BIBLE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1654, 22 January 1913, Page 8

BIBLE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS.

Sir,—According to his letter in your issua oi to-Uay, the Human UUnoi.e .bishop of Auckland is yreauy concurntU about, the statement of mo folate education authorities of Tasmania .that "tne Biule-m-schools'system in that State ' is uetcpteil Ijy ail denominations as a happy solution 01 the religious difficulty." 'tile Bisliop's letter is u Ion;; ami desperate attempt lo explain away tho jlnui, nUiiit, uml official statement of the highest authority on public schools iu Tasmania. i'our many readers may like lo know tho oiiinion of one of the nigh authorities in Aew South Wales, as given in the

•"Sydney Dairly Telegraph," at the break-iug-up of tho" schools lor the Christmas holidays. He says: "One of the finest tilings in connection with the Stato school teacuers is their public tolerance in regard to matters of faith. Privately they may hold views of the most extreme type; they may hold office in religious ortltrs, but to each other, to the school, and to the public generally, there is'no. question'of faith or creed, .Gentilo or Jew, Catholic or Protestant; Agnostic or Nationalist. They have loyally interpretedthe religious provisions of the Public Instruction Act, having in mind one thing only: the moral, physical, and mental advancement of the children under their care. . . . Whatever political parties or. differing denominations may do or desire, the teachers have shown through years of unswerving fidelity, that the provisions of the Public Instruction Act aro carefully carried out." There are GOOD teachers employed in the State schools of NewSouth Wales, and it is unspeakable presumption for Bishop Clearly or tho Archbishop in New South Wale's to say that they shall not bo allowed to givo religious instruction in the State schools. Chris-, tianitv has been tho guiding light of our race back 'through the ages to the days of the Apostles, and shall we banish it from our children, and for the first time in historv refuse to .acknowledge it or have it taught in our. schools? The president, of tho Children's Court in New South Wales, speaking from a public platform a" few w : eeks ago, said that hefound by inijuirv that almost all the children broueht to the Court by, the police knew nothing whatever about, religion,' and had received no religious instruction, and, further, that very few of them -of even 14 or 15-y»ars of ago knew lidw to read or write. Evidently, tho compulsory attendance clauses of the Act have not been carried out in these coses.—l am, \ 6tc " > .7. H. COLLIER. ' Northland, January 20.'