YOUTH AND RELIGION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1933, Page 6

YOUTH AND RELIGION.

At a time when periodic tirades against the irresponsibility of youth and the ungodliness of the age are so frequent it is refreshing to have the critics confounded, as they have been by the gathering of young people in New Plymouth during the past few days. Yesterday the Presbyterian Bible Class annual conference came to an end, and to-day the delegates depart for their homes. They go as unostentatiously as they came; yet the significance of their presence is perhaps greater than . even they themselves realise. Pause to consider what a gathering of nearly five hundred young people for several days involves in financial ex-' penditure alone. It must run well into four figures. Yet in the difficult economic times the Dominion is experiencing to-day these young people, their parents and their church have deemed the expenditure well worth while. In reading the reports of the daily doings at the conference one is struck with the obvious earnestness at the root of all the activities, and the potentiality for future good. It seems a very wise arrangement that athletic sports and similar diversions should constitute part of the programme, for the more serious work is thereby given its proper position as a natural part and parcel of life in all its phases. It may be assumed that for the majority of the young delegates the conference has been a rather pleasant holiday; but it is equally as probable that the stimulus to the spirit will also remain long in the memory because of the circumstances under which it has been given. The Rev. W. Bower Black presented the position to the delegates very clearly when he said there is nothing more tragic than for a man to near his end and have nothing worth while to look back upon. “You must choose a side,” he continued. “Remember the epitaph: 'He was bom a man; he grew up a jelly fish; and now he is nothing at all.’ ” Perhaps as the delegates make their way homeward this morning they will ponder on this remark, and perhaps be better citizens for so doing. New Plymouth as a community has appreciated the honour of having such a representative gathering held in the town; it is to be hoped, on the other hand, that the delegates have enjoyed their stay. Such gatherings can only be for good, and they are an effective answer to those who are too prone to decry the moral and spiritual calibre of the present generation.