BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1667, 6 February 1913, Page 8

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

Sir,—l nm glad to find there is'one "Sympathiser" with the Bible-in-Schools Leaguo who recognises that "to set tho Stato school teachers to teach Protestant theology would be a monstrous injustice to thoso who do not accent that theology," because it is that theology which the league aro clamouring to havo taught. What is it they aro urging in .all their speeches and nil their literature but religious instruction? There are two sides to religious instruction, ethics, and belief. As regards ethics, a prominent member of the league, Dean Filchett, of Dunedin, in a sermon preached on Bible-in-Schools Sunday last December, urged that religion is already taught in the Stato schools. Nearly all are agreed that doing right is a very important part of religion, so I think very many will consider that Dean Fitchett used tho right word, Teligion, in speaking of the ethical training given in our schools. But it is not this ethical training that the league wants, but tho inculcation of religious "belief, the word for which in the English language is theology. So wo find that tho league aro ngitating for the teaching of tlieologv. What matter if one man calls it religious belief, or another calls it divinity, they all mean the same thing. And the theology the league is agitating for is Protestant theology, seeing it is demanded as something of the utmost importance by certain Protestants, and Protestants alone, while it is' repudiated by Catholics, by all non-Protestant sects, and also by those persons who reject all theology. Whether we call it Protestant theology, and the belief held by certain Protestant'bodies, tho leaguo are urging that this belief should be taught in our State schools, and this is the monstrous injustice to those who do not accept that belief. In conclusion, Sir, did "Sym-' patliiser" make an error in the dato of his letter, which he gives as February 3? Mine did not appear in your columns till February 4, or is he a member of your staff, that read thoi letter before it' appeared?—lam, otc., CHAS. J. COOKE.. Kelburne, February 5. ["Sympathiser," who is a well-known churchman, wrote his letter on .February 4. The dating of his letter "February 3' was a typographical error of our own. The next letter we print from Mr. Oooko must be an apology for the unwarranted suggestion in his last 1 sentence.] Sir, —The Anti-Bible League has becomo singularly reticent since its publio meeting. Perhaps its letter-writers think that tho least said about tho ridiculous speeches mado by its chosen orators the better. Perhaps a second batch of orators is unprocurable. At any rate, it could givo us ■ another free-thought pamphlet to let us see tho real position. I would suggest,-however, as a way out of the difficulty, that Sir Robert Stout bo invited to produce .his wonderful secret statistics, ■ and if tho league's friend, Bishop Cleary would take the chair, tho elements of a pretty entertainment would be provided. The chairman of tho Education Board might follow with a second speech, , telling how his narrated experiences 6quare with thoso he had at the Bishop's school at Nelson, and what were his English experiences, and why, if he gained tho narrated experienco in England, he became a church schoolmaster rather than a Stato schoolmaster in some Godless school of "real" education. Sines niy former letter I havo received a private •letter from Nelson, in which the-writer says ) ho cannot understand Mr. Lee's attitude, and explains the reason. Ho tells me Jews did attend the school, but that' it could ; not have been' there where they were taunted with their religion, for "complaints would certainly havo been made by Mr.-; —And hero let mo' point out that it is precisely where Christianity is taught that such taunts aro most improbable. We owe much to the Jews, and esteem tho wonderful literature they havo given us beyond all price. Christians but proclaim their own intense ingratitude if they indulge in such a •pastime. Further,. the fact that our Lord himself was. a Jew' warns us to bo especially careful how wo speak of Jews, and how dangerous it is-to taunt anybody on the ground of his being a Jew. ?»°> Sir, it is not in Christian schools, but in Godless State schools where such taunts, if they aro made, are to be expected.l do not know whether -the Anti-Bible League is trying to raise strife between Jews and Christians for its own purposes, just as its speakers and writers are also keenly on the look-out for "heresy hunts." But what WB3 the Bishop's' school experience? After reading the exaggerations of the leagued* speakers, your readers will perhaps bo surprised to learn that the letter I have received states that the Jews that attended tho. Bishop's school "always attended the class' when tho Old Testament; was read, but not when tho New-Testament lesson was given." This, too, at their parents' wish. Where, then, was there .any antagonism-? I have moro to say, bat I can hardly be expected, to defend a teacher's work against himself. Tho position is thus carious if the Bishop's school is ireferred to.' . . • The Anti-Bible Leaguo seems to bo leaving its defence to Bishop Cleary. Now, as _ Bishop CleaTy has written on the 'No Tcmere" decree of the Pope it may be pertinent, especially in view of the part ho has taken in tho present controversy, to remind him of an older "No Temero" of much higher .authority, for which we aro indebted to a Jewish writer, i refer to Eccles. 5, I,'in tho Vulgate, where' we find tho words "No temere quid lotjuaris," translated in the Douay, "Speak not anything, rashly."' I invito tho AntiBible Leaguo also to pay more respect to this "No Temere" than it did at its first public meeting. Mr.'Nicholls is its ..lat-. est volunteer, but his ideas of missionary work . are impracticable. If tho Anti-' Bible Leaguo undertook'the tutorship of a Buddhist nation it would on its principles banish tho Buddhist religion from public and school life, leaving nothing to take its placo. From that day the nation would begin to decay, and morality, having lost-its support, would become utterly dead. The people would become utterly degraded, and their national virtues lost. The Buddhists had better keep their Buddhism until tho light of Christianity convinces them of truth, and if wo-had to send our children to Buddhist schools, and found ourselves allowed the benefit of a "conscience clause." wo should readily, without qualification, acknowledge ourselves treated with wonderful fairness. It is the Bible that is said to be tho "secret of England's greatness." The Anti-Biblo League might voTy well study Bishop Cleary's book "God or No God in the School!" In page 46 almost wholly in large capitals he writes, "I am heart and soul with tho Bible-in-Scliools Leaguo in denouncing what really constitutes tho Godlessness of our secular system, the expulsion of God and rejigion, by A.ct of Parliament, from the working hours of that system.—l am, etc., ' GRANUM SALIS. February 3. >