“NO PAYMENT FOR SUNDAY AMUSEMENT”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22832, 17 March 1936, Page 5

“NO PAYMENT FOR SUNDAY AMUSEMENT”

TO THE EDITOR. .Sir, —Accustomed as I am to the almost unbelievable vagaries of opinion held by the City Council as to the proper conduct of Sunday enjoyment, I must for this once protest against its petty stupidity in refusing to allow the special exhibition of lithographs (charge Cd per head) to be viewed on Sunday. Apparently the cultural needs of the community and the chance to supply those needs are as naught compared with the Satanic sin of taking money on Sunday, if only to defray expenses. Such a distortion of Christian principles could only be the result of illogical reasoning and savours of the self-righteous claptrap spoken by the few in order to preserve the religious integrity of the many. . , , , Art may not be divinely inspired, but it has reached a sufficiently high plane to be considered one of the standards ox a nation’s culture. Yet apparently the cry is “ Christianity before culture, and what we should do on Sunday is decided for us by men, only one of whom has had anv training whatsoever in the ethics of religion. If the guiding principle be “No payment for Sunday amusement, then I see no difference between paying to see an art exhibition and paying to see Dunedin by bus. The latter is admittedly grist to the council, but both must be equally desecrating to the sanctity of the Sabbath. If this be the council s decision on a small matter, heaven help the city in the larger issues; if this be Christianity then I’ll be agnostic.-—! am, etc Felix Mas. March 16.