SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22166, 20 July 1935, Page 14

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

ATTITUDE OF CHURCHES DEPUTATION TO COUNCIL DIVERGENT VIEWS EXPRESSED The views expressed by the deputation from the Auckland Council of Christian Congregations which waited on the City Council on Thursday nipht to protest against the issuing of permits for Sunday evening entertainments in city theatres are not endorsed by all ministers of religion in Auckland. In some quarters yesterday the opinion was put forward that the Church would be shirking its duty if it were to depend on civil decrees and ordinances for its continued existence.

" All thinking people will appreciate the desire of the Council of Christian Congregations to maintain the quiet Sunday," said the Rev. W. W. Averill, vicar > of All Saints', Ponsonbv. "It seems, however, that it is not to be. Government and private enterprise has long been exploiting Sunday for the sake of profit. It is little use seeking to stem this commercialisation in one direction onlv.

" When the people of Jsew Zealand want a quiet Sunday they can have it by refusing to patronise the theatres and Government and other excursions on that day. " Artificial Protection " " Why should Christians fear what other i>eople do on Sunday? First-cen-tury Christianity won out in a pagan, Sunday-less world. The cause of Christ has not been served by the niollv-codd-ling that has been accorded to it. The Church docs not exist to provide a mild type of Sunday evening entertainment. A Christianity that needs to be artificially protected "hy State and council is not the Christianity of Christ. " Real Christianity can stand on its own merits and has still the power to transform men and nations. It is gathering force to-day to bring about a moral revolution, which alone can remedy the ills of the modern world." The conservative church viewpoint was also disputed by the Rev. F. J. Handy, of St. John's Methodist Church, Ponsonby. " I sometimes wonder," he said, " whether our protests and resolutions, so irritating to the man in the street, are not indicative of a lack of vision. I do not know why we protest so much, unless' it is because we have such a poor opinion of the Gospei of Jesus as to think it needs preferential treatment. Duty ol the Ohurch " We will never save Sunday for the churches by protest. Our only hope is to make our services so real and so obviously the means whereby all that is best and finest in human life is refreshed and reinforced that when men do come to church they will discover that the Church stands for life's best values."

Ministers of the Presbyterian Church, who were approached yesterday were more inclined to take the view espoused by the deputation to the City Council. The Rev. E. Ferguson Fish, of St. James' Presbyterian Church, Ponsonby, said the deputation in his view had expressed the opinion of*the majority of churchmen. He referred to the fact that there was an application before the City Council for a Sunday evening entertainment, the proceeds of which would go to the Anglican City Mission. "It is a deplorable fact," he said, " that a minister of religion should support an application for the use of a theatre on a Sunday." The Rev. W. Bower Black, of St. David's Presbyterian Church. Khyber Pass, said he was not prepared to make a full statement on the subject, although he was inclined to support the views put forward by the deputation. We know that we cannot make morality or religion by issuing decrees," he said, " but we can erect barriers to keep out things that are undesirable." Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church stated that they had taken no part in the controversy and did not wish to enter the discussions at this stage.