"Most Sins Are Not Crimes"

Dr. Fisher Comments on New Report Concerning Prostitution, Homosexuality

By DEWI MORGAN, writing in the Episcopalian Monthly, The Living Church

Probably the most discussed Report in Britain lately is that issued by the Com mittee headed by Sir John Wolfenden to examine and advise on the incidence of prostitution and homosexuality The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken

about it in the current issue of the Canter bury Diocesan Notes and in doing so has made some important comments on moral theology in general.

"In a civilized society all crimes are likely to be sins also, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes. Sin is an offence against God. Its meas urements do not vary from age to age, as man's laws do. Whatever, from time to time, the criminal law may say, homo sexual offences are sins, the life of a prostitute is a life of sin; the men (many of them regarded by themselves and others as reasonably respectable citizens and certainly not criminals) who add their own sin to the sin of the prostitute are

sinners.

"I wish that some who are at present speaking very severely (though not more severely than they deserve) of homosexual offenders would be equally severe toward the men who create prostitutes for their

own use.

"A crime is a different matter, a sin against society and social order of such a kind that the law has to take note of it." The government committee suggested that higher fines and even jail sentences be used to rid the streets of the country's large cities of prostitutes. But it said homosexual behavior between consenting persons over 21 should no longer be regarded as a crime. It urged that "con sensual acts done in private by adult males" should not be punishable by law.

The Archbishop goes on to ask why there is a realm which is "not the law's business" and says. "Man's ultimate responsibility is to God alone. . There is a sacred realm of privacy for every man and woman where he makes his choices and decisions, a realm of his own essential rights and liberties .. into which the

law, generally speaking, must not intrude. This is a principle of the utmost impor

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tance for the preservation of human freedom, self-respect, and responsibility. It is a bulwark against the mischiefs created by unwise, tyrannical, or ungodly makers of law and crime

"But even the wise and well-intentioned makers of law must shrink from invading with the weapons of criminal law this region of private rights and Tongs, moralities and immoralities, since it is so easy to interfere unwisely and to rob men of their proper freedoms and burdens of conscience and choice

"The Report says wisely that, in the matters under discussion, the criminal law must confine itself to preserving public order and decency, to protecting the citizen from what is offensive or injurious and to provide safeguards against the exploita tion and corruption of others. In accordance with that principle the Report rec ommends ways by which public order may be protected.

"But while this general principle is certainly right, its practical application cannot be easy. If the law can do any thing without undue interference to strengthen the moral stamina of the peo ple, it ought to do it. If there are enough weak, misguided or evil-minded citizens to form, by their mere existence in the life of a nation, a center of active poison of a serious kind, then the law could rightly invade their private lives to restrain them. It is not easy to say whether the community as a whole does need protection from the private immoralities, whether of homosexuals or heterosexuals.

"If there were some clear way by which, without fatal damage to the gen cral principle of the Report, adultery, fornication, and homosexual offences could be effectively restrained by legal penalties, it might well be right to take it. If there be no such clear way (and it is indeed difficult to see one) then the principle must be upheld. For it protects the true dignities and responsibilities of men and if it leaves moral dangers still to be overcome, it is the part of good men to overcome them by the Spirit of God.”

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Thanks for the notice, Dr. Ellis. It ap. pears on page 7. Our organization, par. ticularly our New York chapters, will be pleased to be informed of this new org. anization's progress, and to cooperate with it in any way we can. -Ed.

REVIEW EDITOR Concerning the mag. azine and related work of the Society, the job you all are doing is excellent, done with intelligence, dignity and true vision-and of this latter quality too few I are enough fortunate to possess it. to send in a list of prospective subscribers soon and will come in and pay my membership.-P. D., California

REVIEW EDITOR: In the January issue, on page 13, Diana M. Chapman writes in a letter to the NEW STATESMAN (London), in her second paragraph: "In 1938 the Archbishop of Canterbury forced a king off his throne in the name of sex ual morality, but said not a word against

the Nazi regime,'' etc. I realize this is not a statement by editors of MATTACHINE REVIEW, but the article printed reflects against the Archbishop and the Church of England. I am a Lutheran, but the report submitted by the Moral Welfare Council and the following information, if true, do not justify publishing any article against the Church of England of the former Archbishop. I have a photostat of the CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE, December 5, 1957: ''Says Homosexuality Not a Crime. London-(Reuters)-The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Geoffrey Fisher, spoke in the house of lords in support of a change in British law to make homosexual acts between consenting adults in private no longer a criminal offense. The Archbishop said the right to decide one's own moral code and obey it, even to a man's own hurt, was a 'fundamental right of man given to him by God and to be strictly respected by society and by the criminal code." (Thus) you will a gree that the letter quoted in our maga-

is definitely out of place there. Certainly if the present Archbishop has had the courage to make the above statement to Parliament, we should not bring any disrespect to him by reference to a man formerly occupying his office.-R. G. H., Pennsylvania

No disrespect was intended. For a religious writer's comment on Dr. Fisher's statements and his stand on the Wolfenden Report, see page 24 of this issue.Ed.

REVIEW EDITOR. I am enclosing a $6 gift. It is NOT to be applied to sub scribing membership. Such membership

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