POINTS FOR THE PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2209, 23 July 1914, Page 9

POINTS FOR THE PEOPLE

RIGHTS OF THE PARENT ■THEI REFERENDUM AND ITS umJNUM'S (Publish;'.-;.iy Arrangement.) .... It is-.an old-faying that an Englishman's house is his castle. Our traditions have conserveo for us the pnn,'ciple that iii tiioso intimate .matters that concern Ins tastes, his religion, and his family, each man should bo nee to direct ins iile-as inucJi as possible according to his own ideas. ,Publio welfare demands, however, that through no private whim ,i or personal poverty, '. ehould his children remain ignorant and '. iwtaujjut. £iunco"'wo nave, the splon- • did institution, of ireo and efficient education. ; But hero enters.a diiliculty. ; JNo part of a man's freedom should be ,' more inviolable than his .views on religion, and his right to'impart them to ; his offspring. In former aays ho delegated tins dirty to-the scliools of his cuoseu church, where both secular and sacred kuowledgo were imparted, \\itii tno grow in 01 tne national system he found his facilities for secular instruction increased and improved, but his : more ultimate privilege' of religious instruction totally denied him. The' ■ churen schools are gone, driven from tho held. I'ho demands of tho school day and of : tiie soiiool week exclude all but the smallest opportunity of supplying the dencit of religious instruction, ftiost fatal of all, the very idea of efficient and essential ! education is exclusively associated with secular instruction alone. Voluntary religious instruction ' finds itself enfeebled, ham- . pored at every turn. [■■, REFERENDUM OR CAESARISM? .Two ways exist of-settling the question of inclusion or rejection of religious : , instruction, 'in tho national ' echools. One by the direct legislation of Parliament;.tho other by reiorring the decision to the people : themselves, llie former, way nas been tried., eight times in ijiew Zealand, and has : resulted in the total exclusion of religious. instruction.' What is tiio result? . A gathering wave of discontent among those who prize religion as a national heritage has grown, insensibly during the last thirty years until now it occupies the attention of the whole country. Is this a sign of the people's sat. ; isfaction with the system or otherwise? It is idle for one party to denounce thu> ■ discontent as unreasonable, The di». is there., Nay,,:it bids, fair to swell until sooner or later its object is achieved in the desecularisation of the' ■■ schools of this Christian nation. The policy >.of direct ■ legislation then has obviously failed to meet tie needs of • >the case. The'alternative course Mies ready for statesmen to adopt. . ''Broad- ;.. based'upon the people's will," the national whotner,ultimately secular or including religion, will ho longer remain a disturbing iniiuence above the ■jolitical arena. ■■•■■, i' SECTARIAN DIFFICULTY. An objection to Bible, in schools fr<s queiitly advanced 'is that 'sectarianism will enter the schools. "' The moral effect of the segregation,of the children zn various groups is said to be that sectarian feelings will be engendered. ' If this were .so, jt would undoubtedly bo a real objection. But the'argument shows a complete ignorance of tne,child mind. For less than one twenty-fifth of its , school: life this ,separation into classes , will take place. The broad impressions left on the child is that religion has its place in life. The theological doctrines which : divido Christendom - are, to the ' twelve-year-old, in.jthe' abstruse region of the'drvyand'uninteresting.- ' They • make no appeal the instructors'' appeal 4 mcuJcating : sectarian prejudice is; in this age of toleration, manifestly absurd."There Is only time, ..for Inculcating - those'- broad' and simple aspects of Christianity which are of.unlversal. appeal, td. childhood. There remains, tlie .unconscious influence exerted by tho knowledge that one classmate 13 of another religious fold. Here, again, tho child's. view must be realised. ; Much moro. than with, adults, do personality and tastes control the child's affinities. The regrouping of classos once'a/wqek--villi have an infinitely less effect in affecting .friendliness than prowess in .'football; charm ot speech; or living in different streets, and going to different churches and Sunday . echools, .■■■■ ■/.; ; VIEWS OF EDUCATIONAL * AUTHORITY. 1 "The problem of tho irtmediato future is to reanimate education with the religious ideal." , These are the words, not of a "clerical partisan,".but of the famous Professor Muirhead. of Aberdeen. It is unquestionably the View of this great authority that all the powerful influences that can be exerted beneficially upon the'child mind should be :o-ordinated and allied. Religion is not . to stand outside the workshop, humbly soliciting the attention of-the- preoccupied or wearied inmates. It should be given.its rightful position of honour and authority where it is capable of working out the finest effects with its . unhampered powers. In other words, the most powerful Influence for awakening the:young mind to high thoughts and noble enterprise should bo given an equal opportunity with' those that fit him to earn hla-daily bread. In Switzerland, we aro ; told, by Mr. G. H. Knibbs, education ! is regarded among all. classes.as a kind of religion. And in . Switzerland, by an unsurpassed vote, tho people in 1882 rejected the proposal to banisji religion from the'schools.- Tlie association of the two facts is strongly suggestive. Let us not forget the pre-' eminence of Switzerland for Educational efficiency. . AGNOSTICS, ETC. According uo census returns, there are p. small number 'of people, about '5 per cent., who stand outside the Churches which profess faith in the Christian revelation. It is said that theso, people 'will be taxed for facilities which thoj neither want for their children nor will make use N of. : Let it be admitted at once that .they,will. Lot it be supposed this is tho. solo aud only argument which is entitled to any weight in tho case of tho'opponeiits of'Bible-in-schools.' There is also a minority of people who object to the Territorial defenco system. They are taxed to support it, noverthe--less. And why ? .. It is a clear case of the interests and viowr of tho majority outweighing those of the minority. Yet the anti-militarist agitators, so far from convincing magnanimousri'eople that the conscientious objectors should not pay taxes, has died the de>th of all impracticable movements. Tho truth is that no laws can be made to su : t eyoryone. Where a maximum of benelt is to be attained, there is ,tke path that legislation must follow. ■■.-... BAPTIST AND CONCRECATIONAL THROW OVER THE ANTI-BIBLE UEACUE. ' The National Schools Defenco Leagun is somewhat hasty in publishing the names of clerical supporters of its Nn-Ilil.Kir-tlv-scjwols programme. , • It , bos published' to the world that Con--''grcgational ministers in Dmicdin, viz.,. Messrs. Ashford ant] Wallace, . wore moinbcrs of its executive, and it iB also made known that Baptist ministers like Messrs. Jones and Dalaston, of Dun&din, were also members of the executive. It.now turns out that'thesc men have not the slightest sympathy with tlie "No-Bible" in the syllabus programme of the National Schools Defenco League, andf further, that instead of objecting to the referendum, they are in ■ favour, of the referendum. These men, over their own names, have signed a statement that they wish tho Bible in tho school-syllabus, and they favour a right of entry under the Nelson system, which means that they 50 three-fourths of tho way to the Bible-in-State-Schools £ea»«<» D]atform>