SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Waipa Post, Volume 36, Issue 2149, 26 April 1928, Page 6

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

I know that from every side will rise a Babel of Voices declaring that Christianity is a social gospel, not merely a gospel of individual salvation; that it is a lea Men to leaven the whole lump; that it has to do with industrial and economic life and international Relations. Of course. Nobody but a fool could fail to see it. But many who are not fools fail to see the difference between holding up a moral ideal and laying down the particular method by which it may be attained. The church supplies a spiritual dynamic. Jesus Christ brought into life a new tspirit whfah, if it be taken seriously and honestly, will change the world. But He passed no laws, inaugurated no new industrial organisation, framed no social platform, set forth no political panaceas. Moral issues may sometimes be so plain that the church can express its corporate mind on the subject, but for the most part the methods by which right njoral action shall be taken are open to grave differences of opinion. One man may believe that the Volstead Act embodies the ethical judgment of America; another may believe that there is little force of public opinion behind it. One man may believe that the use of fermented drink Us always a sin; another may believe that at the most a Christian slVould be called upon to practise total abstinence, only on the basis of the Pauling injunction lest he cause his weaker brother to offend. Indeed, I see no reason to condemn unheard the man who feeis the present attitude toward temperance is puritanically intemperate, and that he should use wine without abusing it. All may be equally sincere Christians.—Bishop Fiske in Scribner's Magazine.