POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
SIR,—A remark of " Clusius " in your July loth issue raised an impor- tant point touching the intervention of Christian ministers in politics. He noted that the Bishop of Chelmsford, speaking at the Soviet celebra- tion, said ,that we were " fighting for political and religious liberty, for the right to think and speak and write as we like." On which he observed, " Not, perhaps, precisely the most tactful moment for this cri de coeur of a British democrat."
Dr. Gore, who felt strongly the duty to bring religious influence to bear on public life, used to say that he conceived it his duty to say what would be unwelcome to the particular audience he was addressing. This surely is the chief justification for such action by Christian ministers —not to swim with the tide, but to keep before the public great principles apt to be overlooked or forgotten—a duty admirably fulfilled on this occasion by the Bishop of Chelmsford. The Soviet Ambassador, says "Clusius," looked a little bored.
The Bishop of Chelmsford is sustained in this struggle by the thought that we are fighting for freedom. (I strongly suspect " Clusius" is also, despite his notes last week.) As a Christian minister, who wishes well to the. Anglo-Russian alliance, he did right in claiming his freedom to
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