THREAT TO NATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 7

THREAT TO NATION

Steep Decline In Moral Standards EVIL OF ABORTION Bishop of Wellington s Views A JOB FOR CHRISTIAN CITIZENS I Per Press Association. 1 MASTERTON, May 3. The steep decline in the moral standards of the average life to-day was one of the most serious aspects that had to be considered and one which forced itself more upon us. stated taj Bishop of Wellington, Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, in an address in Masterton to-night. It was possible to estimate the force of religion in the country by the moral standards prevailing. When he arrived in New Zealand he had been told that there had been a more or less cyclonic disturbance of the whole moral life of the country. A new type of morality seemed to have clawed into the fibre of the nation, forcing out the old Christian view of life and morals. They would have to fight the new menace. Referring to the recent Government report on abortion in the Dominion, His Lordship described abortion as a festering sore in the life of the nation and said that it constituted the biggest challenge to the Church that they could possibly have had. The appalling revelations of conditions existing in the country had to be heeded.

When he questioned what was wrong with the moral standards of the nation, he realised that there might be a lot in the stories of the moral evils of dances, of excessive drinking in cars during dances and of general lack of moral ideals of sex and of the Christian ideal of parenthood. The position was a ringing challenge to the churches, which were the one body that could stop the spread of the malady in the country. The only cure was a religious cure. The churches should try to insist on a higher standard. “We have been given a direct challenge,” continued His Lordship. "What are we going to do about it? What good can come of holding public meetings and passing pious resolutions? We might just as well play, a set of tennis or a game of bridge. It is a job for the Christian citizens of New Zealand. Leave it to the parsons and I am afraid that very little will be done. We are too limited in our actions; our views are always suspect because, I think, it is our job. If we speak against the ideas of pre-nuptial intercourse they say that it is just parson clap-trap and that our ideas are contrary to the new ideas of the nation's manhood.”

His Lordship said we should try to consider how the churches as a whole could improve the standards of the country's morals and how they could combat the false philosophies of life. “It is the growing generations that I am frightened of,” remarked the Bishop, "if they are brought up on free love.” Once sex morality went that was the end of the nation. It was the first time he had spoken on the subject, as he felt he should not do so until the Government report was published. The position, however, made him very sad and it seemed to him that the need for raising moral standards was a challenge to us all—a challenge to all that was finest and best in the ideals of Christianity and manhood. It was the iflan outside the influence of the Church they wanted and he urged, "Let’s go out and > get him. You can do that if you have concern, and true concern mean love.”