BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 270, 14 November 1928, Page 11

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

CATHOLIC STATEMENT.

REPLY BY SUPPORTERS.

A meeting of Auckland supporters of the Bible in Schools movement was held yesterday, under the presidency of Canon Percival James, when the resolutions passed at a recent meeting of Roman Catholic clergy and laity were considered. The following statement was issued:—

"The statements contained in these resolutions have been repeated again and again by the Roman Catholic authorities in New Zealand for many years past. So far from allowing them to pass without contradiction or challenge, the Bible-in-Schools League and its representatives have constantly disproved and refuted each and all of them, both in Parliament and throughout the Dominion. We consider it a sufficient answer to point to the actual provisions of the Religious Exercises in Schools Bill, which has been before the Parliament and people of New Zealand since 1924.

"It ifl clearly laid down in the bill that there shall only be religious exercises of a simple character, which shall not include any instruction in the tenets, dogma, or creed peculiar to any religious society or denomination. The exercises are confined to (a) the reading of passages from the English Bible, (b) the saying of the Lord's Prayer, (c) the singing of a suitable hymn. Thus the provisions of the bill render sectarian teaching in the schools impossible. "The bill precludes any possibility of the violation of religious consciences. A full conscience clause provides ample safeguards for parent, pupil and teacher, Teacher or child becomes legally and automatically exempt from participation in the religious exercise*, when conscientious objection is notified to the proper authority. "The Director of Education and the senior officers of the Education Department have declared their approval of the provisions of the bill. Simple religious exercises of this kind are found in the people's schools in England, Australia, indeed throughout almost the whole Empire, and no sectarian friction is thereby created. Although such exercises are excluded from the primary schools of New Zealand, they have found a place for many years in the secondary schools, and the late Minister of Education testified to Parliament that "not a single complaint has been received from either teachers or parents.'"