CHURCHES AND MODERN LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12272, 16 May 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHURCHES AND MODERN LIFE.

The seven elaborate volumes dealing entirely with the religious life of London, which Mr. Charles Booth has published this week, as part of his great series on the "Life and Labour of the People of London" (Macmillan), furnish the richest material for self-examination to all the Churches. . . . Are the people of London growing more or less religious in the definite sense that this word is understood by Churchmen and Nonconformists? The answer seems to be, Not in this sense more religious, but less definitely irreligious. "Among the working classes there is less hostility to, and perhaps even less criticism of, the churches than in the past. The secularist propaganda, though not suspended, is not a very powerful influence. Pronounced atheism is rare." The wave of active atheism which passed over the London working class' a generation ago has notably died down during the last twenty years. But, on the other hand, though the clergy are on the whole more respected, there is little sign of an increased acceptance of the definite teaching of the churches. If we look at the latest results of the religious census which the Daily News is conducting with such energy we find that of a population of 3,162,156 only 676, have attended any kind of religious service- on the days when the census was taken.'• The mental life of the workingclass is undoubtedly very much more active than it was a generation ago, but religious interests have not gained in proportion, and pleasure, amusement, hospitality, and sport have perhaps even encroached upon the sphere oi religion.

In Southern countries the working-class have the habit of indulging in every kind of sport, and amusement without foregoing their attendance at -Mass on the Sunday, but in England the one interest seems to extrude the other. "Taking London as a whole,'' says Mr. Booth, " it is the young children alone who are in the mass responsive." Yet. "though easily won, they are held with difficulty, and there is little continuity in their religious training." Elsewhere Mr. Booth remarks that the zealous desire to keep the young in touch with the Church and the despair of doing it otherwise are the great motives of the confessional. The habit of the home gradually prevails over the precepts of the school or the influence of the churches. Girls, as we might naturally suppose, are moro amenable than boys, and. " throughout London the female sex forms the mainstay of every religious assembly of whatever class." If the truth is frankly set- down, the churches as a whole, whethei Anglican Roman, or Nonconformist, are making little headway with the male sex. Individual preachers have great success, selfsacrificing clergy, especially those who live a life of voluntary poverty, have great influence, but real attachment to the churches, and to their forms of belief does not increase, at all events among men. j

What are the causes? Mr. Booth, while doing full justice to individuals, scatters the blame impartially over all the churches. . . . None of the parties in the Church, whether High, Low, or Broad, have solved'the problem of adjusting their doctrines to the actual life of the people, and while they continue to debate their dogmas, the stream of opinion runs by and leaves them lifeless and stranded,

Mr. Booth is in some respects not less severe on the Nonconformists. He finds some of them too exclusively middle-class, too self-complacent and self-confident. . . Mr. Booth comments specially on the attitude of the. Church of England clergyman to his Nonconformist brother. At its worst it is a most unedifying mixture of social and spiritual pride. But there is, nevertheless, considerable comfort in the general outlook. There is a stir of life, thought, and aspiration, which in the broadest sense makes for religion. There is increasingly the admirable influence of the individual worker who gives -himself to the cause with a zeal and self-sacrifice which are wholly Christian. But the churches in their corporate capacity have clear!}' to bring themselves abreast of the times—in the popular phrase of the moment, to " wake up."Westminster Gazette.