RELIGIOUS TEACHING

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 247, 18 October 1922, Page 5

RELIGIOUS TEACHING

IN THE STATE SCHOOL*. "SICK or SECULAR EDUCATION." A motion that the Diocesan Synod should support, the action of the bishops of the province in their recent conference with the representatives of other religious bodies, end approve the united platform Adopted by that conference for securing religious instruction in the State schools, was proposed by Canon • lames yesterday afternoon, and provoked considerable discussion. ultimately beinif carried without a dissentient voice. That the children and school teachers were bein« defrauded by the system at present in vogue wan I lie opinion of Canon .lames. Why should children be allowed to prow up without any knowledge of the fundamental teachings of Scripture? Many children did grow up in this way. If they were not taught Scripture in the schools many children would not hear it anywhere else, and they were thus defrauded of an integral liart of their education. Religion was tlie only factor which would mould character. The time was ripe to make I urgent representations to the Govern-j men I to have the State system of educa-! tion amended to allow of children lie ing! taught the fundamental truths of the Bible. He did not value the former! "right of entry" fo schools, because clergy could not always exercise the right to advantage, especially in the liackblocks. where there were too many schools for one minister in an isolated outpost to cope with: also, in the case of "infant" children, clergymen could not instruct them so effectively as the regular teachers, who were skilled' adepts at the work. Of course, the Anglican Church desired a system of its own schools throughout the Dominion, !>m the. problems of staffing, pensions, and financial hindrances seemed at the nionieiil to \)ie almost insuperable. tt was impossible to attempt to teach religion through the medium of Anglican schools, because the complete establish- I nient of the latter was too far off. The i only alternative lay in the motion. All ' over the world people were realising; the utter folly of neglecting religious • teaching in the State schools, and he . firmiy believed that most people were licHiiilv sick of purely secular education. I "RKUGIOCS TEACHING J BEXEFICIAL." ' l!e\. \V. Beatty said religious teach-I ing would be beneficial, in that it would ' be a corrective to the teaching o f atheism in the schools. liov. F. Xapier: Will religion he an examination subject? , Bishop Averill: Nobody knows vet. I To have sacrificed the plank of '"•right j of entry" was rather deplorable said i Key. W. C. Wood. Still anything that I would change the fetish that the educational system must not lie louclmvl ■ should be gladly accepted. (Hear. boar.l l!ev. C. H. (.'rant Cowen said the resolution meant a tremendous sacrifice, and he hoped it would not mean that the Church was to sacrifice all its deter- j ininaiioiis and principled in the matter. 1 It would hoi have to be "the lust word " AiioMcHiis -should not lag behind the Koman Catholics in the matter of education. Archdeacon MacMunav. Rev. .rasjiei(.'aider and Mr. Xormaii Burton also i spoke in support of the motion, and Canon •lames briefly replied. CUhop Averill: I hivr to thank roti For 1 he debate. ' i The motion was carried with I applßU*?. I