EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 35, 5 November 1907, Page 5

EDUCATION.

ATTITUDE OF FREE CHURCHES. DT TEI.EGIIAMI—IMIES3 ASSOCIATION—COrTItiaiIT, London, November 3, Tho Committee'of tlu. National Council of Froo Churches has rrsclvod that no settlement of the education .question can he satisfactory which provides for the preferential troatmont of any church'.

A condidcrablo section of Anglican Churchsuggest as a solution of tho education question ttiat tho State should maintain and control all elementary schools,..giving adequate facilities for the children to bo instructed in tlu religious beliefs of tlioir parents in lichooi liuiirs, by accredited representatives of the various religions bodies. .It is, contended that by this means all the churches, would be placed upon an equal footing, ami none would receive prcfcrentml treatment. Another ti.Ti of the Anglican Church, -however, is not prepared to hand over its schools, upon which millions of money have bean spent, to the Stat?, on theso terms. The Nonconformists aR) seem disinclined to accept the abovo solution, contending that no denominational insti notion should be given in State-aided sehrols in scliool hours. Tliey favour .what is, krrwn as undenominational religious teaching. This is strongly objected to by Anglicans and Unman Catholics, who declare that ifc» is really equivalent to tho 'establishment of Nonconfo'inity. The Secularists object to any religions teaching whatever in Stato schools.

The feeling of the Nonconformists on education and disestablishment is summed up in a recent speech by Air. 11. ,W. Perks, member of the Jlouse of Commons, for South Division of Lincolnshire, and Honorary Treasurer of tho Free Church Congress and the Liberal League. Mr. Perks wan speaking a.t Ottawa at i>, meeting of Canadian Methodists in tho iXn'ininn Church of Canada, lie had been asked, he said, why it was that the present Biitish Parliament, with its huso Liberal majority and its powerful Nonconformist party; did not at once insist upon this fundamental and urgent reform. To this clear question he had been able to give no satisfactory answer. The present House of Commons could as easily pnvs a Bill for the- disestablishment of the State Church in England niid Walos as it could for Wales alone, although it was certain t'mir neither measure would pass tho House' of Lords as now constituted. Tho real truth was, that., upon disestablishment, as on several other great national issues, the Liberal Ministry was fa: , less cohesive and far less advanced than wo; i! the rank and file of tho Liberal party. If tho Liberal leaders expected the British Nonconformists to fight for them nt the next election they must give these, militant battalions something worth fighting for. They called for, bread and they did not want a stone.