THE BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS MOVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2215, 30 July 1914, Page 9

THE BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS MOVEMENT

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTACK A REPLY TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MANIFESTO (By tho Rev. R. Wood.)

[Published by/Arrangement.]: The Roman Catholio Church in New ' fr.Pr? .".organising itself through i tho tathohc Federation" to preserve and perpetuate .our secular system of education. The teachers in our public , spools who are not in love -with the present secular features of our system loudly applauded Dr.' Cleary when he was lecturing from platform to platform against the Bible-in-Schools a year ago. At his meeting in Dunedin, a. gentleman who moved the vote of - thanks to Dr. CJleary summed -up what ™. him was : the practical message of Cleary's. lecture as follows 'Hands off our pfesent national system of education." ' Tie Very' Rev. Father Roche is reported in The Do-' mjnion' of July 6th, : 1914, as warning his hearers that the peace of the country was threatened by the attempted uit-roduction of denominationalism into tho State schools J, whioli'till now wor© common ground." If'this roport truly represents this preacher's then ho also says: "Hands off our present system of education." Tho aim of his exhortation seems'to have been the keeping of the Bible out of the schools and; preserving, and perpetuating the present secularism.- Now this curious - crusado,. on , the piirt; of the Roman Catholic; authorities in Neiw ZealaM presents some Very -remarkable features, It is' remarkable for this reason, that for the last SO years and inore they have bebn denouncing and .using, a very free and forceful voqibiilary- or. expression in - doing., so, our secular schools, and in. this mission of malediction have come very near endorsing; tho' views of tho late Archbishop Yaughan'of Sydney, who said that one of the-best things citizens cpuld 'do would, be to band themselves together to destroy the national system-of education. . This championing of secularism on the pairt of the Roman'prelates ought to he considered very carefully : by' the Parliamentary; Committee at present sitting to hear evidence for. and against the Referendum on Bible-in-Schools. 'It is the .duty of /that committee, and the duty of every member, , of. Parliament ' to have an intelligent knowledge of what .the Roman prelates, have said in the past about our secular,, system-of education, and if they, do so, they-will have no difficulty in coming to the. conclusion that there is a. lack of straightforwardness in, the propaganda of the Roman Bishops—Tather, Roche, etc., at tho present time.. ; " ... <' In \order to' throw a little light on this subject, the following extracts, from •the .writings of Dr. Cleary and 'others are- reproduced and commended to the ' most serious consideration of our mem■bersiof Parliament, .'?rid : the electors of New . Zealand. These extracts, clearly ! show that, tho Roman prelates reaUy wish the present system' destroyed; they really stand for the destruction' of a- national system of; education, while ' the Bible-in-State-Schools League'stands for "the preservation of the; system. The < following guotations'.ifurnish . some in- ] formation much needed- on this qnes- •' tiori:—»•'•■ V 1 ; i THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRELATES ARE FIGHTING TO PRE' SERVE THE'SECULARISM OF' OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM'WHICH THEY'HAVE CONbEMNED FOR THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN SUCH LANCUACE AS THE FOLLOvi'-

ING:— 1. Cod and His law are not In tho system according to Dr. Cleary,—"l have searched, our Education Act from Dan .to Beershebal have seen there provision . for- secular - instruction- anjl; no other; and I have found it barren of all referenco to ;the true God or . to a "moral law whose sanction is of.God.' "—Secular versus Religious Education p 27 by Dr. Cleary. , , • 2. The New Zealand Government Is accused by Dr; Cleary of . fil'ing down the flag of Christ in 1877.—"1n the year 1877 the New Zealand Government found the flag of Christ flying upon the schools. -It took that -flag down. By a positive-, and formal legislative .enactment, it, in effect, banished God from the place which, (on Christian principles) He holds by natural-, right "and ;pedagogical whiqh is superadded tho long: prescription of ages and the;common.consent of Christendom. In international, law the tearing down of the flag of a friendly Power, especially from the prescriptive place is an act of war'."—lbid p. 28. 3. - Dr. Cleary says the State by tha system treats religion as it does a "bubonic rat." He writes: "Our Govern--ment found God in the schools. It banished Him'therefrom;"—lbidp.. 31. .'.'lf religion is good for the child at the mother's knee'at 9 o'clock this morning, by what black maeic .of: pedagogy dees •it become so ; poisonous to -the sime child in the school nt -9.30 "that the law must protect him from it as it does from a. declared\ leper. or bubonic rat?"—lbid p. 33. - 4. Dr. Cleary says our Socular.System Is the Enemy of tho Child's Moral

Nature.—He writes"What chanco does ■our secular- system give the- 'kid'-? Let us see: (a) It dethrones God from His olden and prescriptive place in the school. . . . (b) It'treats the child as an intelligent, and not as a moral being.* . .' . (o) ... It, inr.ef- • feet, makes the-school a market, and knowledge a machine for money-getting. . . . What is to prevent this illbalanced development ... from following- the path of. its. normal tendency to moral and religious atrophy." —Ibid, pp. 33-34. „ "5.- Dr, Cleary's brother Bishops elsewhere, have Denounced the School System as a Seed Plot of Immorality, Infidelity, and Lawlessness. Here is the anathema of the New : South Wales Bishops—"We condemn ■ them (i.e., secular schools)- first, because they, contravene the first principles of the "Christian religion, and secondly, beoiuso they aro the seed plots of future immorality, infidelity, ! pnd lawlessness, being calculated to debase the standard of human excellence -and to corrupt the political, Bocial, and individual life of future citizen 6. Wherefore we urge our clergy to '. . . ' bring before the' minds of parents the terrific calamity to their children in exposing them to loss of faith and morals, and endeavour to make them feel that they could not do a greater service to religion or to the State than to upset by constitutional means a system which, whilst it is a crying injustice ts themselves, promises to be a source of incalculable evil to the colony."—Pastoral Letters of Hierarchy in New South Wales, 1879, p. 11. NOTE.—The system thus, con- • damned In this root and branch mariner the Roman Prelates ask now to romaln untouched, and our legislators are asked by them not to allow the people to say they wish the flag of Christ hung over our : schools. THE ROMAN PRELATES IN PREFERRING TO-DAY SECULARISM TO BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS ARE CONTRADICTING THEIR FORMER STATEMENTS IN WHICH THEY SAID THEY PREFERRED BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS TO SECULARISM. ' For proof and illustration, of this the' three following witnesses may be cited: . I. What Dr. Cleary has said:—"The

| attitude of Catholics in regard to Protestant versions of the Bible' in the public schools was stated by Archaoacon Slatterjy of Gec.long, before the Royal Commission of 1881, questions 2232-3 of tho report:— Question 2232.—We have taken evidence from the Protestant bodies and heard tho desire that there should, be Scripture teaching in tho . schools by .the State school teachers —that is to .Protestant denominations. Do you wish to give any evidence in reference to your views , , on"that proposition? Answer.—With the greatest pleasure; I should be very glad, for thosake of my Protestant fellow Christians, for whom I entertain the Christian charity of a.Christian

i minister, that they should have' ! their Bibles - taught openly and i honestly, as its dignity deserves, in . i the schools; t and it ,will be a sad thing if the Protbstaiit community i do not-agitate till they get it." — ". Secular versus; Religious Education, "-by Dr. Cleary, p. 139. 2, What the "N.Z. Tablet" said thirty years ago:—"But to us Godless schools are less, acceptable, than sec-tarian-schools; ahd we object less to • the reading of King James's Bible, oven • in 'the schobls,-than we do';to the exclusion of all-religious instruction. ■ American Protestantism of the orthodox stamp is far. less evil ;than German infidelity."—Quoted-.by, Prophetes in pamphlet on "Bible in Schools," p. 34. 3. What the Editor of the "Tablet" said some years ago:—"Mr.T; A. Scoft, a zealous Roman Catholic, in 1902 stood as a candidate for Bruce electorate, and;--,declared heartily for Bible-in-schools and ■ referendum, and. made no stipulation about a conscience clause for .teachers.—See "Outlook" November 8, .1902. . THE KELSON. SYSTEM AS A SOLUTION HAS BEEN HELD UP TO SCORN'BY DR. CLEARY. In his pamphlet ho wrote, wrth the. approval of Bishop Verdon, as follows: —"As the 'implied permission to; teach abbut-God and His law outsido the .hours. devoted to' tho-system that provision serves only to emphasise ,the exclusion-of: God from the actual working of-the- system.. 1 Christians might, conceivably,, have been, permitted to do as much in; Notre Dame, Paris,' at tho close of the revolutionists' worship of thev'Goddess of Reason. During, school hours our law has put God out of calculation, it '.'ilia* excluded all doctrinal to- Him, or to moral duties. ■towards Him or in Him to the children's neighbours .or themselves., It compels the earnest-Christian teacher to clicck.'his best thoughts, and muzzlo l.his,tongue. and play a part; . . . 7 . If He (God), is. brought' into the working of the; system;'He is brought.in surreptitiously', and a.s a stowaway, • and all. teaching regarding His law is as contraband as pipe opium." , < Secular versus Religious Education, pp. 28;29. DR. CLEARY, IN / ASSAILING ' .THE LEAGUE'S PLATFORM, ' DOES SO AT THE EXPENSE OF ABANDONING VIEWS HE FORMERLY PROFESSED:- , For proof, three things may be noted: ■ l;';It has ; been shown above that in the .'past ,his>. co-religionists preferred Protestant Bible-readings to secularism. In assailing the' first 'plank' in the League's platform, I; he assails views which he has called the "Catholio' atti-■ tude." '■ ' ■'/; /;. : £ If he objects to the second plank of tho League's ' platform he assails principles which', he 'formerly professed. ■He. wrote ouFngd-70 of'the.'pamphlet referred to above, as-follows:— "The civil (Jovern'ment may not; itsolf teach, religion. Does it follow that it therefore provide,in.'..;'., soine. V somp those who are ' ' competent to' ;make religion what it - has been'from immemorial ages in !xCfiirisliOT3oifi^e.V^;iaC6£^ucai'''-''';

tion. .This does' not,' of courso,' : necessarily imply a money payment . for treligious 'training.", . : 3. The principle above laid down by Dr.- .Cleary-'.very admirably- covers the ['right of entry' 1 asked for-by the Bible-in-State-Schools League. As a matter of fact, in "the city of Rome, Dr. Cleary's" co-religiohists- have fought for years for the "right of entry" -into the "secular" schools:, there. • On M<irch 21' last'.their efforts ended in victory, and 60.teachers of religion entered the £chools l)etwef!ii 2.30 and 3.30 p.m. to give their-- religious , message to the children. .The, League's riulit of entry metes, out ■;justice, and fair play to all, and makes proselytism impossible. Surely an educational.proposal at Rome should not be objected, to, by Roman Catholic prelates' in -New Zealand. The story of the fight for tlie right of entry into .the .secular schools in Rome'was told in the "London Tablet' 1 in March last, and the "Tablet", account was reproduced in The Dominion of May "9, 1914. ; /v ; THE FOREGOING RECORD OF INCONSISTENCY ON THE PART OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AU-, THORITIES,SHOULD CONVINCE EVERY OF PARLIA- •, MENT AND EVERY CITIZEN OF THE UTTER UNFAIRNESS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTACKS ON THE PROPOSAL' THAT: THE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY OF . SAYING RELIGION OR NO RELIGION IN OUR SCHOOL AT ; THE BALLOT-BOX.

0 _1. Those,who wish the Bible and re- ? ligious, teaching in the National Schools n are the friends of the .National 'system. » • -The- Roman, authorities are its trail | ducers and its foes.,- . > il 2. The introduction of . the Bible and '- ]• religious lessons ' will : niake for good d I citizenship and bring our system into line wjtli the schools of our Empire, -1 bv the recognition of God and his Word. q | Our secularism makes them anti-British - and' anti-national. No longer will Dr. ' | Cleary- be able to say when this comes, that ! God and his law in our . I schools are 'as "contraband as. pipo . i opium." .' t 3. The Roman Catholic prelates -ob--3 ject to the conscience suggested g I'V tlio Leaguo to suit the wishes ,of tho probably small minoritv of parents ' m ' : who would object to their children read- , ing' Biblo lessons in schools.' Instead j , of asking the small minority to say j they don't, want Bible-reading, the Ro- ' I man prelates waiit, the vast' mainrity to j j snv the.v want Bible-readinc:. This ex- . i t.raordinary arrangement suijaested bv j! ! Dr. OWry nct-nall" obtained in Ireland 7 ill 1833. and Dr. Thomas Chalmers, of f Scotland, said regarding it;— r' "According to the nresent system, f the Bible, not tlie Roman Catholic, 5 •' is treated as uhe Dissenter. It is 1 not the Roman Catholic withdraws a- because he does not like the Bible; j it is the Biblo withdraws because' i the Roman _ Catholic does not like 3 it.' —Memoir of J. J. Gurnev, Vol. 3 I, i). 4R7. Edited by J. B. Braitlij waite, 1855. Is the Bible to be treated in Nonf . Zealand ns the Dissenter in our National Schools? Is'the narrow-minded Insh policy of 1833 to dominate us in New Zealand in 1914?

RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT.

At the half-yearly meeting of delegates or the Waikato Federation of the Church of England Men'.s Society, held at Hunfcly on July 22, tho following resolution was passed':—"That this meeting of delegates of branches of the Waikato Federation of tho Church of England Men's Society desires to express its appreciation of tho Religious Instruction Referendum Bill, and urges the members, of Parliament representing tho electorates of AVaikato, Raglan, Ohinemuri, and-Tauranga to support it in it= original form."