MR. COOKE IN REPLY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2177, 17 June 1914, Page 8

MR. COOKE IN REPLY.

. Sir,—t see fin' yoitr. columns tftafc I am charged with itidiscrclioii because t ■mentioned' that a; efrrta'in series of school readers contained some of the of' tlie . Neiv -fostaßient). t?oi> nbly_ "Tiio Gotfd. Samaritan." Welti sir, If mentioning some fact bearing on a controversy in which I have sought to take some part, if-this'is I how: to .continue b.efiig indiscreet. I Jioiq, sir, tliat. wfe.. ■'ii;hi> sr® working for tlie defonco oif otiip ..school®, Stand for trnth and right,'.. 1 hope wo will not follow tljs example 01" our opponents, a'ftd pursue a policy. of concealment, 'bus that, we will wolconio fh'n proclainviiig of any essential fact. We, at all events, court publicity. Your corrcrpnndont, "Civis," speaks of these parables beiiiß read in. defiance of the. ■law. Wliafe Tha Act Says; "Tho teaching shall bo entirely of a secular charnci«r." . IMxtbfe teaclvijig in t»is parable is of pure morality; tlwrfl is. no thfiok-gy in ilto parable front liegiitftiitg to end, that is, its tendinis is ''entirely ot .» sßCii.la'F c'toriftw." . There, is ji.o t3)?ealcing,o..f. t.he. Tcaeh- ««. are required to enforce morality on tlioir .pupils, and whether that parable is fotin.d ii) a hook aft'tilaHy u.sfed i'ti ; tlie school or not the. parable may very well b'6. fflsed to enforce moral tcaclring, Wo have been ioi,] by some, as ignorant of what our schools are as they appear to' Ik- of the ißib.Jfi jßsislf, that because direct. reference •is not made -to pod, that.. dogmatic secularism is taught. Let me commend this parahlo to su<di persons, Tf (hey are logical, t.bey...will say -that Jesus' also tan.edit secularism, seeirt? that: tliis parable teaches everyday, morality, .1 veirturfr, sfn, to this is su'ißcie.iit answer to most of the questions pvlfc to me by r<iur two correspondents. As to tho gibing question; what distress, of mind Was caused to the leajchiiifc stall by the rending of ibis parable* niy answer is ''Jfo distress at.vailv' "So fiir as I know, .the. r£adiiie of such a psr■ibln is not likely to distress any teacher'; the teaoliiiig coifcinei in it; arid also the GoldiJ.ii Rule, to which "Ok-is" ■reffifs. aw; matters m winch ■ oycfys body.is 'ft.is different with religions, or tvbat. T prefer to wll theological, matters, for there we find endless differences- of ofiiition...' a'rhj; ft:lii)t' 4s most ■ sacred to one mind api)e!>rs> as blasphemy to*■ ftrothftr.. On this account, Ii? the interests of the whale community, in l tiio. 'interests of bur children, }y.o afe opposing t'hf introcltfetlon of riv ligietis teaching in out- Softools.-—I am,' etc-, ■ - ' ■

CHAS, .1. .COOKE Ivclburne, .Tiiiic'K), 1014/' '■