THE REFERENDUM AND RELIGION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1678, 19 February 1913, Page 5

THE REFERENDUM AND RELIGION.

i r -T Th ,« Bible-in-Schools party would ovldentlv iko to, deal with their opponents as Israel dealt with the Jebusites. But the timois past for each treatment. Compromise and conciliation are the watchwords of modern settlements, domestic or internecine, So you propose a compromise and an. appeal to referendum. But is referendum the Caesar to which, men and women confronted with a question of conscience and belief and faith .aro likely to nppcai? Can there be any compromising on matters of religion or belief? To compromise, then, and npnenl to referendum, would be weak-kneed alike to both parties; and tho declaration nf a majority on even a question of policy' concerning o religious matter would never be binding and obligatory upon a minority, clso our ancestors suffered for naught and the "glorious inheritance" which is ours is veriest fustian, To dotormine tho superscription, appeal to Caesar. To settle questlona of isUgiea

no man has t\w right to determine for his neighbour, and to plead for an appeal to referendum is to plead for a violation of a cardinal principle in ethics and religion.—l am, etc., ' J. D. SIEVWIUGHT. February 11, 1013. - ,' BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS. Sir,—There has been an amount ftf discussion—oral and written—and much claptrap indulged in lately on the above subject. While approving of much in your excellent lender in this morning's issue of Xhe Dominion, I must say, from my experience, that the introduction .of the Bible into the Stato schools has proved a downright failure, ns the sequel will show. I remember in old Ireland some sixty years ago, when n series of text-books on tho Old and New Testaments, compiled hy Archbishop Whatcly and his daughters, wero introduced into the Irish national system for tho purpose of proselytism, and which, to my knowledge, became a direct failuro at least ten rears before I left Home. In fact, tho books were never touched, although there wero certain extracts'from them interspersed through the lesson books, which were satisfactorily explained or ..totally ignored. And'what else could one expect in a country where threc-fourths/Of the people were Catholics, and naturally could not accept the teachings of Protestantism as inculcated in tho textbooks?

But this is not oil. In America I spent several years as a teacher, and I never heard any wrangling over Scripture lessonsor Bible-in-schools. There, each do-' nomination is allowed to build and control its own school—giving secular and religious'instruction hours. And in many instances I havo known. 6omo of these schools or Institutions aided by Government or municipalities without any friction. It was the same in New Zealand under the old Provincial system until supplanted by the present system of free secular and compulsory education. Now, I have had experience under both Bystoms,_ and I consider, the abolition/of the Provincial system.was a direct injusfcico to thoso deriving benefit from it. • And •I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the old'system gave as geod results as the new, and that many of those educated under the Provincial system have risen to lucrative positions in tho country, and. are now independent. There is very little' difference between the old and new systems, savo and except a little smattering of science at" the expense of Euclid ond_ Algebra'under the Provincial,6ystem: subjects far and away more beneficial than a little chemistry and physics. I have heard a lot of criticism of the Australian system of education whero the Bible has been introduced into the State schools. Well, from my experience, it is : one of tho greatest farces ever imposed on. humanity. I happened to bo teaching w one of the leading schools in Western Australia—the" Perth. Boys' School—where the, ministers of religion were allowed to 1 give religious instruction, at stated times during tho week; and while each minister was inculcating and imparting his special/dogmas, the. children of other de-, nominations were out in the playground —thereby, losing .several hours' secular instruction per week! What, then, becomes of. the arguments of Canon Garland and the other advocates of the Bible-in-schools? It is simply an attempt to rob one section of the community for the benefit of the other. The only way to. get oyer the trouble is for each denomination to build its own schools, bring them up to the- Government standard, and .receive aid Jrom the Government in accordance. with numbers and.' results.—l »m, etc.,