SUNDAY GAMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20071, 8 October 1928, Page 12

SUNDAY GAMES.

Si:r, —I do not propose to debate tho question of Sunday observance with Mr. McNaughton, lest the fact that my views, being so far divorced from his, should lead me to express myself intolerantly. I should, however, like to know what is his authority for regarding Sunday as a day on which rigorous abstention from exorcise should bo practised. Has Mr. McNaughton not become confused in his miricl about" "Sunday" and "Sabbath?". Or does ho interpret "rest" as "sloth?" H.C.L.

Sir, —Is there any distinction, morally speaking, between tennis and golf? Is it ti proper Sunday recreation to disport oneself on the beach and in the surf, but wrong to wield a cricket bat or a tennis racquet ? These questions are prompted by the knowledge that there is not a little hypocrisy connected with this matter of Sunday games. One knows of tennis and cricket officials who oppose these games on Sunday, but, nevertheless, take a dip in the sea, and. in winter, a round of golf on that day. The only logical answer is that if it is lawful to play golf (arid all golf courses are open as a matter of course on the Sabbath), or swim, then any objection to tennis or cricket can be prompted only by muddled thought or by smug hypocrisy. But are any of these things wrong? Can it not be agreed that this question is not one for Parliaments, municipalities or any one section of the people, to decide upon, but an entirely individual question, with answers varying according to the individual. Wo should at least be prepared to allow each one to go the way he conceives to be right. It is the only just solution. And, since those who arc opposed to Sunday games arc given full facilities for spending Sunday in the manner they conceive to bo proper, like facilities should be gr.jntcd to those vho desire Sunday games. A.E.C;

Sir, —For a Scot, Mr. MeNaiighton shows a remarkable lack of those logical and critical faculties which arc supposed to distinguish his race, for, in the course of a presumably serious letter, ho commits at least five gross errors. Ho begins by explaining that Sunday tennis cannot be officially sanctioned because, as long ■ as a minority " rightly" holds a view, the Church cannot over-ride it; his first mistake is the use of " rightly," which begs the question. I take it that anyone who holds a view sincerely thinks he holds it rightly. What Mr. McNaughton means is that ho belongs to a minority holding "(sincerely, if you will) a certain view, (hat that view is the right view, and, therefore, must prevail, which amounts to this, (error No.' 2), that the minority should rule. Error No. 3 is the appeal to history, for I imagine most people are agreed that the mere fact that a thing has been done in the past docs not justify its continuance in the present, unless it has also some intrinsic worth; if this were not so, we should still be burning witches. So, to defend a certain . method of Sunday observance on the ground that it has always been so, is io deny our right to progress in any direction, religious, scientific or political. The . light of history illumines only the back view of a subject, in this case neither so prepossessing nor so important as the front view, which can be examined only in the light of the present and the future. At its best, then, the appeal to history is of little value in a matter of this kind; but here the appeal is at its worst, for (error No. 4) the gloomy conception of Sunday prevailing in Mr. McNaughfon's ; country is not of very venerable antiquity. It is not even as old as Christianity; a little knowledge of Church history would tell him that it dates only from the Puritans, and it is high time we brought our reason to bear on some of (heir conclusions. Lastly (error No. 5). Mr. McNaughton accuses me of not supporting rnv arguments with the weight of my name: that weight, if any (for I have not Mr. McNaughton's confidence on this point), would bring an entirely irrelevant element into the discussion; arguments must stand or fall oi) their own merits, not on those of their sponsors. All I asked was that, failing adequate reasons, officials of various kinds should have the courage ■ to allow those, who can do so without harm to their souls and with profit to their bodies, to play tennis on Sundays. I cannot see that Mr. McNaughton need detain them. I.Z.