IS THE WORLD WORSE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11246, 26 June 1922, Page 4

IS THE WORLD WORSE

THE i;rv. DR. GIBB'S ASSERTIONS. «To the Editor "X.Z. Tiroes.") tfir,—Contradiction of great an am thorny ;is Dr. Gibb mu?t be done with tear and trembling. the Rev. Air Maurice Holland iloy> not agree with Dr. Gibb that the world i.- worte. But the ll«r. Mr Holland waa» right and Dr. Gibb altogether wrong. Besides, does Dr. Gibb realise- that it the "orld is he is only uttering hia own condemnation anti verifying what the Chief Justice has said about religion. Sir Robert Stout’** dictum was “that religion has failed, and that we cannot rely on a Government or a people.'’ Yet it is a well-known, fact that there is less crime and immorality, as judged by the statistics throughout the British Emmie, and particularly in New* Zealand to-day, than there was before the war. and it has been shown that Mr E. C. Cutton, the S.M. of Auckland, was not correct when he spoke of the moral decadence of the people of this oountrv. And as regards Great Britain it is well, known also that there, there is less crime and immorality, and infinitely less drunkenness to-day than there was in 1914. The law of auto-suggestion m to-day much in practice among people who want to believe what they say by saying it often. However, Sir Robert Stout has attributed improved morals and lessened criminality in this country to the influence of our educational system. At all events crime per thousand of the population has fallen from 44 to 28 since 1887, the date of the institution of our system of education. Now, if religion has failed it i$ not because it is religion. Christianity* has not failed because it is Christianity. Religion has failed because of the intolerance, the bigotry and hatred of ite advocates. Christianity has been transformed into churchianity, and most ministers, like most men in other callings “give their people, or their customers what they think they want." Look at Bifole-reading Germany 1 Germany before the war was the most religious nation, in Europe. So religious were the people of Germany, Arom the Kaiser down, that they betiJNd they were the instruments in the hands of th e Almighty to spread their religion and their kultur throughout the world by German domination of the world. Their religious teachers believed as the Kaisei did,that they were the“cho6en people": and it was their religious -belief that if the world failed, or objected to come under the power of Germany, and the religious influence of Germany, then it. were butter that the other nations should bo put to the sword and destroyed off the face of the earth. That was the' Germans’ idem and probably Six Robert Stout had that in mind when be declared "religion has failed." Hath not the whole course of human history proclaimed that out of religious intolerance the most iniquitous. the most frightful, the most cruel warier? and persecutions have come? The religious abstemious Turk murders a million Armenians and cries “Braise be to Allah!" Sorely these things were present to the mind of Sir Robert Stout when he gave out the dictum that "religion has failed, and we cannot rely upon a Government or people." If Dr. Gabb agrees with Sir Robert Stout, does he agree that that is the Chief Justice's meaning? The religious man who advertises his religion invariably and unquestionably conveys the idea that he ia so much better man his neighbour. Hence ‘'wowser" becomes a synonym of ‘'pharisee." But the religion of "fear God, honour the King, and respect yfrur neighbour as yourself" is not the religion that fails. The religion that fads is the religion of intolerance, persecution and hatred. And it is remarkable that many so-called religious people are the most intolerant. The religion. that has failed is the reHgion that makes many self* styled religious persons jealous of their neighbours, envious of their possessions, who seek not to build up from the bottom, but to pull down from the top. who speak of love of all mankind with their mouths and stimulate hatreds, social antagonisms and all uncharitablenees in their hearts—that is the religion that has failed. That is why many of our churches in New Zealand are empty, and our church courts complain of the indifference of the people. Tbe intolerance, bigotry and unreasonableness of some ministers of religion has driven the more thoughtful man and women away from church. Some churches to-day have become so daasy, ao highly respectablet so intolerant. so much, tbe mere pastime of the wefl-to-do, that if Christ himself were to come to earth again ant* do the things that He did. His professed followers of this generation would disown Him, and denounce Him as did. the Pharisees or Wowsers of His own time.

That many of the churches are empty and some so-called leaders of religion are proposing amalgamation of chnrehes on the grounds of economy, does not provo that religion has failed, sad Sir Robert Stout would probably be the last man to affirm that true religion could fail. Probably what the world wants to-day more 'than anything else is a revival of religion. But it must be the real stuff, not the pinchbeck stuff tbet countenances profiteers—whether wdHdng man or manufacturer—for what they yield t< tbe upkeep of the ordinances; otherwise the words of Christ may have to be re peated with greater emphasis: "My house is tbe bouse of prayer. Rot ye have made ft a den of thieves!" J. D. 5 rev WRIGHT. Wellington, June 16th.