CHURCH AND CRISIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 289, 3 November 1934, Page 2

CHURCH AND CRISIS.

REPORT TO PRESBYTERIAN

ASSEMBLY

SUBMISSION OF SUGGESTIONS.

WELLINGTON, Nov. 3.

“We view the present crisis as the consequences of the violation of tlie laws of God, inevitably working out on a world which, in its economic motives and practices, shows abundant evidence of the worship of Mammon and its habitual concomitant, selfishness,” states the report of the economic sub-committee to be presented to the meeting of the Presbyterian General Assembly in Dhnedin next week. “The economic practices and policies of the nations condemn themselves by their tendency to frustration and futility,” continues the report, “by thendenial of opportunity to the younger generation, by the misery and suffering that they inflict on the unemployed, the weak, and the unfortunate, by the social anarchy and resentment they foster, and by their denial of the gracious goodness of God. The selffishness that cripples co-operation manifests itself in the rivalries: ot money-lenders versus property owners, manufacturers versus importers, and producers versus consumers within the nation and without, in all the rivalry of on© nation with others. “God’s law, in contrast to all this, is reverence for life and love to one s neighbour, the strong helping to bear th** burdens of the weak. As this is God’s crisis, it is only by His help that the evils which brought it about can be overcome. MISSION OF THE CHURCH.

“The mission of the Church is essentially spiritual. She is concerned with the production of values in the sphere of character. No improvement in material circumstances assures the production of such values. “Yet since man’s life is bound up with and profoundly affected bv material interests, the Church must concern itself with material welfare, if only to establish that persons are of more value than things. . . . . , “There is no Christian social order as such, but it is the function of the Church (a) to examine critically the existing order of social relationships, approving such as conform to the Christian standard, and condemning such as are sinful or questionable; (b) to present the Christian ideal as brotherly love directing and interpreting justice, and the Christian method as self-sacrifice whose inspiration is the cross ■ (c) to become responsible for seeing that those of her members who are qualified by ability and training grapple with and seek to overcome all those features of the social order which conflict with an instructed Christian conscience. „ “It is the duty of all Christians as individuals and in groups to seek to bring about tlie application of Christian principles to all the relationships °^TheCommittee makes the following suggestions in regard to Christian duty in the present crisis:— “(1) Maintain sympathetic contact with the sufferers from our present disorders, especially . unemployed youth. In this connection we would ur"o all our members to uso tlie remission of tlie unemployment taxation for helping the unemployed. “(2) Counteract the tacit assumption that the present system is an approved Christian social order, and that no fundamental changes are necessary or desirable. Work for the further application of the Christian standard as the test of the worth of any social order. “(3) To be convinced that no economics which disregard Divine realities and principles can be permanently satisfying and determine that, when the goodness of God provides plenty for all, there is a way by which it can be distributed, and that we will help to find it. . “(4) In our personal economic affairs and relationships to be very sensitive to the demands of Christian principle —for example, to maintain responsibility in tlie use of our savings and in i the character of the concerns in which I we invest*’ ’