MORAL PROBLEMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 14

MORAL PROBLEMS

ARCHBISHOP'S APPEAL DUTY OF THE PUBLIC NEED FOR SANER, OPINION There was urgent need for Christians to face the whole question of the lowering of the moral standard and to take a definite stand on the truth of God's moral law, stated Archbishop Averill when referring in his address to the Anglican Synod yesterday to tlio findings of the Government committee on the prevalence of abortion. Christians, he said, must bo prepared to make their contribution to a truer and saner public opinion upon the Christian ideal of marriage and upon all sex relationships. "The Government report 011 tlie prevalence of abortion," said the archbishop, "calls for more than condemnation of the murder of potential children—it demands a still more searching inquiry , into cause and effect and a far more sympathetic attitude on the part of the Government to the religious training of the children of this land. When we have said all that we can in mitigation of the crime in some cases, wo aro still face to face with the fact that abortion is a sin against God, against the human body, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, against the unborn child and against the welfare of the country." , The archbishop quoted a leader in the Herald and urged careful consideration of its question "of what worth are all the boasted virtues and achievements of this favoured country . . . when this is the state of things in a matter of deep moment." It was undoubtedly the duty of the Church to face more courageously the whole question of the lowering of the moral standard and to bear faithful witness to the Christian standard of purity among those who professed to beliove in God. Surely all tlioso who had any real sense of patriotism would not turn a deaf ear to the appeal to co-operate with the religious forces in Now Zealand in their efforts to raiso the moral and characters of the inhabitants of what was often boastfully called "God's own country." He nlso appealed to young people in New Zealand to take a definite and vigorous stand for purity of life and unselfish Christian ideals.