DECLINE OF RELIGION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16914, 1 April 1929, Page 10

DECLINE OF RELIGION

"AGE OF SUPERSTITION'* BATHURST, March 19. The decline of religion -was the subject of a sermon by Canon Holmes at All Saints' Cathedral' on Sundays He said it was apparent that a very large number of people were out of touch with the churches fio-day. Youth aisliked* pews and piety, hymns and harmoniums, prayers and postures. It rejected church worship as sentimental and unreal, did not understand the rivalries of competitive denomihationalisin, and was amused by pompous officaldom. "Institutional religion is -in the doldrums," Canon Holmes said. "The masses have not shed their superstitions and fears, in spite of the scientific age in which we live. Superstitions and fears seem to have as big a grip as ever. It is an age of superstitions, charms,, mascots, and hoodoos. The masses are not generally appreciative of any oE thq great values of life in art, beauty, music, or religion. The men who are earning most money are those catering for vulgar appetites. The pugilist is paid a fabuTous um for bruising his Mlowmen, and Charlie Chaplin earns, in a' month as much as Shakespeare' gob for all his plays. Men now want a. religion that is verified in their own experience. They; want a iiving message, not a lifeless tradition. The 'Church that ought to ho facing the problem is.disunited. It has neither a common vision nor a common mind, it is spending its energies in trifling disputes