STATE AND CHRISTIANITY

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1935, Page 2

STATE AND CHRISTIANITY

CHURCH CONGRESS PROBLEMS a The Church Congress meeting at Bournemouth in the autumn is to discuss the subject of “Christianity in the Modern State." The discussions will come under a variety of heads, but all are concerned with the central subject (says the London “Sunday Times”).

The Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Garbett, who is to preside over the congress, has written a series of preliminary notes on the discussions. In these he says:—

“The increased powers and claims of ( the modern State constitute the most ( formidable of our time. Not only does , the modern State make unparalleled ‘ demands on the groups of individuals ( within its boundaries, but through propaganda and education it has unprecedented weapons at its disposal for moulding its citizens into harmony with the views which are held by the : party which controls the machinery of government.' “The modern State may use its pow- ' ers to advance the Kingdom of God, ■ but it may easily attempt to impose on the community opinions and practices contrary to Christianity. Already in some countries conflict has arisen between the State and the Church, and in our own country at any time the State may attempt to solve practical problems in connection with education. family life and health, which may bring it into opposition with Christian teaching. POTENTIAL CONFLICT Tn recent years, especially since the war, the increase in the power and demands of the State has been immense. It has for good or evil taken over the whole departments of life once left to individuals or to voluntary societies. In its extreme form it has become the totalitarian State which claims from its subjects the totality of their being; it asserts that it is the sole and ultimate source of all authority: it suppresses opinions of which it does not approve and persecutes those who give utterance to them. It thus may easily come into conflict with Christianity which has another King, the Lord Jesus. “Where the State extends its power fundamental questions inevitably arise: Does the State exist for man, or man for the State? What rights have individuals or voluntary societies against the State? How far can the demands of the modern State be reconciled with the Christian teaching on the value of the individual? At what point and how should the Church resist the claims of the totalitarian S t ci t c s *• “The Communist State is an attempt drastically to remedy economic and social evils'. It is intended as a substiture for the capitalist system, which the Communist regards as responsible ‘for poverty, unemployment, and the unfair distribution of wealth. Communism theoretically is not necessarily anti-Christian, but in its Marxian form as accepted in Russia it is an exclusively this-workl creed, based on class warfare and bitterly opposed to all forms of religioh.

CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIANITY “It is a tremendous challenge to Christianity, which should not be content with repelling its attack on faith and morals, but should also show that social injustice can be removed by the application of the teaching of Christ. Materialistic Communism is a challenge to Christianity to show that it offers a richer and better way of life. ’On “The Family”, one of the subjects to be discussed, the Bishop writes:--"Our civilisation has largely been built up on the Christian ideals of marriage and the family. Even those who repudiated tlie Christian faith once paid homage to its moral teaching. To-day from many directions a relent less attack has been launched on the Christian ethics of sex. The New Morality would substitute a different standard of sexual morality from that which has been accepted in the past, and the State is urged to make divorce more easy than it is at present. “Here again it is not sufficient for

the Christian to denounce these new theories as wrong; he must understand tlie problems which have giien rise to tlieni. lie must be lead! to state reasonably and constructively why lie upholds tlie Christian leaching on sex."