THE NEW WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24737, 14 October 1941, Page 8

THE NEW WORLD

EQUALITY FOR ALL NATIONS INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATIONS SCRAPPING OF OLD IDEAS (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Oct. 13. "It is clear to is that national differentiation is a Divine ordinance for men, but it is also" clear that the whole spirit of the teaching of Christ is opposed to the exploitation of one nation by another." said Archbishop WestWatson in his address to the Anglican Synod service in the cathedral tonight. "With a clear conscience the church can call upon all peoples to prepare for the sacrifices which will be necessary to remove this stumbling block of national irresponsibility, and especially can it call upon nations like our own, which have almost come to regard their privileges and advantages as a natural right. Equal Access to Resources

"In regard to world economics," the archbishop said, " the principle of equal access to natural resources and the

conservation of those sources of food and. wealth in the common interest is surely justified by the Christian doctrine of the equal fellowship of all men in Christ and appear to be a necessary preliminary to the abolition of war.' This will entail great sacrifices by the possessor nations, and will present a desperate challenge to vested interests. It will call for great sacrifices, but the sacrifices are insignificant as compared with those called for by modern war."

The archbishop was speaking generally of post-war planning and the church's attitude ,towards. ths various schemes being put forward for national or international reorganisation. "It is beginning to be understood that peace and progress call for. sacrifices and must be bought at a price," he said. "We must be prepared to pay the price and must, try to educate, public opinion. It will not be surprising if some old prejudices and privileges have to be thrown on the scrap heap for the good of humanity." Wealth and Opportunity

His Grace distinguished the function of the Church from the duty of the individual laymen who, he said, would naturally be free to move in this or that direction-as they felt called. The function 'of the Church as such was to keep before mankind those principles which it was convinced could be sustained as being in line with God's will revealed in the Christ." It moved on to dangerous ground when it claimed Divine support or finality for any. human programme. "Of 1 course" said Archbishop. WestW»atson, ; "it is hard to conceive, of a community' where some have not the privilege of position ror power; but it is not at all impossible to conceive of a community where such privilege is the result of personal worth or service. 1 ' When one of the 'Ten Points' consisting of the .five principles published by the. Pope and the five added by the Church leaders in England advocated the abolition of extreme inequality of wealth and equal opportunities for education regardless of race or class, people should ask themselves Whether they would be prepared to make .the sacrifices called for. .' To Wliiclj Category?

j "Does the church regard the estab-). lished, order as the best that God has planned for the world, or does it claim the opportunity tor. every human being to be what God made him capable of being? " asked the archbishop. " Can weijot conserve the values of the old order without perpetuating its' defects? to which category do the oil kings and the millionaires belong? " New/orders with national or sectional interests to conserve were apt to find, liberty of thought and speech inconvenient and to trv to suppress it in the interests of solidarity. More important for the church .than any political or economic prescriptions were the-duty of contending for liberty to see arid proclaim the truth wherever it might be found. Un:ess spiritual liberty and the opportunity to use individual creative guts with some.' freedom Of choice were secured there could be no benefit from any material or economic advantages. ; Obligations to God and Man' "' "At' the same time," the archbishop said, "we must be prepared to revise the ideas of liberty, which have been altogether too individualistic and have '.ended. to claim for man a kind of irresponsibility, a right to use his time and money without regard to the good of the community and a right to amass possessions out of all proportion- to his needs. I am afraid that the Churcn has largely failed to bring home to Christians' that sense of responsibility to God and our neighbour which might have saved.the liberty which is so vital to us from falling into disrepute. We must make it clear that what wc claim is hot freedom from obligation, but liberty to fulfil our obligations to God a'pd man. "The Church, however," his Grace concluded, "is reluctant to identify itself with efforts, however well-inten-tioned to solve major difficulties by purely human means. The Church as such has no commission, as I see it, to try to prescribe detailed programmes of action for the world or for the State. But it has a commission to convert men and women to the love of God and their neighbour through the love of Christ and to throw into the battle for right and justice in the public and community life stronger and stronger forces of Christian citir zens who will exert their influence not from without but within, and who will untiringly claim that the great principles of Christian faith and action I shall be made fundamental in every department of our national life."