AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 860, 5 July 1910, Page 4

AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM.

Thoughtful people of all shades of religious and political thought will readily admit that the, statement as to the relations between Church and State, contained in the sermon by the Rev. T. 11. Sprott in the Anglican Pni-Calhedral on Sunday, is a very able and impressive one. Perhaps there is no man in New Zealand more capable of dealing with questions bearing on the relations of the Church to hitman society in their philosophic aspects than the Vicar of St. Paul's; but in his reference to the problem of religious instruction in our schools, as published in yesterday's Dominion, he did not tell us how « are to overcome the many practical difficulties in the way of inculcating in t.he minds of the young that "reverence for tho moral law" which, as he states, is so necessary for the well-being of the community. li' those who complain of the weakness of our present system of education on its moral side would be content with ethical instruction and tho inculcation of "rcvcrencc for the moral law" without reference to religious beliefs, the problem would not be a very difficult one. But almost insurmountable obstacles arise as soon as tho attempt is made to definitely base ethical teaching on a distinctly religions This is one of the results of the divided state of Christendom, for if the whole Christian'community acted as one united body on this question, no Government would be able to resist its demands. Of course, Me. Si'itorr may tell us that the moral law must ultimately rest on religion—that it is something higher than the shifting and contradictory judgments and feelings of human beings. This maybe quite true, but is it impossible to teach children "reverence for the moral law" without reference to fundamental problems regarding its source and validity, just as they are given instruction about physical laws without troubling their immature minds as to the ultimate nature of things'? It must he admitted, however, that there is great weight in the contention r.iia;, by teaching our young people ethics without any regard to religion, the impression may bo given that religious beliefs hi\vc a very secondary and unessential bearing on life and conduct. All this goes to show that the problem is beset with difficulties on every side. Most thoughtful people will agree with Mr. _ Speott that our education system is weak on the moral side; but so far none of the suggested remedies has been such as is likely to secuvc tho activc assent of a working majority of the people of New Zealand.