APPEAL BY CHURCHES

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1931, Page 7

APPEAL BY CHURCHES

THE AUSTRALIAN CRISIS.

“CONTRITE RETURN TO GOD.”

Sydney, April 23. From time to time there has been ample evidence throughout Australia of tl.increasing piirt the Church is playing in the attains of the nation. Some hayp even acclaimed a religious revival apd have pointed to the increased attendances at practically all the churches, particularly at those houses of worship where the preachers are not afrhid to deal outspokenly with modern conditions and tendencies. Now the five o-reat churches —Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational gpd Baptist-—have issued a joint statemeh t setting out exactly where they stand in relation to the present cl'iniiJ in Australia. It is, in its way, a remarkable document, and calls upon every Christian to realise how vitally he or she is concerned m recent developments. , . . According to the statement the criaia is even more a moral one than it is economic. Therefore, it was believed that there must be a return to God, involving a more general and open acknowledgement of. Him ms supreme Lprd and ( nernor. The churches had nothing to do with politics,' for the Christian Church was the common house of those who acknowledged God and sought to exercise the rights of citizenship in accordance with the Divine Law. The Church recognised the obligation to ease the burden lying so heavily upon the unemployed and their families, but at the same time recorded its emphatic judgment that all public measures for relief should be aimed at providing some form of work, ho that those receiving aid might preserve their selfrespect and guard against a weakening in character. ■‘Urgent as it is to relieve the immediate "distress,” continued the statement, “it is opr conviction that wc must face the moral and spiritual issues involved in the present crisis. It ifi the outcome of a way of life which has exalted material interests above moral and spiritual ideals. Oiir salvation lies in God. and thdfe is urgent need that wc should wait upon Him to receive light and guidance in the solution of our difficulties. We call upon all to make this humble and contrite return to God and in dependence on Him We unite lor Our country’s good. This is a time for united endeavour among men of goodwill to save the country, to care for our people and to preserve the honour of our nation.”