CHURCH AND POLITICS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20427, 18 February 1938, Page 9

CHURCH AND POLITICS

METHODIST VIEWPOINT MONETARY REFORM NEEDED FAILURE OF DISTRIBUTION Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Friday An indication that he took no narrow view of the Church’s task was given by this year’s president of the Methodist Church in New Zealand, the j Rev. Percy Paris, Wellington, in his j inaugural address to the Dominion j Conference of the Church. “While as a Church we can have nothing to do with party politics, I want to say that politics is part of my religion,” he said. “My Christianity includes the whole of life in all its re- ! lationships. I believe that if we ‘keep ! politics out of religion,’ as we are often urged to do. we shall soon discover that we have kept religion out nf politics, and have built the City of I Destruction instead of the City of ! God. Politics is the science of living together, and, like every other science, should he the servant of God and His children. "So I may venture from the chair of this conference to commend the Government for the sincerity and tireless energy of its efforts to improve the economic status and social welfare of the people of this Dominion.” “The building of houses for the people, the eradication of slums, the I provision of playgrounds, sports fields, j and bathing beaches become religious 1 questions. As we see Jesus sitting at the feet of the rabbi in the little village : school, repeating His prayers an.] Scripture after him, we know that re- j ligion must he the basis of any true and satisfactory system of education. | As we watch the Son of God toiling in the carpenter’s shop, we know that such things as wages, hours of work, conditions of labour, holidays, leisure, ; the distribution of manufactured goods, prices and profits, are very sacred things upon which God must, , have a very definite will.” j The Money Question Mr Paris also spoke on the need for monetary reform. “It seems to me,” he said, “that the organisation of society depends on two fundamental principles—the law of ethics, which compels us to ask whether a thing is right or wrong, and the law of economics, which makes us ask whether a thing is possible or impossible. “Often we find these two fundamental principles of human life and society brought into sharp antithesis to each other. There are people—they j . are mostly good Christians—who say | that economics do not matter, for right l or wrong settles everything. Man [ cannot live by bread alone: but if he j is to live he must eat. In the prayer i which Jesus taught us to say. the cry j for bread comes before the cry for • forgiveness. In this life we cannot I live without food, clothing and shelter; j and as society is constituted we can- ; not obtain these without money or ; purchasing power. It is amazing how j much Jesus says in the gospels about ■ money. I believe that there is an ; ethical, moral or religious side—use ; whichever adjective you prefer—to every problem of human life and society. Rut ns far as social problems , go there is nearly always an economic factor also. “The Christian must believe that if a thing is right it is possible. If a thing is right ethically it must he : possible and practicable economically. In a world where the different coun - ! fries are now so closely linked to- j gether. and where machinery has so multiplied production. manufacture and transport, there is no valid excuse for poverty amid plenty. “It Is our fault that we will not make possible the distribution of what God provides: that we will not make available sufficient money for people lo obtain what God gives and they \ need. The problem to-day is not. as 1 in the past, one of scarcity. There is no scarcity, hut rather an embarrass- : rnent nf plenty. There is no problem 1 of production, but only of distribution. True Wealth “Money is not wealth,” Mr Paris 1 continued. Life, the abundant life ! which Christ came to make ffossible j for all, is the real wealth. And money | is just the ticket or token system ' which should make possible the distri- : bution of services and goods for the enrichment and development of life, j Not only are we dependent upon money j for the acquirement nf the material ; things of life, but also for its spiritual j blessings, as the retrenchment of our j overseas missions during the depres- j sion clearly proved. “The Gospel may bp free, but w? ! have to pay for its delivery. Money j as at present created, issued and ap- : plied fails to function. \Ye believe j that as it is God’s will that it should function and deliver the goods, we can find a new money system, a new | ■ mechanism which will bring His gifts j to all His children. What is physic- ! ally possible is financially possible. j "Wiiy should any man's wife wear my wife's old clothes? Why should any man's children wear my children’s discarded clothes and play with their broken toys and torn hooks? The day of justice and equity is almost here. The man in the street is sick of our 1 Church talk of social service and benevolent wm-k r.f our clothe* drives 1 and jumble sales. He regards ii all as an insult, lie wants social justice. j “Professor Clay. the economist, t _ acc• "in( then* is obviously no theoreti- 1 cal impossibilit> in employing men ho are at pn sent idle at any useful i work within their capacity, and for ! 1 "•io.'ii it;.- materi.i 1- arc available. ! • We must displace the gold standard of 1 M: rumen and set up the man standard j • of Christ,” he concluded.