The report on Freemasonry referred to in the last issue of the Magazine, in which some masonic rituals were criticised as blasphemous or heretical, has been accepted by the General Synod of the Church of England by 394 votes to 52. The Archbishop of York who spoke in the debate described Freemasonry as a fairly harmless eccentricity and said he was more disturbed by plying Christians who want to make everything conform to their own standards of truth. From this comment by the Archbishop it would appear that the higher men rise in the ecclesiastical hierarchy the less they are concerned to maintain the doctrines and practices of the Word of God. It is good that the Synod have endorsed the report, though this is unlikely to mean that any action will be taken against practising Freemasons in the Church of England to require them to relinquish their connection with the Masons.
Prison Overcrowding
The Government is faced today with too few prisons to contain the number of law breakers given custodial sentences. The Home Secretary has recently announced new measures to meet the situation. Remission of some sentences is to be increased from a third to a half as an emergency measure. This is surely a novel way in dealing with the situation. It means that the sentences of judges and magistrates are being severely interfered with which hardly makes for proper justice. It is regrettable that Governments have been slow to recognise the close connection between true religion and morality. If there is to be an improvement in matters it is not by shortening sentences which judges have considered appropriate but by giving encouragement and support to true religion while discouraging and applying sanctions to whatever tends to break down law and order in the nation.
Roman Catholic Teacher and her Bishop
A Perth teacher whose appointment was confirmed by the education authority, has had her appointment annulled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunkeld on the ground that she sent her two sons to a non-denominational school. In so far as the Roman Catholic Church is permitted, it is not slow to show its opposition to freedom of choice for its people in the matter of education. In this case the teacher was dissatisfied with the Roman Catholic school and withdrew her children from it. How
sad it is to think that in a Protestant land such power is given to Roman Catholic bishops to override the decisions of legally constituted Education Authorities. Similar powers would never be granted to Protestant leaders in Roman Catholic lands, or in this country if Roman Catholicism again came to power.