BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4860, 5 August 1925, Page 1

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

SOME PEAL'S FACTS. POINTS IN THE BILL. The following circular is being sent by Mr Leonard M. Isitt to all Schopl Committees throughput the Dominion, .asking for their careful consideration and support of the Bible-in-Schools Bill, to be presented to Parliament this session: — Prior to 1924 session of Parliament a meeting was held in Wellnigton to consider the “Bible-in-Schools” question ; and if possible to arrange some platform on which the churches could agree. There were present at the meeting, at which the Archbishop of New Zealand presided, all the bishops of the Anglican Church, and representatives; lay and cleric, of the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Congregational, the . Lutheran, the Church of Christ, and na officer of the Salvation Army.

After discussing, npt what the various Churches wanted, but wnat provision there was of a reasonable hope of obtaining, certain resolutions were carried which I was asked to embody in a Bill and bring before the House. The Prime Minister was subsequently Interviewed, and promised to furnish opportunity for the consideration of the Bill. With the help of ■the law officers .of the Bill was drafted and submitted to representatives ' of the churches for approval, and to the Minister for Education, who also promised his assistance. The main points in favour of Lie Bill are :— -

1. We have now in this long agitation reached a. time when a common platform has been agreed upon by all the with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church. 2. The individual objectors within the Churches are comparatively few. and they oppose the measure npt because of what it- enacts but because it does not go further than it does. 3. It establishes Bible 1 reading, not Bible teaching. It allows ho comment save explanatory comment. 4. It gives a “Conscience Clause” to any teachers! who object to take; part in the exercises. - 5. It gives a “Conscience Clause” to all parents who dp not wish their children to attend. Such children simply enter the school immeidately the religious exercises are concluded. Nor will the passage of this Bill prevent the establishment or continuance' of the Nelson system. 6. The Education Department will, be associated with the representatives of the churches in the preparation of the' Bible manual and the hymnal, and so the probability of.-satisfactory compilation is increased. With reference to tile objections urged by the above church I call attention to the following facts : (a) The Lord’s Prayer is common to both Catholic and Protestant Churches. • (b) There is so little difference between the Douay Bible and the English version that a Bible manual could be easily prepared but of passages common to both. (c) There are so many hymns used by all the churches that there could be no. difficulty in the, preparation of a satisfactory hymnal. In view of these facts, and the sincere efforts made to meet any difficulty felt by our R.C. friends, plus the conscience clause for all objectors, Catholics, even if they cannot avail themselves of thiis system, should hesitate before preventing the children of sister churches receiving sucli religious influence as this Bible provides, especially as it traverses no R.C. doctrine. '• So far as agnostics and people of differing religions are concerned the Bill gives no opportunity for sectarian teaching that might 'cause trouble among those attending, and outside the ■ brief time allotted to the exercises the general educational method is unaltered. Apart from the question of its inspiration the Bible is the classic of the civilised! world. It contains; the history of the religious evolution of the human race. It is a storehouse of the grandest literature in the English language; and it is interwoven with every step in the life and developments of. the British nation. Surely to admit the elastic of heathenism' and boycott the Bible rs nop only an inconsistency but an exhibition of narrow sectarianism that rivals that which mars doctrinal religion and is deplored by all balanced thinkers. It is almost unbelievable, but it is a melancholy fact that throughout the length and breadth of this Dominion numbers of our boys and girls are growing up in absolute religious ignorance. The Bible is to them an unknown book. They have never even heard the Christ story. They know no reason why they should restrain their passions and lusts and maintain truth and honesty save that of altruism or expediency. With this frail barrier between themselves and those fierce temptations of life so common to us all, can Wei reasonably expect the maintenance of that moral stamina on which the true progress of any nation can alone be built ? Remembering these things .will you not give to the children of to-day this initial knowledge of God and the things of God rather than withhold from them that which proved so real a help to you in your own youth ?