A GREAT many persons will sympathize with Mr Athelstan Riley in the correspondence he has had with the Bishop of Peterborough concerning Mr George Lansbury’s presence as an invited speaker at the forthcoming Church Congress. But we think this sympathy is misplaced, for Mr Riley is wrong. The Church Congress platform is surely the one place where all can meet and proclaim their views, and further, it is the one place where criticism is unrestricted. Mr Riley withdraws his acceptance of an invitation to speak of the Holy Eastern Church, and thereby he misses a great opportunity to speak out on the subject of the awful persecutions which the Church is reported to have suffered, while he leaves Mr Lansbury in possession of the field to proclaim his views on Imperial politics, whatever they may be. To run away from Mr Lansbury because we do not like his views is unworthy. Whether he stands for Bolshevism or for Soviet Government we do not know, but, whether he does or not, these problems have to be faced, and what better place to deal with them than at the Church Congress, where at least one has a sympathetic audience!