THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5130, 1 September 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sra, —Believing as I do that the Hon. Mr. Boweu, in introducing a religious clause into his Education Bill, has made a very grave mistake, I hope you will give me the opportunity of expressing myself to that effect.. My first objection is that if the Bill becomes law in its present form it will virtually establish a State Church in New Zealand.. Mr. Bowen proposes that the school work should be commenced each day with a religious service, conducted by the schoolmaster—a very short service, it is true ; but that does not affect the principle involved. In such a proposition we have at once all the elements of a State Church, a religious service performed at the command'of the State by a State - paid"*' official, the nature and amount of it to be determined by the State. Now this is the very thing against which the dissenting bodies of England have been protesting for centuries past. To establish this institution in a new country like New Zealand is to ignore the plainest teachings of English history since the time of the Eeformation. It is to introduce into this Southern Hemisphere all the elements of discord that have cursed the old country in the past, and are dividing its society at the present. It is to introduce the principle of injustice and inequality amongst the members o£ the State. Religion is a matter o? conscience, and the moment the State attempts to prescribe to the conscience, persecution begins. There can be no perfect religious equality until the State, as a State, ignores the existence of theology altogether. These remarks would be true under any circumstances, State education must necessarily be secular education; but in the present case they receive tenfold emphasis from the fact that it is proposed to make this State education compulsory. Under such circumstances the most extreme care should be taken that not even the shadow of theology should be allowed to fall on the school, lest even the appearance ef religious persecution should be preduced. The Hon. Mr. Bowen does not seem to be aware of the combustible nature sf the elements he is dealing with; he must surely be ne\y to theological studies, and has hardly recognised yet the sacred character which attaches to the principle of civil and religious liberty so dear to every Englishman. He may think that he has met the difficulty by his conscience clause, but we do not think so. No doubt the Bill allows a man to withdraw.his child from the religious service; but this, is. to. make; both, the, child and the man marked, objects in the neighborhood, and will, in some instances, subject them to annoyanceand insult. , It will also divide society into a ruling and a non-r,uljng faction, and the latter will.,feel that it belongs to a lower caste. Besides, it is surely an extraordinary thing for a colony to be establishing a State Church in its midst at a time when the old institution at Home,, tho' hoary, with the traditions of centuries, is about tp ,be;abolished. It is rather amusing to read the discussions that take, place oyer the religious clause of this Bill, some of the speakers betray such childlike unconsciousness of the actual state of thought and opinion on theological subjects in the educated world. The clergy and ministers of the different, orthodox denominations seem to think that if they, could only come to snme agreement amoxigst themselves, the religious difficulty could jae got.pver; and even the Hon. Mr. Bowen, in. the speech with which he introduced, his Bill,, .seems to think that is the entire.compass.of, the, difficulty. I would beg to remind the. hon., gentleman that a large portion, of-, educated society is outside the pale of one and all .of..these denominations. "A plague, on both, your, Houses," is the thought that is,in the minds .of many when they see Churchmen.; • and,, Nonconformists endeavoring to arrange, their "p,e.tty little differences. It is necessary to. remjnd, .the Hon. Mr. Bowen that, to, ;a* large, gaijt of the educated world, what he is the Holy Scriptures is simply so much Ancient Hebrew literature, with no more to it than would attach to Latin or Sanscrit authors, bound up, together jhjeterogeneously ; and that such persons very much object to see these books, full of idle legends as they are, held up to the children of the land as a sacred book, manufactured in some supernatural manner, and to be listened to as of diviae authority. I say it is necessary to remind the Hon. Mr. Bowen and others that besides the Latin and the Anglican Churches, besides the Presbyterian and Wesleyan communities, there exists a great scientific church, the church of scientific students, not less intelligent and not less influential than these others; and that these will object to encourage what they believe to be superstition in the.way the Hon. Mr. Bowen's Bill proposes. It is probably to these that the hon. gentleman referred when he spoke of the one-twentieth of the population who might be dissatisfied with the clause, but whose opinion did not matter. They happen, however, to be just the people whose opinions it is neither wise nor safe to .disregard. To the reading class of the community the hon. gentleman's Bill, is,, as far, as this clause is concerned, a retrograde measure, and one to be sternly resisted iu the interests.of enlightenment, freedom, and justice. . .!,-..,•■ There : is ,yet j.another and perhaps still stronger obje.cfiou, I tQ, this religious clause of the Bill. , Hp,w,about, the schoolmasters who to be turned, nolei\s volqis, into State-paid clergymen , by ; this, clause ? The Hon. Mr. Bowen seems, to have, forgotten them altogether, or. else ~to assume that they will be quite ready the creed which he may prescribe to them,;,but is this altogether certain ? We. will pass by the absurdity of requiring men, to hold their devotional feelings at the command... of. their employers ; we will not stay to inquire whether it is quite certain that that worship will be altogether acceptable to the Deity which is rendered at the word of command ; we will merely confine ourselves to the supposition that some of the State-paid teachers may be reading men and belong to that scientific church of which we have already spoken.. These men may refuse to pay.in,public that peculiar deference to the Jewish books which the clause requires. Is the Minister of Justice prepared to exclude such men from the ranks of his teachers ? He has made provision for parents who may object to . his creed, but surely a teacher who may object is worthy of equal consideration, even though he may be guilty of reading reviews, making scientific; experiments,, and exercising his own reasoning faculties on high themes : the motto of "plain living and high thinking " seemed particularly appropriate to a schoolmaster. But what will the Hon. Mr. Bowen do with this man ? Will he take upon himself to punish him for his theological opinions by excluding him from the ranks of teachers ?,, He has certainly made no provision in his Bill, for such a case, which is not at .all likely to be au unusual one. It is very plain .that when, a Minister of State begins to , meddle ■ with "religion, however good may be his, intentions, he will find himself a religious persecutor before he is aware of it. In conclusion,; I would remind the Hon. Mr. Bowen, that if he is the Minister for Education, he if also #lo; Minister for Justice, and that no inore sacred, name than "justice" escapes from mortal lips. Let him not, in his zeal,for theology, outrage that still holier function,whose name he may well be proud .to-bear. - ~; ~,, _ , Under ordinary circumstances, and with Parliament in session,. nothing would justify the length of;,this letter.; but when principles so sacred are at stake,,and at a crisis so important in the history of New Zealand, I trust, sir, you will pardon the length of this communication, and give it insertion-—I am, &c, ■"',...'; WaIBAKAPA.