DRINK GAINS HOLD

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 118, 15 November 1945, Page 4

DRINK GAINS HOLD

SYNOD. CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH

The work of his church had suffered by the lowering of the moral tone of the community during the war, said the chairman (the Rev. W. A. Burley), in his address to the Wellington District Methodist Synod yesterday. Drinking had gained a greater hold over youth in general, and he hoped that the Royal Commission on Licensing would have some recommendations to make to remedy the situation. "We consider it is the duty of the Government to restore temperance teaching to its proper place in the schools," continued the chairman, "and that it should inaugurate an educational campaign for public enlightenment as to the nature and effects of alcohol on the human system." His church had always stood for the abolition of the liquor traffic as a long-term policy, and, while it existed in the community, for its restriction. There had also been a serious loss to the church from a lack of agents, particularly in the ministry and Home Mission work. Under the circumstances, in spite of so many handicaps, it had been surprising to find that the church had been able to carry on so well. ' •

The church, said Mr. Burley, commenting upon the recent religious conference held in Christchurch, was not going beyond its rightful sphere in making pronouncements on social, economic, and industrial matters in stating principles, and in indicating the dangerous trends in present-day conditions. "Our Master was concerned with all the people and their conditions of life," he continued. "Our religion has no relevancy if we cannot supply its principles to the life that the ordinary man lives. What is learned from Christ should be brought to bear on the problems which concern all. Man is made in the image of God, and any course of action, or any legislation which terids to do violence to His worth must be condemned." While the secret of the atomic bomb was at present in the hands of one or two nations, that should not continue. The remedy was not to keep other powers in ignorance, because scientific knowledge could not be the monopoly of the few; it had to be shared by the human race, but the nations needed a new spirit to restrain themselves and to use this and other powers for the good of mankind and not for its destruction. The fact that there had been a disposition to keep the knowledge of the atomic bomb development from other nations demonstrated the suspicion that still existed even.between those who had been allies.