SCHOOLS & THE BIBLE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1883, 17 October 1913, Page 8

SCHOOLS & THE BIBLE.

THE NELSON SYSTEM.

BISHOP SADLI ER'S CRITICISM. (By lWemDl.—SoooJal OorreeDondenU Nelson, October 16. In his address to the Nelson Diocesan Synod, Bishop Sadlier deals at considerable length with the Bible-jn-schools question. Referring particularly to what is termed tho Nelson system (which ho contends is totally 'inadequate), ho points out that the success claimed for the system was for two central schools, and he asks, what about tho other school? At the Haven Road School, he goes on to say—0110 of the most important in tho city classes lapsed during the year for the want of a teacher, ami this state of thing 3 continued for a period' of nine months. It does not seem, therefore, that in the homo of tho so-called Nelson ( system there is sufficient organisation to cope with the demands made on it. It ovidently requires tho most strenuous concentration of available forces to mako it a success in ono particular school.

It Is not "Bible In Schools." The system, tho Bishop contended, is the. Bible out of school. The fact is conspicuous and .incontrovertible that the best that can bo said of tho method is that it is a heroic attempt to atone for the absence of the Biblo from the State school. Section 143 of the Education Act states that the "teaehing shall be entirely of a secular character. The Nelson Board of Education says that the board has at no timo given permission for religious teaching in Stato schools, and aeain no rebgious instruction can bo given during school hours. In a personal communication, which I have had from the board, I am informed that tho legal school hours are fixed by the_ Aotn-namely, two hours in the morning, and two hours in the afternoon, and that the ordinary school hours are determined by the respective committees. These vary from twenty-four to twenty-five hours a week, and the board has no knowledge, of religious instruction being given in legal school _ hours. No religious instruction is included in the curriculum; the teachers know nothing of it in the day's work; tho Education Department knows nothing of it. I say that nothing can be more conspicuous and incontrovertible than that the Nelson system is not the Bible-in-S'tate-Schools The religious instruction is given not in tho school, but in .the Stato school buildings to any children whose parents wish them to attend. "Annual Festival of Hatred." In the event of a Nelson system being adopted by the Stato, the Bishop considers that Roman Catholics would have a just claim to grants in aid of their denominational'schools. ""Their argument that the Stato had permitted tho Protestantising of the schools would bo irresistible and unanswerable, and I cannot conceive any just grounds on which the State oould withhold such grants. This possible Protestantising of the school, and endowment of Roman Catholic education seems 1 to mo to bo the gravest danger of tho Nelson system. Such a course would wreck tho national system of education. In addition to this, unless tho entire method of administration wero changed, tho elections of School Committees would 'bring in tho question as to who should liavo the use of the schools, and so we should have an annual festival of hatred.

Tho proposal of the Biblo-in-Scliools League is that every denomination, including Roman Catholics, should havo the right to teach their cliildren the faith of their fathers. Tlie allied Churches are not asking for any peculiar privilege, but for equality of opportunity all 'round." 1 A Reproach Answered. : The Bishop goes on to say that the Nelson system is applicable only in the larger centres, and where there is least need. "In those districts whero church and Sunday School services are irregular, and wliero. therefore, there is the greater need, there is 110 provision possible. _ There aro about 270 schools in tho diocese of Nelson. I understand that, in one parochial district, there aro f 25 schools.' Of course it is said: Why do not tho clergy give tho lessons in these back-blocks schools? My answer is that their wide districts, and the perpetual calls upon their time, preclude some of tliem, and that, 111 other instances, permission to give such instruction has oeen refused. In lcaka tlie clergyman received 1 a pointblank refusal. In Waiuta tho committee got over tho difficulty by omitting the courtesy of in answer." In conchiding his criticism of some points .in the Nelson method, the Bishop emphasised his conviction that the advocacy of it is negative and useless. The proposal to make it legal ignores the demand of tho.Christian conscience. Tlie combined Churches will have none of it. If it were on the Statute-book | to-morrow tho Bible-in-Schools League would. continue its agitation. Tho" matter will not rest until we have in our schools tho Word of God and the right of Christian ministers as such to teach the cliildren tho faith of their fathers. lit tho exclusion of the Bible from the schools tlio State is committing an outrage on Christian sentiment and common sense. It puts the Bible in the gaols and keeps the Bibls out of*the schools. It apparently believes in the power of the Bible to reform the criminal, but it refuses to put the Bible in the hand of the child in the school to prevent him becoming a criminal.