SPORT ON SUNDAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20519, 21 March 1930, Page 17

SPORT ON SUNDAY.

PLEA FOR TOLERANCE.

AUSTRALIAN BISHOP'S VIEWS.

[fhom our own correspondent. ] SYDNEY, Feb. 27. When the Lambeth Conference meets in London at least one Australian divine will debate the subjects with tolerance and breadth of vision. He is Dr. Hart, Bishop of Wangaratta, Victoria, who believes that young people should enjoy their Sunday afternoons at tennis or any other sport, if they should so wish. Avoidance of narrowness is apparently one the bishop's ideals for church dignitaries. " I can see no harm to the spiritual body through indulgence in tennis, golf, and allied pastimes on a Sunday after- , noon," the bishop said in Melbourne the other day. "It is far more important to consider what you ought to do rather than what you ought not to do. Sunday is intended for the development of our higher nature. The worship of God comes first. Mental and aesthetic improvement has a place, with a cultivation of family and social ties. No one should cavil atf tennis or picnics on a Sunday ' afternoon. If we kept our attention on those things which ought to be done, there would be no need to draw up rules of the negative kind. " The fourth commandment has little to do with it," continued Dr. Hart, " exceptin the general principle that the disposition of our time on Sundays should be a matter of conscience, there being naturally a right way and a wrong way. The ° Church of England catechism explains the fourth commandment as meaning that we should serve God truly all the days of our lives. But constant prayer and contemplation on Sunday would be entirely nullified if unkind thoughts and actions —any form of uncharitableness — were allowed to intrude. A clear conception of the Golden Rule on Sundav afternoons is far more commendable than interminable prayer marred by one mean thought. " Even the fourth commandment, only

forbids work, and does not say, ' Thou shall not do any manner of play.' The perfect man should be healthy in body as well as in mind—so why should we, not indulge in healthful exercises on Sunday If the clergymen of my diocese should ask for a ruling whether tennis courts attached to church clubs should be

open or not on Sunday afternoons, I shall have no hesitation in saying, ' Let the young people enjoy themselves.', " The only caution that I would give about sport is that man 'is more than a body, and in some young people there seems to be a tendency t,o develop bodily health and excellence, and omit the cultivation of the mind. There should be much interest in such things as art, music and literature; but, of course, this does not refer particularly to Sundays." - Dr. Hart says he is convinced that the broadcasting of church services cannot be blamed for the poor attendances at church* The decrease in the size of the congregations, he says, is due more to irregular attendances than a cessation of church worship. The proportion of young people was as high as ever.