Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1927. RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 28 December 1927, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1927. RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES.

We are sometimes told tlmt religion is losing its grip. Quite possibly people are less given to formal religions observances than 1 hey used to be. A generation ago church-going was habitual among all classes of the community. The average citizen attended worship regularly, and when he absented himself it was generally for good reason. Nowadays the practice is perhaps less prevalent. The lure of the surf, the motor car,, the garden, golf and tennis is a factor with which the Churches have to reckon. In many places congregations have dwindled-. Yet this is not always due to indifference. Recently there was talk of demolishing certain churches in the City of London on the ground that their incumbents preached to empty pews. The explanation w<js simply that the city s originally contained a considerable residential population, which, as the business area spread, gradually dispersed and took up its quarters in the suburbs. These parishes have lost their parishioners, who, nevertheless, may have worshipped elsewhere. And even though many have become careless in matters of religion, there is evidence thaf the instinct of faith and reverence is still there. Moreover, if a measure of spiritual apathy exists, the churches are'combating it. They have accepted the challenge. Against the symptoms which suggest that the appeal of religion is waning must be set many manifestations of vigour in the various denominations. Nor is this confined to Christendom; it extends even to “Turks and Infidels.” In the Moslem world the doctrines _ of Islam are being subjected to pious scrutiny. Followers of the Prophet are asking themselves whether. while preserving the essentials of their creed, they cannot strip it of formalisifi and the barren sophistries engrafted on it. by the different schools, in the Christian churches there are many signs of vitality. For example, the tentative proposals for union may have come to nothing hitherto, nevertheless they imply an appreciation of the truth that all the Churches have a common coal, although they seek it by diverse paths. The keen controversy excited among 1 he laity no less than the clergy by the amendments to the Anglican Prayer Book is proof that religion is still a living force. Even things which we may heartily condemn may testify to* the existence of genuine if misguided convictions. Sectarian bitterness is to be deplored; it reveals a distorted concept of religion. The Founder off Christianity declared love to be the supreme quality, A et sectarian strife is prompted by honest if misdirected zeal. The American Fundamentalists may be harsh and intolerant; the Dayton prosecution may have been an exhibition of repressive bigotry, but its motive was at any rate sincere. AVe do not defend.these folk. The point that we would make is that they are fighting for a cause which

they deem to if? sacred; hence religion must be a reality to them. People do not quarrel over issues which are meaningless to them.