PRIESTS AND POLITICS
snt,—It is often asked why the Church has lost its hold on the common people. The answer is to be found in the point of view put forward by Sir John Inskip. As trades-unionists we know that the working-classes have no use whatever for parsons who preach justice and brotherhood on Sundays but lack the courage to stick up for these principles on weekdays. It is just this attitude which accounts for many of our empty churches ; the people keep away because they do not believe that the ministers are in earnest. Fortunately in Bristol we have a Bishop and several parsons who are not afraid to say what they think, and to fight for what they believe to be true. Sir John may dislike this, but not so the common people, who hear them gladly and look to them for a lead.
The Church in Russia suffered because it acquiesced in Tsardom ; the Church in England is beginning to learn the lesson and is showing that it will not be silent about social evils. Sir John Inskip may regret this, but perhaps he would tell us why it is that these "red " parsons are filling churches which used to be empty? Would he agree that it is because they believe, with Sir Stafford Cripps, that the Church "should be the burning and fanatical champion of the poor and the oppressed " ?
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