RELIGION AND POLITICS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 116, 22 June 1914, Page 9

RELIGION AND POLITICS.

ADDRESS BY MR L. M. ISITT, M.P.

Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P., addressed a large gathering in the Grand Theatre yesterday afternoon on the subject of '' Practical Christianity.'' The essential part of his address was that the churches failed in their object because they did not touch the real life of the people and the problems affecting them, and if people were drifting from the churches it was for-this reason: the churches offered no substantial help. They might rescue oue here and there, but the bulk of humanity was unaffected. Polities, though not the sort of politics known as ''party," were the business of the churches, which gave no heed to the Labour question, though the problems it presented were such as concerned the churches deeply. Even though labour conditions in New Zealand were better than in the Old World, yet here, too, there were many things needing a remedy, and, though he could not provide that remedy, it was near discovery when people had learned where the world was at fault. It was no use passing over obvious problems in indifference, and even if in the end single-taxers, Socialists, and other reformers found themselves on the wrong track they would have accomplished more good than those who looked upon wrongs in apathy. The speaker referred to the conditions of life under which miners lived, as he had seen these conditions on the West Coast and at Waihi. The miner was deprived of privileges and comforts possessed by so many others, and it was for this reason that they were so often afflicted by disease induced by their occupation. Through the whole economic system the pleasant work and ample leisure was the privilege of the few, and the hard and dangerous work for the masses, and in business success was attained through the faults of others. He concluded by appealing to those drifting from the Church to reconsider the matter, .for without Cod they could go no further in establishing Cod's kingdom upon earth.