AUSTRALIAN MORALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 41, 17 August 1942, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN MORALS

RELIGIOUS LEADERS TROUBLED

(By Telearaph—Press Association—Copyright.)

(Special -Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY,-August 16: An attack on "wartime moral decadence" by the heads of seven Protestant churches in Sydney has again directed attention to what is called "the very serious condition of affairs that threatens the moral stability of the nation." Liquor, lack of parental control, the brown-out, and the new freedoms given to,youth in the war effort have been blamed for the present laxity. The;published protest makes six charges:— • First,, -the--drink'evil has attained alarming proportions. Secondly, young girls are falling victims to intemperance and through it yield to immoral desires. Thirdly, preventives are an- official issue to soldiers going on leave. . Fourthly, the ' advertising arid sale of contraceptives to the civilian population has become a large" trade.

"EROTIC STIMULATION." Fifthly, erotic. . stimulation is being caused by suggestive picture^ in magazines and advertisements,. lewd scenes in some iplays-now being produced, and by, the purveying- through the post of pornographic literature. . Sixthly,' the Government has introduced, a Bill granting, pensions -to the so-called "de facto" -widows,-, thus placing a further premium on the disregard pf the sacred • obligations of marriage. ' / The statement is signed ' by H. S. Mowali; Anglican "Archbishop of Sydney, C; F. Mac Alpine, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Australia; T. M. Taylor,-president of the Methodist Church:of Australia; R. C. Turner, chairman of the Congregational Union; J: M. Crawford, president of the Baptist Union:- S. Stevens, president of the Churches o.f Christ; and E. J Harewood. Commissioner ,of the; Salvation Ai'my. ...,'.. -.- ' ~ The. protest- is widely, supported. The seriousness of the falling birthrate and the rjsing incidence of social disease are stressed by civil as well as church leaders ' . ■ : ':