to the deliberate adoption of up-to-date advertising methods in order to create the demand." \ :Th© Eailway Department's policy was undermining that spirit of selfdiscipline that was essential to char- .". acter formation, by popularising- the taking of the easier way in conduct, and its action constituted a grave disservice to the young people and to the moral forces of the community. It. was the church's duty, while "avoiding bigotry -and compulsion, "to';.conserve the heritage of the Lord's Day; and; prevent: the. commercialising of that day of leisure which, but for religion, would not have become ayailable:.to the'people. , : ■ ■ ''• THE. GAMBLING HABIT. What he described as "the gambling habits of the community;" also received attention in the presidents address. These wer.e designated as a perversioii of the spirit of adventure-and..-sportl Gambling was something quite distinct from that-noble willingness to take a risk, come victory or. come defeat, ■ which, was so universally admired. True risk must have a worthy objective, and- success. involving loss • ■ and failure to others was too dearly bought. Nor could it be pleaded in extenuation that all life is a gamble, .for real life is anything but a gamble; and the principles controlling insurance and friendly society operations were the very _ reverse of. those : operating. in totalisator and art union, .'gambling. In the latter instances the .principle adopted was the seeking of profit; without service, : and purely : through the loss .of others. Unfortunately in days of .economic stress, the. gambling method made a strong appeaL to people: to seek an easy, though demoralising way. out of their difficulties^ But that method,'it could not be' too strongly affirmed; was ■ antisocial and antiChristian, and Christian people could not be associated with it without denying the essential principles of true social and spiritual well-being. *■ Commending the work of the New Zealand Alliance for the .Abolition of the Liquor Traffic, Mr. Seamer referred to the beneficial effects of that work among^ the Maori people in particular, and.said Christian ethics demanded the promotion of sane legislation to counter such arch destroyers of national character as .Sabbath vulgarisationj gambling, and the liquor traffic. . ■. ■ " • ( . , :',.". THE FUTUBE OF THE YOTTNO. The Bible-in-Schools League propaganda was approvingly mentioned by ,the president, who said that at a time when the future of this young- nation was at stake, because religion,' the first foundation principle of education, was ignored in the curriculum of their State schools, they had nevertheless the amazing and absurd spectacle of-one great ehufch unwilling to co-operate in the attempt to place: in the schools a prepared reading "comprising Scripture extracts. For it was only in the Scriptures that the true basis of ethical and spiritual character was to be found. The exclusion of the Bible from the school meant ' the ' banning of the greatest literature in the world, and the ignoring of its greatest character, in an education system professedly encouraging: the study of great literature and - great men. It must be emphasised that, the alternative to the balancing and improvement of the curriculum proposed by the league was, without doubt, the advent in the future of State-supported denominational primary schools. Concluding with an appeal for the church's support of. the literature department's . endeavours to circulate sound, and wholesome literature in the Dominion, the. speaker urged that members of the conference proceed to their high tasks with sure confidence in God and in the righteousness and far-reaching issues of their cause..