UPLIFT OF MANKIND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24739, 16 October 1941, Page 5

UPLIFT OF MANKIND

OPPORTUNITY OF THE CHURCH POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION (P.A.) AUCKLAND. Oct. 19. The belief that the Christian Church should seize Its opportunity for the uplift of mankind was expressed by Mr H. T. Falla. of Christchurch, the newly-ap-pointed president of the New Zealand Baptist Union, in an address to the fiftyninth annual assembly of the union which opened to-day. „ .. " Man's experiment in a collective deity is collapsing," said Mr Falla, " and we must be prepared to proclaim with all our vigour and certainty that only new disasters and failures will emerge from any attempts at reconstruction In which man proclaims his independence of God and his faith in his own endeavours and himself. It is quite clear to us that the only hope for human society lies in the discovery of something that transcends itself. As Christians we believe and claim that the Church goes beyond all human institutions." "Baptists will be to the fore in any struggle for freedom," said Dr Alexander Hodge, chairman of the Assembly Committee, presiding at the delegates welcome tea. "Nothing fires us like a threat to our religious liberties or anybody's just liberties," he said. • The assembly will meet each day until next Wednesday.