Sabbath Sport Again
The question of letting school buildings for Sabbath activities was raised in the Caithness Education Committee at Wick last month for the second time in a month and this time the application was successful. The Wick High School gymnasium was granted for coaching in badminton on Saturday and Sabbath by a previous decision of sub-committee who have evidently full powers to decide, and the County Education Committee were powerless to interfere. Earlier in the month a similar application for Sabbath sport was turned down at Halkirk by another sub-committee in the county. Our Wick minister, Rev. R. R. Sinclair, made a strong plea in defence of the Sabbath on the ground that in a Christian nation Christian principles, including the sanctifying of God’s Holy Day, should be applied and that violation of these principles is calculated to undermine the authority of religion and of the Church.
A determined effort is being made today in our country to destroy the Christian Sabbath both in Parliament and local councils. The Sabbath has its foundations in the Word of God, but our people are no longer noted for reverent observance of the Lord’s Day, because we are no longer a Bible loving nation. Sport and the entertainment industry are becoming as great a menace to the Christian Sabbath as the commercial interests which are out to make merchandise of the Lord’s Day. The enemies of the Sabbath are becoming bolder and more aggressive in their attacks upon the sanctity of the Sabbath, but God is not mocked and in the day of reckoning, a terrible harvest will be reaped by our nation which no longer pays any heed to the command: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. C.
Atheistic Russia
Reports reaching this country in recent months indicate that all is not going well with Communistic Russia’s policies for the suppression of religion in the Soviet Union. According to the ‘Times’, London, certain Soviet Communist party organisations were attacked in the front page editorial of a Moscow party newspaper, ‘Leninskoye Znana’, for not taking a strong enough line against religion. Russia is officially an atheistic state, but nominally at least religious freedom is guaranteed under Soviet law. Churches and religious organisations must swear loyalty to the state and obtain permission to engage in religious work, but the constitution of the Communistic Party demands that all party members must be atheists. Evidently too much tolerance is being shown by party organisations towards religion and even towards their own members who engage in public worship. The newspaper declares that atheistic education and scientific propaganda against religion are being disseminated, but that in many districts propaganda and work by party members have little effect, and goes on to recognise the fact that “religious superstition and prejudice” still exist among large sections of the people. ‘Leninskoye Znana’ said that religion “moulds in believers a non-scientific, idealistic outlook, and educates people to be passive and set their hopes on supernatural forces and diverts them from earthly matters. The influence of religion prevents them from fully showing their creative forces and strength in public life, and from becoming active members of society.”
The Soviet Union is a member of the United Nations Organisation and has signed the Declaration of Human Rights, among them the right of everyone to full religious liberty. The claim is made, therefore, that full religious liberty is allowed under Soviet law, but wide room is possible for the interpretation of religious freedom such as is allowed by Communistic Russia. Every denomination must register with the Soviet authorities before being allowed to function, and many churches such as the Pentecostals have been refused registration and have been outlawed. No new religious congregation has been registered since 1948, and the number of these outlawed churches is on the increase, many of them driven underground. Under its political laws, also Bibles are forbidden to enter the country. The Lord, however, still has His people scattered throughout the Soviet Union and Communistic Russia is discovering as did the Roman persecutors of the early Church that religion will outlast the fury of the oppressor.
C.
The Death Penalty
In 1965 an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing the death penalty for an experimental period of five years. This Act was due to lapse on July 31st, 1970. The Government, anxious to have the death penalty permanently abolished, and unwilling to wait the expiry of the full experimental period, have tabled a motion in the House of Commons which will force Parliament to come to a decision on this matter before the end of 1969. Taking into consideration the large section of M.P.s who are opposed to the death penalty, and the fact that the only alternative put before Parliament is a return to the altogether unsatisfactory Homicide Act of 1957, there is little doubt what the outcome will be. Apart from Divine intervention, capital punishment will be permanently abolished. It is quite evident that we have, as a nation, forsaken the Word of God as our guide in spiritual and moral matters. We must, as a consequence, reap the fruit of our sin in increased lawlessness and God’s righteous judgments against us. “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Is. 59, 14.
“Chair of St. Peter”
The trafficking in relics for which the papal church is notorious received a setback when it was announced at a recent press conference by Mgr. Michele Maccorronne, president of the Pontifical Committee on Historical Sciences that the old wooden chair, known as the “chair of St. Peter”, could not have been used by Peter after all. For the past 700 years this relic has been widely regarded in papal circles with the utmost veneration, and was yearly put on show on St. Peter’s Feast Day in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, as the chair used by Peter when installed to office as the first pope and by subsequent popes at their coronation. When suspicions were raised over the authentic nature of these claims, a commission of experts, including scholars, scientists, and engineers, was appointed last year by the pope to examine the whole question. When the chair was taken out of its ornate bronze casing, which was made by the sculptor, Bernini, in the 17th century, and subjected to intense scientific scrutiny, the experts expressed the opinion that this was the chair brought to Rome by King Charles, the Bald, for his coronation in A.D. 875. At a later date 18 ornamental ivory panels depicting the tasks of Hercules and other mythical scenes of monster animals were added. Because of its wide use at papal coronations, the historical association with Peter was confidently claimed for the chair, but like many more of Rome’s fraudulent statements it is now seen to be completely untenable. At present the chair is in the special Vatican workshop, where the ancient wood is being impregnated against attacks by parasites and insects, where it also awaits the decision regarding its disposal. The papal authorities now face the awkward decision either to restore the chair to its bronze casing and put it back to its place in the Basilica or relegate it to the Vatican museum as an historical curiosity.
This way of disposing of another exploded papal myth might also be applied to the equally mythical claim that the bones of Peter have been unearthed from under the reputed site of Peter’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Papal leaders are confident that this is an authentic find, but with nothing stronger than tradition and assured statements to support the claim.
At another interview given on B.B.C. Television, Rome’s unscrupulous methods and cynical attitude to her own past history were clearly revealed. Cardinal Heenan made the extraordinary remark when interviewed by Robin Day on B.B.C. Television that the chairman of the Council of Jerusalem was Peter, and when challenged by hearers and by the Protestant Truth Society, gave the completely dishonest answer: “Of those listening to ‘Panorama’ last Monday only a small proportion will have any Christian convictions. I am sure that even fewer will care who was chairman of the Jerusalem meeting. In fact, it is most unlikely that there was any chairman at all. The host, of course, was St. James, the local Bishop”. Rome is always ready to trade upon the prevailing ignorance of Protestants on religious matters by making specious and unfounded statements, such as this, in the hope that although these statements may be discredited when examined, some of her propaganda will stick. C.