CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 19893, 15 June 1928, Page 9

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

BANISHING THE WORLD'S FEARS ‘The Place of Christian Education in the Making of a New World ’ was the subject oi aft address delivered by Dr Poole to a largo and interested audience in First Church last evening. The speaker pointed out how a Christian education would be the vital factor in eliminating all fear from the minds of the world’s inhabitants. Sir Edward Sharp, president of the BriuTn brancli or the Sunday Schools’ Association, gave a short address. _ The Rev, Dr Herrington was in the chair, and he briefly introduced the speaker. Sir Edward Sharp, who said that ho himself had been a Sunday school teacher for fifty-seven years, announced that be conveyed to all Sunday school workers in New Zealand the greetings of the National Sunday School Union of London. In dealing with the object of their visit, the speaker said that they wanted parents to take a big interest in the religious life of their children. To attain objects of the most useful nature and to guard against upsets, we must bring ourselves to live as did the disciples, who, although poor men, did much for the world in the service of Christ. If we wanted to create the tight atmosphere between scholar and teacher we must look to it that the teacher tried to understand Hind Hie. Sir Edward stated that he was a great believer in prayer meetings, in Christian Endeavours, and in such bodies as the Bible reading associations in England. Great objects were attained by bringing ourselves into touch with the Bible and in pen shading others to do the same. He understood that all who were present were working on the temperance question, which he contended was a splendid movement. In conclusion he expressed the Wish that all teachers should get into touch with the religious life of the child by visiting the Sunday schools. Dr Poole said that he . wanted his listeners to accept the proof that the ivorld was so badly shattered that nothing less, than rebuilding it represented a sane, procedure.' One thing that had wrecked the world was flic

assumption that altruism had no place in it. Personally he believed That we were not living under biological necessity,- nor did die believe that egoism was the only force by which we-could exercise vital control. If biology had a place altruism also had one. His belief was that he enjoyed a heritage that ■ was linked to Adam as the first man and to Jesus as the second. It was .the evasion of the belief that altruism had a place in the world that was ruining it. For. the last sixty, years we-.had been living under the assumption that the only motive sufficientlystrong to-guarantee the progress of civilisation Was the desire tor acquisition -through competitive struggle for property. Education did not necessarily mean a pouring into the mind a vast quantity of informative matter; rather it was the introduction of control into experience Therefore any act tending to give control was education, and religious education also meant the introduction of control into experience. “ Fear,” said Dr Poole, “ is the disease of twentieth-century civilisation." He added that ton years after the arraislicohad been signed, after 20,000,000 people had died as a result of the .war, there were one and a-quarter million more men under arms in Europe than there were in 1913. If we meant anything when we said that we engaged in war to end war what did it mean when, before the time of being ready to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, we had tins marked increase in spite of the fact that three-quarters of a million of the German Army had been disbanded. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking to the House oi Commons last year, had reminded those present that out of every £1 levied in taxation 16s went to pay cither for old wars or in preparation for now wars coining on. Altogether, there were live groat basic fears. In the case of warlike preparation, this fear, this obsession. this phobia had been behind it all, did if only they could use the Christian religion for the purpose of supporting an antidote to the effects of suen a fear, much good would be accomplished. In dealing with what he termed the biological fear, the speaker said that a certain section of the people believed that the menace of present civilisation was that sooner or later the coloured, or unprivileged races, would contest for supremacy with the white man. The belief that some people entertained was that Armageddon would come in the form of a colossal struggle between the depleted white men and the virile coloured men, a war in which people saw the whites yielding. Again,- it was stated that in 1913 England had the second largest birth rate in Europe, being exceeded only by Germany. Now, however, the English birth rate had dropped from 36 per 1,000 to 16.9. Here was fuel to feed the morbidity of their outlook. To a great many people this was a biological problem that created fear and suspicion. Because of it the world was thought to bo in a turmoil, and this fear was making inroads upon our serenity. Other people said that a psychological element constituted fear. Dr Poole referred to what they called the “mob” mind, the “jazz” mind, or the “ movie ” mind. This type of mind sought to obtain a maximum amount of pleasure with a minimum of intellectual effort. The trouble seemed to bo that a number of people nowadays did not trouble to think, being inclined in a way to let others do it for them. It was this type of mind which prevented men from speaking fearlessly, for instead they congregated, and as "a result of the conference came a pronouncement, beautifully blended and exquisitely tempered, in order that the blame should fall on nobody. Then, again, people entertained what they called an economic fear, a state of affairs which brought forth prophecies that some terrible tragedy arising out of an economic food shortage would eventuate. There was some truth in this kind of economics, said Dr Poole, but there was also a great deal of humbug talked about it. In Australia there were only two people to the square mile; in London there were 616 to the acre. As long as there were continents such as Australia there should, bo no fear of a shortage. This fear would be removed if wo could fefc the necessities of life out of the hands of gamblers and speculators. A great many people declared that the big fear was the administrative lear. The problem of administration was tremendous, but some day we would wake up to the belief that friendship wns a better way' to settle disputes than battleships. Friendship would smooth out all administrative difficulties, aud reconciliation, co-operation, and progress would become the faith, hope, and love of the world. The last fear with which the speaker dealt with was that of religion. In this connection some folks had the idea that people had lost their old-time piety, and were lacking in devotion and fidelity.

In conclusion, Dr Poole explained that the work of Christian education was to build a world free of all fear. However, he did not want to lead people astray from their loyalties. Nationalism should always bo the starting point, not the destination, anddenominationalism a thoroughfare, not a cnl-de-sac. EveVy loyalty was strengthened and enriched by contact with Jesus. The trouble with many people was that they had their loyalties inverted. The sooner they wore put in order the better. Dr Poole then detailed in order of importance the loyalties that should ho observed. The supreme loyalty was to Jesus Christ. Secondly, there was the loyalty to the Kingdom of God; thirdly, to the Christian Church; to a. vibrant, unswerving Protestantism; to a groat non-conformity; to a generic church, and, lastly, to a particular church. He believed that everyone in the Sunday school world was building a spiritual league of" nations, and that every Sunday school teacher was an ambassador of peace. Through the unspoiled children of this and other generations we were out to rebuild the world, believing that the heart of a child was the highway to understanding. On the motion of the Rev. Mr Standage, Dr Poole was accorded a henrtv vote of thanks for his address.