Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1935. Volume 6. Number 3.

The Daring Lad on the Flying Trapeze

The Daring Lad on the Flying Trapeze.

Some two weeks ago in Room A2 there was given a talented exhibition of spiritual conjuring and gymnastics by the general secretary of the N.Z.S.C.M. It was amusing (although in some respects painfully pathetic) to watch Mr. Miller playing hide-and-seek with intangible and untranslatable fancies which have no root in the real world. However, at the end of forty minutes he had to the satisfaction of all Christians present, presented a universal cure for all our diverse social ills. The solution is engagingly simple—all that is necessary is to bring about "the personal intervention of God in the individual," and hey, presto!

"Every little trouble
Will vanish like a bubble."

Concerning the nature of this wonderful new state, Mr. Miller knows surprisingly little, except that it will be just "heavenly." Perhaps a slight insight into its possible material conditions may be obtained from Mr. Miller's staggering statement that "Fascism has solved the material problem very satisfactorily."

As a basis for this alleged "personal intervention," one must have an unquestioning faith in a highly specialised Christian God (Mr. Miller assures me that his God is the only true God and that all other varieties are worthless misconceptions) despite the fact that 1800 years of apologetic writing has not produced a plausible explanation, on theistic lines, of the terrible prevalence of evil or a plausible reconciliation of the alleged omnipotence and love of God: despite the fact that the moment religion attempts to build its title to empire over the minds of men not on faith which defies rational examination, but on the worth of the testimony, which invites it, analysis of its value upon any scientific basis, is utterly destructive of its essential validity. And there is no religious creed to which this generalisation does not apply.

Anyone who compares the easy confidence in the Christian truth of a century ago with the position today can hardly fail to admit that the evolution of scientific technique has driven its claims from the field of rational acceptance. There no longer even exists the agreement among Christians as to what constitutes the essence of the religion. It even seems open to Bishops to deny the central mysteries of the Incarnation and the Resurrection without in any way prejudicing their title to holy orders.

The gradual retreat of religion before the onslaught of scientific investigation is undeniable. Are we going to be blind enough to base our struggle for mental and material development on such unstable and uncertain grounds? Further, what adequate proof have we, beyond Mr. Miller's assurances, that this "personal intervention" will inevitably bring the material and spiritual paradise which Mr. Miller so enthusiastically envisages Strong suspicions as to its inadequacy are immediately excited when we survey the history of the Christian religion with all its horrors and absurdities. The ferocious laws of the 17th and 18th centuries are a disgrace to civilisation. The Assize calendars are a chronicle of outrageous crimes and atrocities. For centuries the bigotry of the Church has stood stubbornly in the path of reform and the advancement of empirical knowledge. It persecuted Bruno, maltreated Galileo and derided Darwin. For 1800 years Christians (in accordance with statements from their Bible) supported slavery. Never has the Christian Church fought for the prevention of war, rather have those gathered in the churches prayed to their "loving Father" for victory, and have sung Te Deum Laudamus when the carnage has been great. Even to-day pious Bishops calmly receive salaries exceeding £15,000 per annum when little children literally starve in indescribable poverty. "Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. But woe unto you that are rich for ve have received your consolation. Luke 6-24). But perhaps I'm a little severe and Jesus was merely ironical when he said "by their fruits shall ye know them." I wish I could deal with the social implications of Mr. Miller's Plan for Recovery through Religious Revival—how Christianity secures individual contentment for the convert, at the cost of neglecting the grave social issues involved in the problem of social justice, and so on, but space limitations prevent it. I have only indicated several of the more elementary of the many serious objections to Mr. Miller's argument.

One final point, if this "personal intervention" in the life of the individual is so desirable both to God and man, why does not the "omnipotent loving God bring it about universally at once?

—The Black Girl's Brother.