A CLERIC ON COMMUNISM

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CLERIC ON COMMUNISM

Dr. Temple, Archbishdp of York, speaking on Communism to members of the York Diocesan Conference, said: “The justification of private property in our Christian civilisation is that it is the most natural expression of personality. When we see a vast number of fellowChristians without property, must We not deliberately aim to try to secure the distribution of property over the widest possible proportion of the population? The ideal is that every man should have his share of property which makes up the commonwealth. I do not think it should be the same share. We.are not going to be able in the long run to resist the menace of Communism, terrible as it is, if we are only going to attempt to justify our present order of society against it. We must become critics of the social order in the light of the principles which we have inherited. One of the great mercies of the financial crisis has been that it has made all of us approach the question from one angle or another, perfectly discontented with the present state of things. What is going to settle the question in the long run,” concluded his Grace, “is whether our citizens believe in the Conception of God and of man.”