THE NEW PAGANISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22742, 30 November 1935, Page 18

THE NEW PAGANISM

ATTACKED BY BISHOP "The New Paganism” was attacked by the Bishop of Winchester (Dr Cyril Forster Garbett) in his presidential address to the Church Congress at Bournemouth recently (says the Daily Telegraph) . Referring to the perplexity and bewilderment caused by some of the discoveries of our day and Biblical criticism, Dr Garbett said: “Discoveries and conclusions such as these have made it difficult;for many to retain the faith of their childhood. “ Their perplexities have been increased by the way in which some of the popular interpreters of science have used its discoveries as weapons in a campaign against Christianity. They have lost no opportunity of announcing that it has been discredited by modern thought, and that no educated man of ordinary intelligence can any longer believe that Christianity is true.

“A deliberate attack is now made on it on these lines; cheap literature criticising the faith from the alleged standpoint of science is sold almost everywhere and is widely read. Much of this attack is grossly unfair. "But more dangerous than a hostile intellectualism is the growth of a frankly pagan outlook on life. -’The modern man is so absorbed in the cares of this life, and still more in its attractiveness, beauty, and pleasures, that often he has neither the wish nor the time to consider anything beyond it. “ Some of our modern writers, such as D. H. Lawrence in his letters and Mr H. G. Wells in his autobiography, show a real hatred of Christianity, but they are exceptional. “ Most of their contemporaries simply ignore it; Arnold Bennett, with a fairly frequent scornful jibe; Galsworthy, so truly Christian in hie compassion, hardly mentions it. The younger novelists, with one or two exceptions, refuse to treat it seriously. “ The modern pagan has few violent hates; usually he is happy himself and wishes others to be happy. In his views he is kindly and tolerant, but with no strong convictions. He has no hostility to Christianity; he is willing to speak of it with respect as he recognises that it is congenial to certain temperaments, and that on public occasions the Church is useful in providing a seemly and dignified ceremonial. “He is not conscious of any need for God or for the help of any power from above. He has little sense of sin; if he should experience it he attributes it to some obscure complex and seeks for help from a psycho-analyst. “He claims the right to choose for himself his moral standards, in matters of sex, irrespective of Christian teaching. Chastity before marriage he often regards as a stupid taboo. Divorce he treats as the natural escape from marriage if it does not afford him the happiness he expected, or if his affections are attracted by some other woman. “ He looks upon a life after death as a remote possibility far too uncertain to influence his existence here. His plans, his hopes, his ideals are all limited to this world. He treats as unreasonable and absurd the statement that God has paramount claims upon his allegiance and his life. . , , , , , “ It is this paganism which has been spreading through all classes that is by far the most insidious fee which confronts Christianity at the present time. . “ The danger to which Christianity » Great Britain is exposed arises from the permeation of society with the secularist outlook, the tacit ignoring of otherworldly claims and ideals s and the gradual mass organisation of society on a purely secular basis. As this takes place legislation will follow on matters of health, education, marriage, and the family, without reference to Christian faith and morals. . . “ I am convinced that the chief _ issue of our day is whether civilisation in the future will be built on a materialistic or Christian foundation. Beside this, all other questions fall into relative insignificance. . , ~ . .. “ If man is robbed of his dignity as a son of God he stands naked and defenceless before the all-powerful State. In a godless world man will become more and more dehumanised.” Dr Garbett made a strong plea for greater unity among the Christian churches. In a reference to the question of the disestablishment of the Church of England, the bishop said that within a few months the report of the Commission on Church and State would help them in forming an opinion as to whether the time had come for some change in the historical relationship between the two. He added: , . , “ If the Church to-day is to survive, it must be in the world, but not of the world. It must not be so closely attached to its temporal possession that it cannnot cast them' aside if they prove a handrance to obeying the call of the Master. It must be ready if need be to abandon its privileges and endowments if the conditions of the age are such that it can best bear its witness to its Lord in poverty, suffering, and hardship.”