RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3032, 2 November 1878, Page 4

RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The Spectator is not a journal usually given to gushing, and. yet this is what it says of the religious instruction imparted in the schools under the London School Board tr—The day begins with the singing of a morning hymn, and with, simple prayer that God would bless the day's work, and help the teachers to be diligent and the children to be obedient. Selections from the Bible are read in class, the children are made acquainted with so much of its history, its poetry, and its language, and of the life and teaching of our Lord, as is suited to their age and comprehension; but creeds, and all instruction eft those points of faith and practice which divide the various Christian Churches, are avoided." "Teaching of this kind," continues the Spectator. "is found to be acceptable to the parents of 99 per cent, of the scholars,; the remaining 1 per cent, being made up of Jews, Catholics, and those who object to, religious teaching in schools altogether. "For them the law has provided the protection of a conscience clause, and it is the duty of the Board to see that this protection is real and effective. But the unity of the schools is virtually unbroken, theological differences are unknown, and yet the whole of the work is pervaded with a serious and religious spirit, which distinguishes it in an unmistakeable way from a purely secular school."