Enoch Powell
The controversial member for Wolverhampton, Mr Enoch Powell, has often in the past made unpopular observations which have been received with deep, resentful criticism because they came so near to the truth. In an article, entitled “Meats Offered to Idols”, in the November issue of the Christian Magazine, “Frontier”, Mr Powell takes the Church of England, of which he is a loyal member, severely to task. He refers in his article to a picture which appeared in the local press, showing the Church of England Rector of Wolverhampton, now Bishop of Shrewsbury, among Hindus at the Hindu Festival of Durga Puja, the accompanying text stating that an idol of Durga of great sanctity had been flown from Calcutta specially for the occasion. Some severe but true strictures on the Christian Church follow.
In the past the Christian Church sent its missionaries to heathen lands such as India, China and Africa, but with the presence of large immigrant peoples in our midst the missionary problem has been brought to our doorstep. Mosques, temples and places of heathen worship are springing up around our churches, in some cases displacing them and even taking over the buildings themselves. Mr Powell asks: “Have the clergy, then, faced with this emergency or opportunity, sallied forth, cross in hand, like new Columbas or Augustines, to bring the light of the Gospel not into a far country but to the mission-field which had come to Wolverhampton and Bradford? It was certainly not what was expected of them; and it is certainly not what they did. What was expected — nay clamorously demanded — was that they should participate in the activities of ‘race relations’ and ‘community relations’, and assure the new communities not merely of tolerance but of religious and cultural parity”. The rector of Wolverhampton was no exception. The Church of England claims that she possesses the Christian message of salvation and sacraments, essential to salvation, but the Wolverhampton rector who attended the Hindu Festival behaved as though the Christian faith was no more than a “cultural badge”. The reason why the parish minister does not preach to the unconverted is clear, he cannot believe what he professes. All too often he has found a form of escapism by immersing himself in the politics and industrial problems of the day. Mr Powell says: “From pulpits throughout the land they hear homilies on trade unions and industrial relations, on housing, on economics and productivity, on politics and trade — all of them subjects in which the clergy as such have no special competence and about which in consequence many of those whom they address understand a great deal more than they do. Why? ask the laity. Surely it is to avoid having to talk to us about that which is the sole reason and justification for their calling; the doctrine and sacraments of the Church. It is their escapism. This more and more fervent desire of the clergy to be heard talking about, and concerning themselves in, the business of the hour — and incidentally, in doing so, to be seen wearing the fashionable clothing of the hour—is a symptom of a flight from their own business”. The Church has given up her true business of preaching the gospel and carrying the means of salvation to the heathen. The article concludes: “More and more the Church — and not, so far as I see, only in England — has tried to be heard by saying and doing anything and everything but what it alone can say and do. Not surprisingly, it is heard less and less. Is it too late for it to be itself again?”
“Frontier is an international Christian quarterly, interested in examining the implications of the Christian Faith, and is run by a group of influential members of all denominations. Mr Powell was asked to contribute to its pages an article bearing on some aspect of racial policy. What was supplied, however, evidently proved too strong for the editor. In a rather weak attempt to counteract the effects of the article and offer some criticism, the editor disassociates himself from any idea of approving the worship of the goddess Kali-Durga, but says: “there is more in this than meets the eye”. He thinks after the modern fashion that more good would be done by holding ‘dialogue’ or discussing “with Hindu friends the mystery of evil and its relation to the Godhead”. The article however, was reproduced in somewhat abbreviated form in the London Times and provoked some correspondence. When Mr Enoch Powell speaks, and he does so when he has something important to say, his remarks are pondered in the most influential quarters.
C.
Tragedy at Ibrox Football Stadium
The tragic death of 66 people who were spectators at a football match at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, on the first Saturday of the New Year has brought grief and sorrow to many homes in that city. This solemn event must be viewed as a loud voice from Heaven to the sporting community in general and to the devotees of this sport in particular. Such an event cannot be shrugged off with reference merely to second causes. When we consider that thousands worship at the shrine of sport from Saturday to Saturday, and that stadiums with a capacity for tens of thousands are sometimes too small to contain all who would attend their favourite sport, and then remember that the house of God throughout the land from Sabbath to Sabbath is largely deserted, we cannot but recognise that the Lord has a controversy with such a people. May the Lord in mercy turn the hearts of the people of our land from empty vanities to seek the real and enduring pleasures which are to be found in the Saviour alone.