Those Wall Charts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 48, 28 November 1907, Page 22

Those Wall Charts

The Wellington! Education Board has accepted' (so the papers say) a number of wall charts'of' the Ten Commandments, to be. hung up in the State schools within^ their jurisdiction. Are the members of the Board aware\thfefl' ,tfoe translation of the Ten. Commandants referred to is taken from a. sectarian" version of the Holy Scriptures ? Are they .aware of the con— trovesies—sometimes, unfortunately, ""deplorably., 'bitter on the non-Catholic side—that" have" whirled'arid; eddied and even still sometimes .circle, around ishe- division and the wording of the Ten Commandments ?. The hew-- biblical charts are of course, intended, hot merely-''to .fill 'so much wall space,.b\it to be read",. at least casually j by the pupils during,school hours. If not, what are they for ? How does this square with the 'legalised secular character of the system during working; time ? And can the Board see any difference in principle between placarding a part of the Protestant^ version of the Bible on the ischool walls, in largo print, during school hours,- and placing a part, or the whole, of the same, sectarian version -of the-Inspired Record as a reading-^ook'-, in '." the hands of the pupils ? And how will Jewish parents rel-

, ish this hew departure and 'all that it may logically lead to ?If tlie Board' proposes, to cover one bit of wall of the "'public schools with, a Protestant version of one part of the Bible' durinjg school time, why not adorn an- . other- <wall with a standing) Catholic version of another part of the Bible— say ' selected portions of . the sixth -chapter of St. John, or of the seventh' chapter of the first- epistle to the Corinthians ? And if these things are done for one creed or set of creeds, why may not agnostic 'or atheist parents demand equal treatment for their views Qf religion, ' since they are "called upon to contribute to the support of the State school system ? Is- the Wellington Board prepared for this? And if not, why not ? « Fair play all around,' their 'agnostic or atheist memorialists could plead : 'if the system is to be professedly neutral, then let. it bft so ; if it is to be ever so little sectarian in favor of one set of tax-payers then let it be equally so for all the- rest— no more, but •yet no less.' • *. St. Paul stood' by ' the sound form of words.' Forms of words— prayers, hymns, articles of religionj particularturns given to translations of doctrinal or devotional Scripture texts — are intimately ' associated with forms of - faith. Thus, a particular wording of the Ten Commandments and of the Lord's Prayer has come -to be, in effect, as much a profession (or rather manifestation) of Protestant faith as the trite formula which expresses belief iii the Real xibsence or rejects the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. And if the forms— whether biblical or non J biblical — of one- faith are to be placed large during school hours upon the walls of the public schools, why - not the forms of another? Why not, for 'instance, the Crucifix, or pictures of the sweet Maid whom Wordsworth styles 'our tainted "nature's solitary boast '-? We know that' the introduction of such things would raise little hurricanes of feeling. As a matter of fact, the gift of a beautiful copy of a famous painting of the Mother and Child was a few years ago rejected by the management of a Board school in England on the plea that it was a sectarian emblem. But if one set- of forms having a sectarian association is in. place during working hours in the 'public schools, how can the others be out of place? It is a poor principle, that will not work both ways. We have said this a few times before. We should rejoice exceedingly -to see, every rionCatholic child in. New ; Zealand brought up during schooltime in the knowledge and love of God's holy law. But— until "some 'satisfactory 1 settlement of the (juestion is affected—we do not care to see sectarianism introduced into the public schools during Working hours, whether, in large doses or in Small', whether brought" in openly by the front door or smuggled down the; chimney. If our school system is to "remain secular, during school hours, let it be so in fact ; if not, let it be frankly altered. And nobody will welcome a fair and equitable change more than Catholics, who have made 'such great and long-sustained' sacrifices because of their' keen sense of the evils of intellectual without religious training of youth. • . . .. •