SUNDAY SPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18764, 18 January 1923, Page 4

SUNDAY SPORT

(Fhom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 11. Condemnation of indulgence in sports and other amusements on Sundays, and a plea for a more Christian observance of the day have been the subject of a manifesto issued on behalf of the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist Churches of New South Wales. The manifesto states that the lenders of the churches cannot but view with do«p anxiety the growing disposition on the part of many to rob Die Christian Sunday of its distinctive character, and that way they believe lies grave peril to the moral standards of the people. They urge upon the members of the community, and especially upon those who occupy positions of leadership or trust, to weigh well the following considerations; —■ (1) The sotting apart of one day in seven as specially sacred is an institution of Divine appointment which the Christian Church has recognised from earliest times and which has become a bulwark of our modern civilisation. (2) The Christian Sunday has lipiped to build up those high moral standards which arc part of our heritage tc-day. It is important to consider whether encouragement of the nrescmt day demand for Sunday sport and amusements would not lower those standards for the generations to come. (3) The snored character cf Sunday as a day of opportunity for worship ought not to bo endangered by the desire on the part of a section of the community for recreation and pleasure on this day, especially in a country where there are so many other opportunities for these things. (4) Sunday sport and amusement sooner or later involve Sunday labour which, with the increase of Sunday trading, destroys the sanctity of the day as one of rest and worship. The theatrical employees have already appealed to the churches for support against the attempt to introduce Sunday entertainments, ami they are representative of many others who would he affected by encroachment upon the Christian Sunday.

It is likely that there will he organised effort on the part of the churches along the lines indicated in (he manifesto. Definite governmental action against. Sunday sport, has just been taken by (be Victorian Cabinet, in a prohibition of (he playing of games in public places on that day. Already Victoria has rigid laws regarding tho observance of the Sabbath, one that has caused a good deal of opposition being tho prohibition of the issue of newspapers on that day.