SOCIALIST SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 91, 18 April 1922, Page 5

SOCIALIST SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

REVOLUTIONARY INTENT. ANTI-CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE YOUNG. The statement made in our issue of last evening by the superintendent of the Socialist Sunday schools in conjunction with the local 'president of the Labour party, is the subject of a letter by the Rev." G. Knowles Smith.' He quotes at length from-the writings and teachings of those who are prominent in the movement. We give his letter in full as follows:—

"I certainly did not expect my statements concerning the destructive teachings and blasphemous tenets of the Socialistic Sunday schools to go unchallenged. Tlie protest made by Mr. O. Mcßrinc, superintendent of the local Socialist Sunday school, and Mr. J. A. Lee, president of the local Labour party, against the truth of these statements comes, however, very belatedly. May I remind these gentlemen, that, as far .back as September 27 of last year, Mr. E. Dixon, M.P.. in moving the 'Address in Reply 5 in the House of Representatives, commented upon the blasphemous character of the teaching imparted in the so-called Sunday schools conducted by Socialists, and that he then quoted the verse which Messrs. Mcßrine and Lee now rightly describe as 'an offence to all decent-minded .neople.' It is all that and more. But Mr. Dixon's authority and mine for the statement that such a verse is contained in one of tbe 'Red Flag songs -ung by little Australians,' and presumably, therefore, by little New Zealanders also, is a gentleman now occupying the position of Minister of Education in New South Wales. I refer to Mr. Albert Bruntnell, well known to many people throughout New Zealand as _. former chief secretary of the Salvation Army in this Dominion. Is it not strange that although there are eight Labour members in the House of Mr. Mcßrine's way of thinking, not one of them denied the truth of Mr. Dixon's statement, which certainly did not receive the publicity it should have done? Further, is it not strange that Mr. Dixon's statement, quoted from the 'Australian National Review* and commented upon by the ' Wanganui Chronicle,' which supplemented it by quotations from London newspapers dealing also with the teachings of the Socialist Sunday schools, and showing how they were made the medium for 'Training Little Traitors,' was also allowed to pass unchallenged, and that it also passed unchallenged when quoted by 'Civis' in the 'Otago Daily Times?' But, apart from that, it is unquestionable that Socialist Sunday schools in New Zealand are engaged in an anti-Christian propaganda, and that the superintendent of one of them, Mr. 'Rod' Ross, of Palmereton North, declares them to be ' necessary as an antidote to the poisonous teaching of our day schools' (vide the Teport cent by him to the : Maoriland Worker' and published in the Christmas number of that paper), and that, on the same occasion, this gentleman wrote, amongst other things, that 'there ia no excuse for the existence of any church apart from the ignorance of the people,' and that 'Theology, and all that it stands for is. . . the reflexion of the low level of the intelligence of people.' Another of Mr. Mcßrine's friends, ♦one 'A. Galbraith' of Napier, the man who contested the Palmerston North seat at the by-elec-tion of 1918 as the Labour candidate, jibed at the editor of the 'Worker' for opening bi_ colnmns to three Christian ministers —Rev. Dr. Gibb (Presbyterian), Rev. J. K. Archer (Baptist), and Mr. Moses Ayrton (Methodist)—rto enable them to send messages to its readers through the Christmas issue. Amongst other things he wrote: 'Because many of the paper's most loyal supporters are believers in the Christian religion they are to be given the privilege and opportunity of dulling the minds of the people.' The 'Worker,' by adopting such tactics,' he further wrote, "is dulling the minds of the people instead of being an organ of enlightenment.'

"Then again, we have an ex "Rev." — one J. H. G. Chappie, of Christehurch — also through the 'Ma or Hand Worker,' appealing for extension of the -Socialist -Sunday schools, and claiming that Socialism must become a religion'; that ' there is no need for Bible teaching,' and that the Socialists here should 'just follow along the lines of our English comrades in their Socialist Sunday schools,' ' and . suggesting 'commandments' of his own devising, for the instruction of the children whose minds are 'Wax to receive, marble to retain.' The catechism from which I quoted is in use in the Socialist Sunday schools in England, and the questions in. answers concerning the Boy Scout movement are contained in a text book .e|-o in use in these' schools. Mr. ChappS.'s advice is 'lust follow along the lines of our English comrades in their Socialist Sunday schools.' The quotations I have given 1 concerninfg the teachings of such schools are taken from a pamphlet issued by! the British Empire Union, and leave no doubt in my mind that tbe 'poisonous atmosphere' they engender permeates the Socialist Sunday schools in this country.