SUNDAY RECREATION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15836, 5 June 1919, Page 8

SUNDAY RECREATION.

It is being recognised in England as one of the changes precipitated by the war that the churches will have to face frankly and reasonably the question of Sunday recreation. Sunday at tho Front, for the soldiers, was largely like any other day, and it will not be easy for them, after demobilisation, to make the old distinctions and reservations. Any revision of old standards or customs in this respect by tho churches, it is urged, must go to the heart of the matter and consider whether the essential principles and spirit of the Christian religion forbid or allow any form of amusement on Sundays, At the Front large numbers of men regularly played football and other games on Sunday afternoons, and chaplains joined in the gaims, and it is contended that if the clergy realise! the religiuous force that is often behind organised games they would support tho movement of the new Sunday Games Association, whose declared objective is to promote the Sunday playing of healthy outdoor games as a counteraction, especially in large towns, to loafing, gambling, and other less desirable ways of spending Sunday leisure on the part of many young men, ‘Very many of ns,” says one writer, “will feel the proposal rather a shock. Yet most of us see no harm in quiet forms of recreation on Sunday—a walk, reading, music, and so on. Are we to impose limits that enit us on more energetic natures