CHURCH SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 238, 2 July 1919, Page 8

CHURCH SCHOOLS

VIEWS OF BISHOP SPROTT

NEED FOR RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

The subject of church ochools was dealt with by Bishop Sprott. in the course of his address to the Wellington Diocesan Synod yesterday. "I believe that our Church, and indeed all the churches, have at tlje. present time an educational opportunity, such as may never recur again," said His Lordship. "If only they and wo havo the faith, the coinage and tho liberality to seize this opportunity, it will mean that k, large part of the children of New Zealand will at last receive some regular religious instruction and education. The Presbyterian Church has already taken action with characteristic vigour and thoroughness, and 1 most respectfully and heartily wish it all possible success. The need tor such education us only the Christian Church can give is, I think, greater than ever. Since tho war began, the cry has been insistent throughout the Empire for more efficient education. With this demand we must all concur. Wo cannot have too much efficiency in all departments of life. But there is a very great danger rliat this efficiency will be interpreted to mean nothing moro than industrial efficiency; that the human child will be regarded merely as a cog ill tno huge industrial machine, ana that tho training and education of character and of the whole moral personality will Do relegated to an even mora subordinate position in the future than it has occupied in the past. And.this danger will be greatest in the case of those children whose years of education are few.

Preparing for Anarchy. "I need hardly point out that a system of education, if such it can be called, that neglects the most important elements in the human personality must simply prepare the way for future anarchy. For the neglected elements will sooner or late avenge themselves. T'his danger of a materialistic view of efficiency is oy no means imaginary. In too many public utterantfes regarding educational reform I notice that the whole stress is laid upon tho necessity of securing industrial and economic efficiency. Nov I am convinced that a purely secular system cannot successfully overcome this danger. It does not take tho point of view, and cannot apply the prUciffles, which alono can effectively secure for moral character and personality their rightful place in education. That point of view and those principles are briefly tho fact oi" God, and tho fact of personal immortality. Xi is just here that ihe intrinsic superiority of religious education over secular appears, A purely recular system regards the child as a creature merely of this world. • On the other hand, a religious system, if it be true to its name, regards flio child as a deathless personality. To suppose that this difference is of no educational moment is simply ridiculous. Full Technical Efficiency.

"If I am told of instances of the moral failure of religious education, my answer is, that if there, bo 6uch instances, and if they are anything more than instances of the partial failure of all human effort, even the preaching of the Gospel by an Apostle, such religious education is not that which lam advocating. All such criticisms of religious education are irrelevant, unless it can bo .shown that such shortcomings are the necessary consequence of its essential principles, viz., the fact of God as the source of _ the moral law, and the fact of personal immortality. Can this lie shown? On such grounds as these, having failed to secure religious teaching in the State schools, we are founding schools of our own, and I earnestly call ulion all members of the Church to help us. But I must repeat what I have said in former amlresses upon this subject: If our religious education is to succeed, it is essential that teachers, should themselves be religious men and women. In the last resort Christianity is not a breed, though it is capable of intellectual statement, nor a cultus, though it is capable of ritual expression, but a type of life; and, as flame from flame, so lifo is caught from life. ' Aud, next, our schools must be such as to ensure full technical efficiency."