Public Opinion THE NEW ORDER

Southland Times, Issue 24865, 3 October 1942, Page 3

Public Opinion

THE NEW ORDER

Sir, —I feel that the recent letters appearing under the above head can not be left unanswered, and in replying I write as one individual whole heartedly behind the campaign for Christian Order. It must be admitted that, in the past, the Church has tended to overlook the implications of the faith in the spheres of economics and of government. “P.M.’s” statement that “until the Church makes some conscious effort to cancel the divorce between theology and present day economics we can have no Christian Order,” will find ready acceptance in the minds of the majority of people inside, as well as outside, the Church. The campaign is stressing this very point. Time and again it has been said that the faith touches life at every point—economic, political, social, as well as moral and spiritual. A theology divorced from economics is no truly Christian theology. , , Mr Henderson declares that the Church is concerned only with effects, the sale of liquor, contraceptives etc., and challenges her to attack the cause of the evils, which he affirms is the present economic system. But is the economic system, as such, the root cause of these and many other evils of our society? Admittedly a “system which demands that God’s bounty should be thrown in His face,” which finds its driving urge in personal profit and the desire to amass wealth, without due regard for the condition of others, which reaps a harvest of human misery in recurring cycles of unemployment, and which denies higher educational facilities to clever children of poorer homes; admittedly such a system stands condemned before God and man. But would a change of system, alone, bring about the desired result? There are many people who will agree that, economically, we are out of gear, but some would advocate social credit, others, equally sincere, equally Christian in outlook, would suggest some form of socialism, others again would maintain that the answer is in reform of the present system. Which of these, or any other, is the Church to support as the one and only Christian solution?

I would suggest that the fundamental cause of the evils of our day is deeper than the framework of society, and that a change in that framework alone, however desirable it may be, will not remedy the world’s ills. The root cause is selfishness and greed, the desire to get rather than to serve. The use of wealth, of time and labour, is regarded, almost universally, from the viewpoint of profit and remuneration, rather than as a means to serve one’s fellow men. Such a spirit of self-seek-ing would wreck any system of economics. One message of the campaign, a message long stressed by the Church, is that lives lived on the basis of self interest, or any “order” of society so based, must lead inevitably to conflict and chaos. It is not the task of the Church to declare that this or that system is the only one which can claim to be Christian. Her task is to declare the eternal principles that must be observed if order is to come out of chaos, and that she is doing in this campaign. D. E. DUNCAN. The Manse, Lumsden. LEAVE FOR SOLDIERS Sir,—ln The Southland Times on Friday I noticed a report dealing with the cancellation of week-end leave and furlough for all soldiers in overseas units. Personally I think this most unfair. Why should men who are to defend their country be deprived of leave to visit their homes and families, while men who are second grade, and at present are not to leave this country still receive their furlough? It seems that the overseas troops are not held in very high esteem, as race trains are run in preference to leave trains. Why are men, if you can call them so, who refuse to do their duty, allowed to stay home and enjoy their freedom, while our soldiers are sent away with as little leave and privileges as possible? Just because they are in uniform they are treated as a mass and are not allowed a say in their own lives. Why are all these appeals heard and men allowed to draw their usual wages when the soldiers are living on a mere pittance? Surely there can be something done about it. It is not very encouraging for soldiers to go away, knowing they will be fighting to defend this type of person. I think the whole tiling is most unfair and believe me, I know, as I am A SOLDIER’S WIFE.