THE MOHAMMEDAN MENACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17326, 28 May 1918, Page 5

THE MOHAMMEDAN MENACE

In St. Stephen's Hall, Howe street, last), night, a most interesting lecture dealing with the peoples of the Sudan, their problems and possibilities, was delivered! by Miss Boniwell, the organising secretary, of the Sudan United Mission. Mr W. Gow presided. Mis 9 Boniwell graphically showed, with ■ the aid of maps, the nature and extent of tho Moslem menace, which is now threatening to engulf the whole of Africa. The plan of tho Sudan United Mission is to throw a chain of Christian mission stations .right across the continent from the Niger to the Nile, and so block the advance of Mohammedanism southwards; but as yet there is a huge gap in the middle of tho chain. In tho territory tho mission seeks to occupy there are no fewer than 50,000,000 people, including the most intelligent and highly-developed tribes in Africa. Thai lecturer emphasised the fact that Moham-' mod an ism was essentially a missionary religion, and that its ideal was tho conquest of the world. The special responsibility of Britain for the future of, the Sudan arose from tho fact that not one of the Sudanese tribes would have let Mohammedan traders or missionaries enter their countries before British arms enforced peace, and so gave tho Moslems their opportunity. The largest, missionary training institution in the world was tho Mohammedan University at Cairo, where there were 250 professors and 10,000 students being trained to go out and propagate their faith. The Christian missionaries facing those hordes were as yet so few that it must bo said that Christianity was fighting for its very life in Africa today. Tho lecture was illustrated with &ni abundance of good slides, and Miss Boniwell gave special attention to the worie being done by the New Zealand and Australian representatives of the Sudan United Mission at Melut, far up the Nile. Miss Boniwell will speak in the Car gill Road Methodist Church to-night.