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NO. A018.
PERTH, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1942.
SIXTY-NINTH YEAR.
"A people inspired by the Christian ideology can no more be smashed and beaten than could Christ Himself " .
.
.
Challenging Broadcast on the Urgent Need of Spiritual Inspiration in
War Effort 1 There must be something dynamic in the Christian synthesis that can, and does, at times ask even the heroic
.
.
. "I unsay nothing of what I have said against Communism."
Christianity versus Communism
of its adherents
Preaching in St. Mary's Cathedral on Easter Sunday morning, Father Harold Lalor pleaded eloquently on behalf of Christianity as the only spiritual force capable of unifying and inspiring the nation's war effort. He scathingly denounced the impertinence of the recent Australian Russian Relations Congress in presuming to define the duties of the Australian churches and of individual Christians. My Lord Archbishop, Rev.
Fathers,
and my dear people,Christendom commemorates to -day the most astounding fact in all history; the one great fact that cannot be controverted or gainsaid-historically confirmed with overwhelming proof the one great fact upon which Catholicism, and indeed all Christianity, is based-the one great fact that even Christ Himself regarded as the culminating proof that He was God-the fact, that Christ rose from the dead! With the great St. Paul in the first century does the Church throw out the challenge once again in this our twentieth century: If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. But it is a far cry from our belief that Christ was God, that Christ was the Second Person o the Blessed Trinity walking this earth as a man; it is a far cry from what our friends the Communists might term this smug conviction of clerical parasites and of their priest -ridden flocks drugged with the opium of these religious beliefs,
For Value and Service
Some will answer: Christianity. Some will answer: Communism. And the rest will not know what to say, uncultured and spiritually sterile as they
are.
yes, it is a far cry from a genuine belief in these historical facts concerning Jesus Christ-to the sincere but pathetic letter of one Sir Ernest Fisk that appeared a few days ago in the Press. Be pleaded for the recognition of "an agreed basis for spiritual inspiration and guidance," to give our war
effort the unity and the unconquerable dynamic that it so badly needs. As he said: "This is no time to abandon our faith, but rather is it the time to bring it into practice. No nation has ever become great and remained free without spiritual inspiration and
guidance." I have said this appeal was sincere, but pathetic. Pathetic, because of the damning indictment perhaps unconsciously, running between the lines. This spiritual force that all will admit is so desperately needed as a counter inspiration to the doctrines of Nazism and Shintoism-what is it? Ask the people of Australia, what is it? And no ringing unison will greet you in reply. Some will answer: Democracy. -
Do we, or do we not, as Sir Ernest says, profess, as a people, belief in God and in the Christian teachings? If so, isn't the Christian synthesis of truths and facts a more dynamic ideology than Nazism or Shintoism or ComIf so, isn't it in those same munism?
Christian teachings that we, as a nation, will find the spiritual force that will not only be an inspiration superior to that of our enemies, but will also become the one unifying force bringing about what we so badly need-a greater harmony and, colordination of thought and action, as Sir Ernest says, to inspire and still further increase our national efficiency? In the teachings of Christianity we have the only doctrine upon which we can even hope to reach national unanimity. And isn't it pathetic that
an allegedly Christian nation, professedly fighting for Christianity, should be asked at the eleventh hour to ac-
cept the doctrines of Christianityeven if only to achieve an inspired war -effort? Even if only to give unity in place of the admitted confusion in thinking, talking, criticising and admonishing coming now from sn many
directions, and of which this letter to the press made mention. For all this is so dangerous. And for confusion of thinking and talking we might quote as an eloquent example the recent Australian Russian Relations Congress held here in Perth. A representative gathering of prominent citizens was responsible on that occasion for an assortment of views as little corresponding with the ideology and practices of Russia as the real state of that country measures up to the social needs of Australia. One speaker announced that "the Russians had set out to establish a new way of life." So did Jesus Christ, and it is in His new way of life that we as a nation profess belief-not in the philosophy of Karl Marx, Lenin and Stalin. A Professor, glossing over dialectical materialism, said that "Russia attached prime importance to cultural inter ests"-forgetting that in the Communist way of life spiritual realities are not admitted at all, and the spiritual force which Australia needs at the moment is scouted and pilloried as the "opium of the people." A motion carried by the Congress affirmed: "It is the duty of the Australian churches and of individual Christians to lend to the Soviet what(Continued on Back Cover.)
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