POST-WAR PLANNING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 14 October 1941, Page 4

POST-WAR PLANNING

NEED FOR PEACE-TIME | SACRIFICES TRIM Ol PLACE AND PROGRESS AIK HBISIIOP’S ADDRESS TO SYNOD < hristchurch, Oc ( 13. ferentiation is a Divine ordinance for' inan. but it is also clear that the whole ' spirit of the teaching of Christ >s op posed to the exploitation of one nation by another.” said Archbishop West Watson m an address to the Anglican Synod service in the Cathedral to-night. "With a clear conscience the Church can call upon all people to prepare for the sacrifices wine*' will be necessary to remove the stumbling block ol national irresponsibility, especially upon nations like our own which have almost come to regard their privileges and advantages u* a natural right. "In regard to world economics, the principle of equal access to natural resources and the conservation of those sources of food and wealth in the common interest is surely justified by the Christian doctrine of the equal fellowship of all men in Christ. It appears to be a necessary preliminary to the abolition of war. It will entail great sacrifices by the possessor nations and will present a desperate challenge to vested interests. It will call for great sacrifices, but the sacrifices are insignificant as compared with those called fo>- by the modern war.” The archbishop was speaking generally of post-war planning and the Church’s attitude toward various schemes being put forward for nation al or international reorganisation. “It is beginning to be understood that peace and progress call for sacrifices and must be bought at a price,” he said. “We must be prepared to pay the price and must try to educate public opinion so that it will not be surprised if some old prejudices and privileges have to be thrown on the scrap heap for the good of humanity. "The function of . ic Church as such is to keep before mankind those principles which it is convinced can be sustained as being in line with God's Will revealed in Christ,” he said. "It moves on to dangerous ground when it claims divine support or finality for any human programme.” PRIVILEGE Ol WORTH “Of course,” said the Archbishop, “it is hard to conceive a community where some have not the privilege ol position or power, but it is not at all impossible to conceive of a community where such privilege is the result of personal worth or service." When om of the “ten points.” consisting of five principles published by the Pope and five added by Church leaders in England advocated the abolition of extreme inequality of wealth and equal opportunities I for education regardless of race or class, people should ask themselves I whether they would be prepared to I make the sacrifices called for. "Does the Church regard the established order as the best God planned for the world or does it claim opportunity for every human being to be | what God made him capable of bej ingV” asked the Archbishop. “Can we not conserve the values of the old or de • without perpetuating its defects? To which category do oil kings and i millionaires belong?” New orders with national or sectional interests to conserve were apt to find liberty of thought and speech ; inconvenient and o try to suppress it in the interest of solidarity. More I important for the Church than any political or economic prescriptions were the duty of contending for liberty to see and proclaim the truth whereever it might be found. Unless spiritual Jioerty and the opportunity to use ; individual creative gifts with some freedom of choice were secured there i could be no benefit from any material o. economic advantages. "At the same time we must be prepared to revise our ideas of liberty l which have been altogether too individualistic and which have tended to claim for a man a kind of irresponsibility, a right to use his time and money without regard to the good of | the community and a right to amass < possessions out of all proportion to his CHURCH’S TASK "I am afraid that the Church has largely failed to bring home to Chris- ' tians that sense of responsibility to God and our neighbour which might have saved the liberty which is so vital !to us from falling into disrepute. We must make it clear that what we claim |is not freedom from obligation but [ liberty to fufil our obligations to God ! and man. . “The Church, however, felt reluct'ant to identify itself with efforts, however well-intentioned, to solve major difficulties by purely human means. The Church as such has no commission. as I see it. to try to prescribe detailed programmes of action for the world or for the State, but it has a commission to convert men and women to the love of God and their neighbour through the love of Christ and to throw into the battle for right and justice in public and community life stronger and stronger forces of Christia.. citizens who will exert their influence. not from without, but within, an I who will untiringly claim that th? great principles of Christian faith and action shall be made fundameni tal in every department of our national life.” —P.A.