CHRISTIAN BASIS

Evening Star, Issue 23908, 11 June 1941, Page 9

CHRISTIAN BASIS

RECONSTRUCTION DISCUSSIONS NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE PLANNED. With the idea, of finding how tho foundations for the Christian reconstruction of the Dominion should be laid, a conference is being convened of leaders, officers, and members of jthe moral and spiritual movements in New Zealand. Tho conference has the patronage and active support of many church leaders. They have signed the convening order and circular letter to all who are thought able and willing to contribute to its deliberations. The date and place of the conference have yet to be arranged Like the Malvern Conference recently held in England under the presidency of the Archbishop of York, the assembly will discuss freely and frankly all moral, social, and economic problems, the discussions being led by men and women who have made a study of their respective subjects. The Dominion conference, however, will be wider in its scope than the Malvern discussions, because those taking part will include representatives of all churches and schools of thought. Frank discussions of the present social and economic order are expected, but, unlike many similar discussions, they will be directed to an examination of faults with the desire to find out and put into effect the necessary remedies. UNITY OF PURPOSE. The conference is designed to show the great degree of unity and common purpose existing in the minds of moral and spiritual leaders and in the hearts of the people. It will, therefore, refrain

from’ discussions on party politics and detailed technical methods, but will positively and constructively outline the fundamental Christian. principles which alone can provide a true basis for the welfare of the .people and a better order. As guiding principles for. the conference, the signatories of the convening order believe that tho wars and social and economic ills which afflict the nations are the result in the first instance of passive and, in some cases, active, resistance to God’s plan for the develop-* ment of the world, and that this plan is available to those who seek it. . They believe, also, that prayers fop the safety and well-being of the nation must be regarded as hypocrisy unless they are accompanied by a sincere intention to find God’s will for the individual and nation as a whole and to give effect to that will whatever may be the apparent costs. DANGERS OF DELAY; In calling the conference at:a,time when the Empire is engaged .in a struggle for its very existence, the conveners take the view that to defer deliberation. on a plan for reconstruction' till peace ’. comes would be disastrous. Thev say there are many visible signs of militant atheism which has plans for the postwar period, and that if these are the only ones available to a war-weary world they will find a fair chance of being accepted. The ■ Christian body must, therefore, get ready now. Christianity, being what it is, inevitably must be accepted. What can happen unless advantage is taken of the present opportunity is that the extension of God’s Kingdom on earth , may be retarded, thus creating more wars and social and economic evils. I