The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1909. SOCIALISM AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12386, 6 December 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1909. SOCIALISM AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

The Church of England is still unable to make up its mind about Socialism. A London correspondent sums up the position very tersely when ho says that at

every annual congress the subject is debated discursively, and always without yielding any conclusion. No advantage

is gained either in ethics or corporate policy. Each speaker takes his own line. The discussion is merely a series of individual impressions, leading nowhere. The speakers agree only in hesitancy, and in their avoidance of facts, which form the common knowledge ot politicians, economic students, journalists and other worldly laymen, whose business it is to reckon with the political aims of revolutionary Socialism. The general attitude of the bishops appears to be one of incurable indecision. Some

of them speak as though they remembered the subject a few days before each annual congress, and dismissed it from i their minds during the remainder of the year. At this year's Anglican Congress it was left to a non-clerical member, who has studied the subject on the Continent, as well as in Great Britain, with the eyes of an experienced economist, to' bring the Bishops down from the region of sentimental speculation to a con-1 sideration of some of the facts which they habitually ignore. This speaker, tho brilliant Dr. Shadwell, said he was quits aware that in the jumble of ideas.) sentiments,, theories, fancies, hopes and policies, labelled Socialism, there was! much that appealed to conscientious men. But the real leaders of Socialism j dealt only with material or economic conditions —the distribution of wealth.' In their case the measure of all things was money. He was constantly astonished at the ready acceptance by clergymen of views which involved a purely ■ materialistic criterion of life and happi- i ness. The materialistic creed of militant Socialism was absolutely opposed to. Christian teaching, and false to life. In tho whole range of Socialist literature, 'rom beginning to end, there was nothing (Dr. Shadwell continued) about duty, moral law, and the penalties for1 its infraction, except denunciations of these, conceptions. No commands are laid on tha individual; the Christianvirtues of self-sacrifice and humility are replaced by self-assertion and sordid de-; mauds. Dr. Shadwell then proceeded to' draw attention to the method employed in propagating Socialism. It preached class warfare and greed. In fact, So-' cialism only made way with the mass of

the people by fanning the very passions of cupidity, envy and hate, winch it professed and promised to extinguish. The rich were held up to execration, and tlici:1 "nefarious"'' wealth, obtained by, robbing the workers, was promised to' ■the lattar without exertion on their part under the beneficent rule of Socialism. | Now, if they considered these three points—the materialistic basis, the re- ( pndiation of moral law, and the actual inculcation of hatred and greed—which distinguished-the Socialistic gospel, thsy' might indeed be surprised that Christian! clergymen should be found to support jit; but they could net bo at all surprised that all the most convinced and clearheaded advocates of Socialism through-: out its history should have found in Christianity tho greatest obstacle to their path. Socialism was the mortar enemy of Christianity. "T have recent-j ly," said Dr. Shadwell, "spent some! months studying industrial conditions' all over Franc?. Do you know what is' going on there? The country is satur-; ated with the materialism and moral j irresponsibility taught by Socialism, j and one result of it is a veritable anti-j

Christian persecution. Do you know that in France to-day public officials with anything to lose dare not be seen going to church with their wives and children? Sometimes even their wives dare not go. They are spied upon and reported. That was one of the grievances complained of by the postmen in the recent strike. The juroivs in the Department of the Yonne recently petitioned the Government to have the word 'God' removed from the oath, on the ground that it offended their conscience, because they did not believe in the existence of God. The worship of mammon is supreme. There is no respect for anything whatever but the appearance of wealth. I have made that observation to many Frenchmen and Englishmen long resident in France, and they all admit its truth. We in England have not gone so fai'j but we are on the road. Is this a time to coquet, in a haze- of sentiment and confused thinking, with the spirit of evil masquerading in the disguise it has stolen from Christian ethics?" It is to bo feared, however, that the attitude of indecision in regard to Socialism is not peculiar to the bishops and clergy of the Church of England. The fact that there is much to do in the field of social reform makes for -a too-ready acceptance of the term " Socialism" as implying a, sane and reasonable policy having for its aim the betterment of the conditions of life all round, and the pity is that its acceptance in that sense affords the extremists an opportunity of declaring that their rash, ill-considered and impracticable theories are meeting with popular approval. In its reference to the discussion on the subject of Socialism at tha Church Congress last month, when nearly every speaker had a different definition, of the subject to offer, the "Times" says that "life is so short that we are all obliged to use words lik© Socialism to indicate general tendencies, which there is no time to dissect or analyse upon the numerous occasions when we have to employ the word." And it is no doubt perfectly true—as a southern contemporary remarks —that this particular expression is loosely used upon'many occasions to indicate what is certainly not implied by a strict definition of the term. The churches cannot too heartily espouse the cause of social reform. It is a work perfectly in accord with the fundamental principles of Christianity. There is a wide difference between reform prosecuted on sound and practical lines, and the ridi-J culous theories of the extremists who arrogate to themselves the name of So-| cialists. Once the churches realise this fact there will no longer be,any justification for indecision. '