THE CHURCH AND MODERN THOUGHT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19497, 4 June 1925, Page 7

THE CHURCH AND MODERN THOUGHT.

TO THE EDITOR. Slit, —I am sure a largo number of men ;iml women who take their religion seriously have appreciated ami welcomed the very able article? by tl.c Rev. D. Gardner Miller, of Napier, and also your splendid loading article on 11m 23rd nit. Mr Miller deserves credit for having the courage of his convictions. 1 can remember many years apo tJie serious Double in which loading Dunedin minister found himself when he said in the pulpit o- First Church that his “very soul revolted at some of the doctrines taught in the Confession of Faith.” All the fundamentalists were arrayed against him and much to the disappointment of ninny young men who were mom hors of churches, compelled him cither to withdraw or to modify the statement. 1 notice that one of your correspondents, a well-known Dunedin minster, twits non-churchgoers with “being thoughtless, which is only a softer name for brainlessness and shallow thinking.’* As against this, here are words which carry some weight. In his president;!] address i-> modem churchmen, on the scientific approach to religion. Dean Inge said at Oxford in August of last year: “The conilici of science and religion is still a long way from being reconciled. Tt is an open sore which poisons the sui ritual life of the civilised world. It is diffic uit for a man to accept orthodox Christianity as the. churches present it to him without treachery to his scientific conscience. The injury thus inflicted upon religion can hardly be measured. intellectual honesty is to a large extent strained out of 1 lie Church and public opinion within it docs not reflect either the best knowledge or the most candid temper of the community. Our saciotv exists, to cleat with this lamentable state of things ” The Rev. .7. R. Cohn, in “Vital Problems of Religion,” says: “We arc Irving; to live in a world of. antiquated theology "with which we arc absolutely out of touch.” The Rev. Dr Orchard, in his wellknown volume of Advent sermons, written during the war, says in an article dealing with the Churches: “Men knew that y?reaching alone cannot save the world, and, even if 1 it could. our preaching would not do it. Frankly, most men aie bored with our sermons. Tlmy find in Jhern neither chaliciicc nor com.pc 11 nig appeal. r i here is an oxiniordinary deficiency in power, and that is how we are all discussing authority.”- -1 ani etc., Truth Seeker. ; June 3.