BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 184, 7 May 1928, Page 10

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

“GRE4T WRONG TO BE RIGHTED ” REFERENDUM URGED SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICES Special services were held in churches throughout New Zealand yesterday as part of an organised campaign to urge upon the people the necessity for having the Bible in State schools. The advisability of submitting the question to the people by means of a referendum was stressed

At Lower Hutt the Rev. E. O. Blainires, the Dominion secretary of the Bible-in-Scliools League, preached in “Child Nature as a Reason for Bible in Schools.” It was sound Christianity, and in harmony with recognised educational principle, he said, to give the central place' in religion and education to the child. The nature of a child was the primary thing to consider. An allround, harmonious development of every side of his nature was the ideal of education, with cultivation in true proportion, and in happy relations of physique, intellect, and character. Something more than physical well-being and a welldeveloped intelligence was the aim. Many an able-bodied, intelligent man was a'pest to society and an unmitigated nuisance in the world. Socrates said that it was not efficiency that was the goal, for to make a child efficient without reverence and restraint, was simply to equip him with ampler means for harm. Good character, with control over the innate life-force and ideals that were both a goal and a motive power, were the chief requirements of education, and it was here the domain of religion was entered.

No education could be complete, or anything more than pseudo-education, that treated religion as non-existent, he declared. The primary schools in New Zealand to all intents were run with the idea that when a boy went to school he left the religious part of his nature be- ■ hind at home or in church. God, Christ, the Bible, and all they represented were given no place, and it was quite possible for !i child to pass all primary school requirements and yet be educationally lopsided In having no knowledge of God, of religion, or of the Bible. The Book that was recognised as the text-book of the national faith of New Zealand, and the chief classic of the English tongue, was unknown by thousands of young New Zealanders. This represented a great problem in New Zealand life, to be approached in all charity, and with ability to see the difficulties in the way of solution, but also with the cool determination of conviction that knew for one thing that present conditions must be ended, and the Bible restored to its rightful place in the schools. It was wanted there because the most important aim of the school was the development of character. Honesty was of more

account than geography, and industry of greater value than passing, while the most important task of a school was to develop ideals. Under an “entirely secular” system, the teacher was cramped in not being allowed to approach the pupil on the highest side of his nature. He could not deal with the whole child, but only a part of him. In an unconscious hypocrisy, he had to ignore important facts associated with the religious nature of the child, and in ignoring facts, was forced to be educationally unscientific. It was bad psychology to deny implicitly the religious experience of child-nature. To place the Bible, as a record of great religious experiences, in the schools, was to recognise such experiences in the nature of the child, and treat the whole child as a unity, physical, intellectual, and religious. Last night Commissioner Hay, the leader of the Salvation Army in New Zealand, preached at the Army Hall at Island Bay, on “The Slaying of the Innocents.” It was a far cry, he declared, back to Bethlehem and Herod, and the inhuman and tragic edict making Herod to be remembered in the minds of millions of the world’s mothers far more by this than by anything else this puppet king said or did. But, taking the trend and action of the present day, Commissioner Hay set up a claim that thousands of our children vVere being slain now. He had travelled the Dominion extensively, visiting practically every town in the land, and he asserted that the young were being slain morally and spiritually to a degree that was amazing, when one considered our heritage and our opportunity for higher and better things. Forces mentioned by Commissioner Hay as cutting down and destroying Christian citizenship were drink, gambling, low pictures, low dancing-halls, lack of parental control, and—not least—the withholding of the Bible from the State schools of the Dominion No other

force or development, he said, could be substituted for the Word of God as provided in the Holy Scriptures. Deny that to the child in its early school days and the denial would bear lifelong fruit. A citizenship grown and produced minus the light and conscience stimulant and ennobling personality drawn and proclaimed in God's Word must ultimately manifest the loss of everything needed most. Civilisation could not be saved — not even in “God’s Own Country”—if it build on a less foundation than spiritual obligation and Christian character. If the Bible was spreading in nearly 900 tongues all over the earth, what availed that to us if the Bible were kept from our children’s lives? "We want it here —right here 1” he added. VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE Referring to the Bible in schools question at the Molesworth Street Methodist Church, the Rev. E. D. Fatchen said

that by bringing pressure to bear on Parliament during the approaching preelection session there was good ground for hoping that this thorny subject would be lifted out of the political arena by submitting it to a referendum vote of the people. “We believe,” he said, “that if Parliament cannot see its way to pass the Bible in Schools Bill into law without knowing more definitely the mind of the electorate that the least they can do is to provide for a referendum. For too long this important issue has been battered about by Parliamentarians and partisans of various shades of opinion. What we now need is the verdict of the people. Why should we, in this age, submit to be bound by the dead hand of the past? Why hold any longer in reverence the outworn shibboleth of a secular system of education? The Act that made our primary schools entirely secular was passed nearly 50 years ago. The Protestant Churches were then largely divided and the Roman Catholic Church had few schools of its own. To-day the opposite is the case. Yet we permit a law that was designed to meet the sectarian misunderstandings and difficulties of that age to continue to the detriment of our children to-day! Surely it is a confession of the bankruptcy of statesmanship if. when nearly all the Churches and quite a majority of politicians agree that some form of religious education is necessary for the wholesome moral training of the children, no scheme can be devised to bring this about. We believe that a reasonable compromise between the advocates of the Nelson system and the Bible in Schools League, whereby the former may be retained where desired or, alternately, the Bible in schools system come into force, is the best solution of the problem. The big thing upon which we have a right to insist is that the children of this land shall not be allowed to grow up without some knowledge of the Word of God.”

“AN EVIL BEING WROUGHT”

Preaching at Knox Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt, the Rev. J. McCaw, M.A., based his address on the words of the prophet Amos. “A famine . . . not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” He noted points of similarity between the conditions of Israel in Amos’s day and the present condition of New Zealand. Notably our condition and Israel’s condition might, be described as Bibleless. One might visit countless homes without finding one single Bible. Ii 1877, by Act of Parlia-. ment, the Bible was dismissed from our State primary schools. The Presbyterian Church, in common with others, had consistently opposed purely secular teaching. Every annual assembly demanded the restoration of the greatest classic and the one unfailing standard of morals in the world. The children were suffering. The country was awakening to the evil being .wrought by a secular system of education, otherwise, good. Parents were, demanding an alteration in the Act. They were realising that their children had the best, indeed the foundation of education withheld from them. A plebiscite recently taken of the parents in New Zealand revealed that 24,4iS families voted for Bible reading in schools and only 5995 voted against. Our legislators must not resist such a demand, and thwart the will of the people

clearly expressed. The children must no longer live in such a Bible-less atmosphere that they grow up suspecting the Bible to be obsolete, out of date, and, indeed, immoral. The Director of Educa- I tion was among those who believed a great wrong was being inflicted on the children of New Zealand. The "Bible must he represented to be a standard book on morals, and the book that makes wise unto salvation. The preacher exhorted his hearers to exert themselves, to trust their leaders in this big effort, and to follow in all lawful endeavour to have the Bible reintroduced to our schools. "All we ask is a portion ot selected Scripture read, a hymn sung, and the Lord's Prayer offered. A conscience clause for both . parents and teachers. Surely there is nothing sectarian in such a lesson.”

AN ANGLICAN OPINION

"The Bible in State Schools” formed the subject of both the morning and evening sermons in St. Janies s Church, Lower Hutt. Speaking at the evening service Archdeacon Hansell said: e have been patient all too long. If it be true that eighty per cent, of the parents in New Zealand desire this, how m the name of British justice can this request still be denied? The rights of the minority are safeguarded by the conscience clause. Magistrates and business men have been warning us for years that morality is on the down grade. What is needed, surely, is more knowledge of God, the supreme law giver. The teachers in New Zealand are quite splendid. They are out to build character, and it is not fair to them to take away this background of religion, without which character cannot be stable. “The British character lias owed more than words can. say to the influence of the Bible. We earnestly desire that New Zealanders shall not be deprived of that restraining influence which conies from the knowledge of those dungs which the Bible teaches.”

THE INFLUENCE OF SCRIPTURE

In the course of his sermon last night at the Terrace Church, the Rev. E. R. Weeks, referring to the Bible-in-schools question, said: "What a beautiful thing it will be when we restore to our primary schools this sacred Book; the fascinating stories of adventure and achievement, the superb poems of 'the sweet singer of Israel,’ and the unmatched story of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ Our Lord. No piece of literature reaches such sublime heights or delves so deeply into the human heart, or so adequately satisfies human need. Which of us who had the privileges in childhood knows that life is sweeter, richer, and

fuller to-day because of the influence which come through the simple daily reading of Holy Scripture in our primary school. Shall we deny the little folk of our day that which we now know jj-as of such supreme valu_ to ourselves.”