To the Editor of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 539, 4 August 1865, Page 5

To the Editor of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD.

•Ju; —Til vour report 1 liimorning ol' the discussion at (ho Athenicuiu upon tlie origin of specic-i, an expression is imputed to me which, if taken without av qiuilitication, might, I fear, easily lead casual readers to suppose that I had advanced un Atheistical doctrine. I did indeed express the opinion that the tendency of modern scientific discovery is to show that the universe is a self evolving machine, but I aceomp nied lliis opinion ivith an express declaration of belief that a self-evolving universe as much requires the agency of a supreme wiil and intelligence as a universe suddenly coated. As I should be sorry to be misunderstood 01. this point, I bog the favour of your insertion of this letter. I am, lie., J. Giles. August 3rd, ISGS. [We have no reason to doubt tho correctness of the report, as pub ished in tho HeraU) of yesterday, but find room for the insertion of Dr. Giles's letter. We cannot see that he rnucli betters liis position by the explanation he attempts to make.—Ed. N. Z. ll.]

ATHEISM IN OUR MIDST. To the Editor of the New Zealand Hebald. Pir, —As one of the public of Auckland, I thank roil forthe very fair and impartial report- contain -d in your issue of to-day of the into di-ctissinn carried on in the uhemeum 011 the Darwinian theory. In his own ewspaper I'r. Giles, oil trie p'-evious day, had pub-!i-.lie i u report osil.v.lat-?.! to d .nvtge tlw Ath°n;eum with tlie public: fir inn one, on reading it, would hare been I d 10 believe thai a large majority of the members were, unbelievers and that our worthy fellow-eitizen, Mr. Dignan, was a believer also ill the Darwinian theory. Thank Heaven, sir, Atli-a-m has, as yet, but small hold mi the mi ids of people in Auckland, and the members of the •.thena'tim are 110 exception to the rule. Mr. i >iennn never made the remark attributed to him by Pr Giles. Hon- long. however, so happy a state of things "trill ornithine it is hard to sty, if'our puMie debating societies are nv.de the rehi le for the diffusion of freethiuking doctrine-'. I; men holding such views are allowed, through the medium of cheap journalism, to place before the young the alluring aud seductiye doctrines and theories which hayo ever been found so danaerous to the as yet scarcely formed opinions of young men, and more especially of those most intellectually inclined we may look for the worst re ults. The leaven of this great evil is even now being introduced into Auckland society—not merely in suchpub'i' institutions as tlie Athentcum or Mechanics' Institutes, where m->n of ability, it seems, e.lll. in one or two instances, he found to umstitute their t dents to ! he propagation ot infidel do'-tiines, hut the iosi iious poison is being Btealthily i'fu-e l into the privacy of our lam lies, unknown to many of us, in the class of extracts selected and republi-h- d from English works. The purity of the minds of our youth of both sexes is h : ■i 11 secretly and insidiously sapped, and their intellects are being made ready to receive the more open and avowed principles of Atheism, to be found in the adherence of such doctrines as that of Darwin and others. As the father of a young l\ ilv, I feel the importance of th-) evil which is springing tip in our midst. The few remarks which I have felt it my duty to make "ill, I trust, awake parents similarly -imated to myself to a knowle lire of th- 1 dantier to which Hie minds of their children are exposed by a perusal of such publications. I am, yourjj &c., A Family Man*. Auckland, Aug. 3rd, 1565.