BIBLE IN STATE SCHOOLS LEAGUE OP NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 3

BIBLE IN STATE SCHOOLS LEAGUE OP NEW ZEALAND.

What is the Bible in State Schools League? The League is a triiion'entered into by the Church of England, 4i j»r cent'.; Presbyterian Church, 23 per cent; Methodist Church, 9 per cents and,the: Salvation Army 1 per cent.; in all 71 per cent, of the population. In addition, ninny Baptists, Congregationalism Lutherans, and members of the Church of Christ ate members of the League. What is the Object of the League? To restore to the National system df Education the Bible and its teaching '>-V a method (known as the Australian system) which has existed in New SoMth .Wales since 18GG, in Tasmania since 1868, in West Australia since 1893, in Norfolk Island since 1906, and in Queensland since 1910: and WHICH IN THOSE STATES HAS PROVED A BULWAUIv OP THE NATIONAL SYSTJ3M, SAFKGUAItDIXG ' IT AGAINST ANY ATTEMPT TO DESTROY IT IN FAVOUR OP DENOMINiW 4'IONAL EDUCATION. Tho fact of its permanence in two States for nearly half a century and since its introduction in adjoining States is proof that it gives satisfaction to the vast majority of the people. What is the League's Proposal? ■ "Lessons read in school hours by the children themselves from Scripture Books provided .by the Education Department: State School teachers supervising tlie reading, but not giving sectarian or dogmatic teaching. Visits during school hours by ministers or accredited teachers from the Churches, instructing the children in the faith of their fathers: , Conscience clause by which the parent has complete control of the child's religious instruction in the public,school." ; The League is not asking for every detail of the system, but for THE PE.INCIPLE, THAT EVERY CHILD SHALL HAVE THE BIGHT TO READ THE BIBLE AND HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF DEFINITE "RELIGIOUS TEACHING BY HIS OWN CHURCH, BOTH IN SCHOOL HOURS, the parent-Mt- tte teacher or Church—to decide how much, if any, religious. instruction the chilu slujll have. As tho details in applying this principle vary in.'the Australian States, so they can be varied in New Zealand to fit local conditions;' Why is a Referendum Sought? . ■ Because IN A REFERENDUM EVER Y OPPONENT WILL HAVE AN EQUAL ..OPPORTUNITY WITH SUPPORTERS OF A DIRECT VOTE. The subject is one ' which, is of immediate concern to every parent, and of hardly less concern to every voter.' It is a question which can be settled best by a Referendum inasmuch as members of Parliament would be affected by a number of other issues having concern with the question of religious instruction. Direct settlement at tho baKot box of this question allows.it to be decided on its own merits ivithout aiiv other becoming involved. The precedents of the settlement ©f the question by Referendum are.numerous; Switzerland (the home of the Referendunj), South Australia, Victoria, and -Queensland having regarded it as the iiiest'ittitaMe vrav of. ascertaining'the will of.the people on the matter. The question Bible or no Bible; religious.instruction or no' religious instruction, is distinct from political, and,.party issues. , Why Should I Support tho League's Proposal? ; Because the CHURCHES REPRESENTING THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE HAVE COME TO AN AGREEMENT'IN THE COMMON MiJIMSi OF THE CHILDREN, arid a great proportion of the electors have Miclovsed action of fhose Churches bv signing individually their Agreement- with ttifc prep&faj. Plainly, therefore, THE LEAGUE'S PROPOSAL IS THE ONLY ONE LUvETA TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO.THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE 01' , TIIL DOMINION. , Why Should There be Religious Instruction fin State Schools? Because education is not complete which does not make provision, f°,r 'he teaching of morality, and morality cannot be.taught without a religious foundation. The religious foundation for a Christian country is found in the Bible. Why'. Should the State School System Include Religious Teaching? ' There is no more reason why the State should exclude Bible lessons and ministers' visits from the State' Schools, than from our Industrial Schools, onv hssti!.t;>ls and our prisons, where the State allows religious instruction . t® be given. . I'he State recognises the Christian religion in every important phase of its "f# the King and the Governor, down through Parliament, frith the Judges, ia the making of laws, in the celebration of marriage, in the Defence Force, and in the gaols—it is excluded from the primary schools only. Will the Bible be an Innovation in the Schools? •Not so. It had its plice in the provincial systems of education tip to 18i 1. •' Provision for Bible reading and prayer was made by. Mr. Bo wen, Minister o.f Lmscation, in his . National Bill in 1877, when the , provinces werft pbohshed, but the' clause was struck out against Mr. Boweh's wish, without any direct.coHsultnt.wn ft tho people.'. Only in New Zealand and two other English-speaking Staffs w Hie Empire is the Bible excluded- from the primary schools. THE INNOVATION IS IHJi EXCLUSION OF THE BIBLE from the'curriculum. ■ Our schools aw thus nonChristian. Anti-National and Anti-British. WE WANT this blot K-moved and THE BIBLE RESTORED. . Is the Bible a Necessary Part of Education? . Yes, certainly, if we purport to' give the children an education ip English.'Hoi* can they understand the liistory of their .race or their literature, witlioat a know, lodge, if only from a literary point of view, of that Book without which the history of England could not be written; and without which Iter literature, her.poets, her. historians, her Acts of Parliament, her. great writers and even her newspapers today would be .unintelligible? Is it True that the League Proposes Mutilating the Bible? , . Certainly not. The same principle, is followed out in every Church fleeting tho'most suitable passages of Holy Scripture for publicuse. Tlie Roman Catholic Church itself shows a clear*example in this respect, using choice portions of Si'i'ipturo for reading at Jfass, and similarly selecting portions to tse read (lasly by its clergy. The charge of mutilation of the Scriptures brought ftjanrtt the; ■ League . could equally be brought against every Q'hurch, and' the Roman Catholic Church- • ;in'particular. 1 ' Is the State Teacher to be Asked to Teach Rejigion? Only in tho sense in which he is-teaching it now. .The official syllabus of .MB2, page 48. specifies in nearly 100 particulars the moral duties of life. These are to bs taught by examples taken from history, biography, poetry, fiction, awl J>v anecdote, allegory and fable. The League's proposal would add the Bible to tho cHrrieolitm. Tcaclicrs are asked to treat the Biblo lessons in the same way as thev treat any other historical or literary lesson; and as they already do with -lessons on Mohamet, Confucius and casual references to the Christian religion and the Bible, which appear in the school literature. For tens of years thousands of teachers hnvo been Igivinsr Biblfe lessons to tens of thousands of children in Australian States. Not 'one case lias ever"been on record of anv teacher raisiiifr diffieulties about Hw.-e lessons; even when as in the ease of Western Australia, Norfolk Twand and Queensland, the system was introduced after the education system liad ten m pjcistenrti for some years. It is incredible that the>teachei's of New Zealand would find difficulties where their colleagues do not. Are Teachers Unfit, to Give Bible Lessons? THIS CHARGE IS MADE BY OPPONENTS OF THE LEAGUE, On the other hand the League is prepared fully to trust the teachers of New Zealand ps worthy of tho same confidence as the teachers of ?>ew South wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, Norfolk Island, and-Queelisland, where no siicli charge ot umitaess is ever heard of. ' Will.this System.be Unjust to Roman Catholics? It would be unjust'if the proposal donied them the same opportunities as wr ■other Church. Roman Catholio priests and other accredited teachers will.have the same right as any other Chureh.of going into the schools and teaching ' their own children in school hours. In Now South Wales an average of 1,000 visits a year by them is.a proof that they can avail themselves of the opportunity. In New pu'-h Wales the Education Department reports that tho number ot ,children withdrawn from the. Bible lessons under the State School teachers is so email as to be negligible for statistical purposes, consequently it follows that parents m 51,920 Roman Catholic children in the State Schools, find no difficulty in tl cir children reading the Biblo lessons. There can be no injustice in offering the Bou'iaij Catholic parents in New Zealand that of which Rom'au Catholic parents olsewhefe avail themselves. ' Will the League's: Proposal Lead to State Aid to Denominational Schools? - It will not, because the Roman Catholic Church—which demands State aid both . where there is no religious instruction and also where it exists—is effectually prevented in the latter case from forming with any other Church a comliinailpn which 1 could obtain State aid..Practically all the Churches save the one noshing Mate aid are so satisfied'with the system of religious instruction which tho League <wyo». cates, that they have definitely, dropped tho policy of State aid for iter schools; preferring to support the National, system of education when it twe .tern advocated by the League. That the clergy of every denOtoinaHoii, including the Roman Catholics, will have the ri?ht of entry into the Stat# SqlioOis tor the purpose of giving religious instruction to their own children leaves no Hist ground of comnlaint, inasmuch as the responsibility of refusing to teach children lies with the Church that declines, not with the State. It then cannot legally ta pleaded that the children are brought up without religious instruction, as is now * urged bv THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH WHTCH CLAIMS WITH ALL ITS STRENGTH STATE AID UNDER THE PRESENT SECULAR SYSTEM. Who Owns the State Schools? The People of New Zealand, who pay for tbem. Therefore, the People have tho rieht to say what shall be taught ill tho People's schools. The Referendum will allow the People lo be master in their own house. Why Did Not the-League Adopt the Nelson System? It is clear that tho Churches, after .practical experience of the Neljou svs-tem, did not regard it as a satisfactory. Or permanent sMution o£ the problem ef religion* instruction in State Schools. It has been tried , for many years, and many of ' those working -it declare it to ,bn-; inadequate 4s "a national solution of tfe probI Jem. The system advocated, by tho League is accepted as finally satisfactory by j practically all the Churches, save one, in Australia. I Why is the Nelson System an inadequate Solution of the Problem? Because as it excludes allnthose ministers of religion who will not agree to giv& ! undenominational teaching, it is manifestly unfair to suggest it as a national system 1 of religious instruction when it-would not be open to all equally. The Australia® system is open to all denominations equally, special privileges being accorded to l none. Where ministers, prefer to teach their own children only they can do so, i though where they prefer to arrange with other ministers for common teaching , they can do so. But instead of the latter method being compulsory and the only available why, as in tho Nelson system, it .is optional under tho League's proposals. Does the Nelson System Roach all the Children? , Very far from it. Out of 181,444 children in average attendance in New Zealand, tho warmest admirers of tho Nelson system only claim 16,00 ft children, that is 5 to say, 9 per cent, as receiving instruction, after somo 20 years' trial. Whereas in 1 Queensland, two years' working of the system advocated by the League for New J Zealand resulted "in 30,596 children receiving ministers' visits, equal to ® per cent I of the daily average attendance according to a statement ffsado by th-ri Queensland Minister of Education, October, 1913. Moreover, whilo the 9 per cent."rcrwesented all tlio children receiving any religious instruction in Now Zealand State Schools, every child in Queensland had the opportunity of' having Bible 10.-sons (in addition to ministers'visits) given by the State school teacher; so that the o Leagno's sysJjjm places the Biblo within the, reach of every child in the schools, j . and, moreover, does it without penalising hiin. Is the Nelson System Bible in Schools or Bible out of Schooii? The Nelson 6ystem is clearly Bible out of schools, inasmuch as it is outside the ofßcal school hours reported to the Education Board, r ' The Secretary of tho Nelson Education Board wrote (Ist May, 1313) t — s- "The Board has not at any time given permission for religious instruction r to be given IN schools.'" d And (30th May, 1913);- ... "Section 143 (b) of the Education Act provides that the instruction must be entirely of a secular character.". o ■ No one would say that arithmetic was taught IN the school if it were said that L ° the Board had not at any time given permission for arithmetical instruction to be ■; given in the schools, even if some well-meaning 1 people visited flip school outside official school hours once a week and taught the children the 'BuHiplication tabic. 8 'Farther, the League stands for.the principle that the Bible as sn'oh must have a '1 recognised place in the schools' curriculum, and not be treated as an extra. The . Nelson svstem impresses noon tho children that the Bible is an esh'a, is not to be part of their official school"life, and therefore is of less importance than v-eatling or i, writing. h How Far is the Nelson System Practicable? II After all the years and the strong advocacy it lias received, it practic<t able only in towns'as a rule. Consequently the children who. most need religious in-struction—tho.-e living in country parts where churchcs Sunday .'cli'jflis. and ;>iifii=is tcrs are few—do not receive any benefit. In the home of tlie Nelson system, nut r[ U'l if schools under the Nelson Education Board, only 11 of them arc reached by the g Nelson system, and of these onk five are in the country. n In Western Australia, a huge territory nine times the site of Asnnml, with about one-third its population, out of 036 schcols, 311 were visited by iaiais-

tors in school hours, Out of an average attendance of 32,359 children, 19,823 roministers' visits, under the League's system. And In addition,-overy ■child in the West Australian schools had the opportunity of direct lessons from the Bible given by the leathers. Would the Nelson System Favour Stat® Aid? l'es, most distinctly so, because it would preclude til a n v—certainly EomanC-ath- «>. ~. ,to,n lakin S ® share. Roman Catholic children ore not allowed by Vheir Church to attend the classes of religions i nslruetion held by ministers of other ■ Churches. As no instance has been found under the Kelson system -ef Kosuaii Cat Si-, bi 0110 clergymen taking a share with oilier ministers in addressing children of other d Chtu'ches, tlwre is n.o doubt they would continue to refuso to do so-. Consequently Si the exclusion of the Rowan Catholic Church irons any share in the wirting «f'A re- p ligious instruction system set up by law would »ive that Church ground for rotate 0 - aul. Whereas, in tfie League's proposal of the Australian system, they could take a their own children am) tc-aeh them their faith as any other Church can do. Thus, !|. having equal opportunities vtitk ail, and of which that Church has availed itself j. el.scwhorc, it: would have, under the League's proposal, no claim for exceptional favours, monetary or otherwise. ' !' , b Does the Nelson System Recognise the Teachers? ' S So far from doing this, those now advocating the Kelson system as a permanent ? solution of the problem «£ religions instruction .claim that the teivehefs shot! be C excluded from any part of it. This is. B.othing short of an insult to the teaching' ' profession of New Zealand, inasmuch a?, oscept in Sew Zealand 'and two oUuar "States, every Enslish-spealsitts part of the Empire regards the teac-hiis as aiffi- t ci-eistly honcnrahle to bo trusted' with Bible lessons ; for the children. The league is prepared <tqnaUy with Australia and other parts of the Empire to, trust "the - teacfiers in New Zealand. The Nelson system, if made law, would prefllaim to the v world that the people of New Zealand would not trust their own teachers. * Why Has the Nelson System Not Proved Practicable? | Because it is incoHv-enieai both to children and ministers in being outside school hours. Both Education Boards atid also school committees have repeatedly * refused to give facilities for such meagre opportunities as this Nelson system has 1 hitherto afforded. Amongst other Boards, refusing are Auckland' dttfl. Wellington* • s These two Boards aloite eeiitrol the education of liM"6 children. An example occur- \ t*d in the easo of Newtown School Commi tt«e (March, IDllj. The Ministers' Asso- 8 elation ejf Wellington South desired permission to giv-o religious instruction -because 1 they believed that by demonstrating the feasibility of the scheme other schools a would adopt vt. The Committee not only refused to "grant the permission, but_ the 0 Chairman of the School Committee publicly stated that he questioned H- the miais- , c ters wore in earnest. .. ' .[ Does the Neisorf System Provide a Permarsefit Settlement? - ■ • ■ . £ Very far from it, because -not ouly has the permission of the Board 1;o be ob- J vain-ad/but the penuisfion of each separate «ommittoo hi addition—pi-mission f which, bein? only temporary, may lie revoked at any moment. Further, toe etecHoti of a fresh school conimiti.ee-raises the question anew each time, rt:id_ compel; thoso ' who favour the Nelson system and those who. ai'o opposed -to any religious teaching; 111 the schools to make the election decide the question* thereby creating a coiitiu- f ilal'feeling of unrest, The League proposes to submit the question oncft Mad for all t<s the'whole people of the Doniinioil, and let tften-i settle it, instead of having it as j ft perennial disturbing factor ill school affairs. h Is the Nelson System Fair to the Child? '' The choice for a child under the Nelson system is—play outside or lesson frithin J —a method which would .not be regarded as adequate for teaching any other sub* ject, -Under the League's. system, If the child does not have the Bible lesson'.from * his -teacher or have a- minister's visit, iho child sipiply gees on with, same other I Ifsson—pTObably another reading lesson. ' I Is the Nelson System Approved in its Horn:? ( V f Inasmuch its the majority- of those giving hhe lessons Aire meinbcrs of the Bible *> in State Schools teagde. they can .be counted 'as Finding the Nelson - system ittadc- n quate.. The Church of England Synod, Nelsrani and the Methodist Synod -of Nelson J pas«sd'resolutions oXi?rc-««li!! their sense of the inadequacy of the Nelson system, j and urging support of the tongue's platform as "a incahs calculated to remedy y IJjo present, serio-as defect in the education system." No wore striking testimony 0 could Ik produced as to the failure of tho Nelson system. than the etideiieo c-f (.hose whd' actually work it in its home and wiie are fullv familiar ivit-h its -de- •