Decline in Moral Standards

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 105, 5 May 1937, Page 5

Decline in Moral Standards

BISHOP CONDEMNS TO-DAY’S EVILS Per Press Association. MASTERTON, May 3. “The steep decline in the moral standards of the average life to-day was one of the most serious aspects that had to be considered, and one which forced itself more upon us," stated the Bishop of Wellington, tho Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, in an address in Masterton to-night.* It was possible, said the Bishop, to estimate the force of religion in a country by the moral standards prevailing. When he arrived in New Zealand he had been told that there had been more or less a cyclonic disturbance of the whole moral life of the country. A new type of morality seemed to have clawed into the fibre of the nations, forcing out the old Christian view of life and morals. They would have to fight this new menace, he declared* j Referring to the recent Government report on abortion in the Dominion, his Lordship described abortion as a festering sore in the life of the nation, and said that it constituted the biggest challenge to the church that it could possibly have had. The appalling revelations of the conditions existing in the country had to he heeded. When he questioned what was wrong with the moral standards of the nation, he realised that there might be a lot in the stories of the moral evils of dances, of excessive drinking in cars during dances, and of the general lack of moral ideals of sex and of the Christian ideal of parenthood. The position was a ringing challenge to the churches, which were the one body that could stop the spread of tho malady in the country. The only cure was the religious cure. The churches should try to insist on a higher standard. “We have been given a direct challenge,’’ continued his Lordship. “What Are we going to do about it? What good can come of holding public meetings and passing pious resolutions? We might just as well play a set of tennis era game of bridge. It is a job for the Christian citizens of New Zealand. Leave it to the parsons and I am afraid that very little will be done. We are too limited in our actions. Our views nve always suspect because, I think, it is our job. If we speak against ideas of prenuptial intercourse they say that it is just parson ‘ clap-trap’ and that our ideas are contrary to tho new ideas of the nation’s manhood." Ills Lordship said that wo should try to consider how the churches as a whole could improve the standards of the country’s morals and how they could combat the false philosophies of life. “It is the growing generation that I am frightened of," remarked the Bishop “if they are brought up on free love." Once sex morality went, that was the end of tho nation. It was the first time he had spoken on. the subject as he felt he should not do so until the Government report was published. The position, however, made him very sad, and it seemed to him that the need for raising the moral standards was a challenge to us all—a challenge to all that was tlve finest and best in ideals of Christianity and manhood. It was the man outside the influence of the church they wanted, and he urged: “Let’s go out and get him. ou can do that, if you have concern, and true concern means love."