The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1928. SUNDAY AND THE CHURCHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 285, 1 December 1928, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1928. SUNDAY AND THE CHURCHES.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that tee can do.

At yesterday's session the Presbyterian Assembly adopted a resolution reiterating its adherence to the Bible in State Schools League and recommending all ministers to utilise the facilities for religious instruction provided by the Nelson system. The decision of the Assembly does not directly concern us, but we take strong exception to some of the views expressed during the debate. It was asserted, among other things, that "the great mass of the people desire to have the Bible in schools," that- the existing secular system is "not neutral but actually anti-religious," and that the "supreme opponent" of the Bible in schools movement is the Roman Catholic Church.

It seems to us most unfortunate that so many opponents of the present system have deluded themselves into the belief that the chief obstacle in their way is the Roman Catholic Church. We have dwelt repeatedly upon the important fact that our secular ■system of education derives support from large .numbers of distinguished public men and many thousands of the general public who have no connection whatever with Roman Catholicism. The organisations which defend ;the secular system are to a large extent composed of men and women who have few religious prejudices, but believe themselves to be fighting for freedom of conscience and liberty of thought, and who refuse to be parties to a change, which would kindle the flames of sectarian strife amongst us and •would certainly be utilised in some quarters sooner or later as an instrument of religious and sectarian tyranny.

It is only because the heads of the Bible in Schools League are so largely influenced, by their theological convictions that' they can see nothing but sectarian prejudices in the motive of: their opponents, and they can persuade themselves, without any material evidence to justify them, that "the great mass of the people" desire to see the secular system of education abolished. Unfortunately there was nothing in the tone of this debate to remove the impression, now so widely diffused, that the Churches are anxious to transfer their heavy responsibility for the moral and religious training bf"the young from their own shoulders to the shoulders of our already overburdened public school teachers. And it happens that a further striking indication of this tendency has just been offered by one of the chief clerical dignitaries in this part of the world* . For Bishop Cherringtpn has, recently expounded in the "Diocesan Magazine" a view of Sunday observance which, while contemplating "the right of entry into all schools" for the clergy as a desirable possibility, suggests that the. time has come for Sunday schools to be abolished and for the instruction of children on Sunday, generally speaking, to ; cease. We have no intention just now of arguing about Cberrington's conception of Sunday as a day of gladnfess and freedom? on which excursions may be made and /friends visited, gardens may be cared'for,: aridthe young people "may sing and dance' or engage in other amusements." We are inclined to believe thai British sentiments and traditions will not. easily adapt themselves to this rather fantastic reproduction of the typical Continental Sunday in our midst. But what concerns us chiefly is the proposal that the Anglican Church should abandon the religious training of the young and close the Sunday schools, transferring to the public schools the duty of dealing with the grave problems of religious instruction. In our opinion, the abolition of the Sunday school would be a gravely retrograde step; and how people are to be trained into the habit of church-going ■unless they are guided in that direction from, infancy we cannot even- conceive. But ; the. most important feature of Bishop Cherrington's discourse is the implied willingness of the Church to evade the duty of moral and religious training on Sundays and to cask the burden upon those who are concerned with the intellectual training of the young for the; rest of the .week. In this respect, it appears, whether they like the association or not, the members of. the Presbyterian Assembly andthe Bishop have ranged themselves together.