THE B.I.S MANIFESTO. Dr. Gibb to the Fore.

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 278, 28 October 1905, Page 6

THE 8.1.S MANIFESTO. Dr. Gibb to the Fore.

THE Bible-in-Schools Party, in its recently-issued manifesto, makes friends of all politicians right away by remarking: "From the point of view of the ordinary politician no question is serious unless it turns an appreciable number of votes." Which shows a rather lamentable estimate of his fellow men by Dr. Gibb, for surely the bold Roman hand of the gifted divine is here apparent? The Bible-m-Schools people want a referendum on the question that is worrying them. They assume that the majority must rule in these religious matters as m civil affairs If the majority rules, the minority obeys, eh? Coercion, of course. Only the first backward step towards boiling oil. thumbscrews, and the rack. The Bible-in-Schools Party assume that the State schools should teach religion. If the State is persuaded to teach religion, it will be at the instigation of the BiDie-m-Schools Party, whch asks the people not to vote for candidates opposed to this fad of theirs. • * * The 8.1.5. Party, consequently, is trying coercion, and desires to be the predominant factor in detercnining the religious belief of the people of New Zealand. They tell you Bible reading is not "teaching religion." Is it not? Let the Bible become a school-book, and it is> but a little while before the strongest sect will insist on thrusting its particular religious nostrum down the throats of the people. The 8.1.5. Party suggest in their manifesto that they ask for little. They can get more when the little is conceded. The "question" to be put to the people in the event of a plebiscite being taken is not "Are you in favour of the alteration of the existing secular system of educartion?" but, to condense it: "Are you in favour of Bible lessons and the reading of the Lord's Prayer?" • • * This manifesto of the 8.1.5. Party is a parsons' bulletin, as may be seen at a glance, although the signatures include the names of several laymen. Not only is it most distinctly a parsonical crying out for more power, which they feel slipping away from them, but the cry that is most distinctly heard is the voice of James Gibb, D.D. Throughout the manifesto the great divine gets in some little "digs" that we wouldn't be rude enough to call "unchristian," and the great cleric twirls his shillelagh m nearly every par. • ♦ • The concluding sentiment breathes the Rev. James Gibb in every graceful word. He cannot finish without a very angry hit at somebody. Says he : "The secret of much of the opposition we meet with is that our opponents dare not 'trust the people' on this question." The only man who dares is Doctor Gibb l The people may be trusted to see uhat the 8.1.5. Party desire to insert the wedge of denommationalism into the school life of New Zealand. The people may be trusted to see that rule by the parson is infinitely worse than rule by politicians whose chances the parson is 1 at this moment trying to spoil should they not see eye to eye with Dr. Gibb. The people may be trusted to instruct their children in the religion or belief they themselves hold, whe-

ther it be a branch of the Christian religion, Mohammedanism, Judaism, or any other kind. The BIS. Party, by its occasional exhibition of venom, shows us that Biblereadmg has hardly done them the good they are so- sure it will do children on whom it is forced.