BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1913, Page 4

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

MEETING OF WOMEN'S LEAGUE resolution in Favour of PROPOSAL. Speeches ih favour of the introduction of the Bible into State schools were made at a largely-attended meeting of the Women's League in connection with the crusade, held- in St. John's schoolroom yesterday afternoon. Bishop Sprott was in the chair. It was announced that at a previous meeting of the central committee a resolution had been carried to the effect that the women sympathisers of the Dominion be asked to raise" the sum of IDOO guineas within the hext three months, to be devoted to the furtherance of the cause. Mrs. Menzies" and Miss Greenwood were appointed the* chief secretaries of the fund. The following motion was moved and seconded: — "Ihe Central . Committeu and other members present of the Women's League for Bible in State Schopls in the Wellington province, hereby express, on Dehalf of the 6lfl women members of the league in the Wellington, Hutt, M&sterton, ahd Wairarapa electorates, all of whom have signed a written request for the referendum, our profound conviction that no permanent settlement Of this question can be effected unless and until the matter has been referred to the whole people of the Dominion, so that every elector, whether for or against the League's^ proposal, cat! have the fullest opportunity of expressing his or her opinion by a vote under, legalised cott thtions 1 as to what fihall be done 1 in the people's schools supported by the people's money and attended by the people's children ; that Haying read the report of the deputation introduced to the Prime Minister by the Hon. A. L. Herdman, in which the statement was made by -Mr. A. R Atkinson, and endorsed by 'Mr. Caughley, that ' it was very singular that the forces working for the Bible in schools movement were a mixture of religious bigotry and political cant,' we, as women who appreciate our membership in the various churches constituting the league. expreDs our indignation •at the use of such unjustifiable language, and our conviction that our churches are inspired only by purity of intention and Honesty of purpose in their desire for thfe welfare of the children of the Dominion and the permanency of the» national system of education. " ftSHOP SPROTT'S VIEWS'. Speaking in BUpport of the motiori, Bishop Sp'rott referred to the accusation of bigotry made against the advocates of the Movement by Meihbers of the deputation that had ' waited on the PrettHefr. It wad, he said, time they took\ notice of these hard things that had been said about them, as many motives had been attributed to them. The time- had came when both opport- . ents and supporters of the movement should use argument and not invective. The Bible-in-Schools movement represented many t thousands — how marty thousands their opponents would be surprised to learn— and to ascribe the motives of the advocates of the system to -anything other than a desire for the welfare of the children was in itself bigotry. There were two systems of Bible-teaching under consideration. One was the Nelson system and the other was the One the, league was advocating. As far as the Nelson system was con certted, if it were adopted, the Catholics would doubtless consider that they were deprived of its beriefitd, as it waß essentially a Protestant system * and the inevitable result Would be that they would ask the State for grants for their denominational schdbls. With the system that the league advocated, however, there would be no such drawback, as it meant free access to the schools by ministers of all denominations — which, it must be admitted, was the very antithesis of bigotry. HAVSI THEY CLIMBED^DOWN? The next speaker, the Rev. G. H. Cook, said there had been a decided "climb down" by those who had- at the outset opposed the movement. Mr. Massey was reported to have said that he was in favour of free secular education and had been for twenty years, and was still in favour of it. He had also been quoted as saying that he was in favouc of a referendum. It was therefore hard to say what his exact views were on the subject. One of the most hurtful things, to the speaker's mind, was that the State had ordered the Bible out of the schools as the only book not fit for the use of children. What those in favour of the Bible-in-Schools desired to see was that the question should be settled not by a handful of people or & group of politiciahs but by the people who were most interested— the patents of the children themselves. Mr. J; iG. W. Aitken spoke 1 in warm praise of the work the ladies had done in aid of the movement, especially in the collection of fUrtds. Now Was the crucial moment. During the past twelve months they had been diligent, but let them be even more diligent during the coming year and (though he was neither a prophet nor the Bpn of a prophet) he would venture to prophecy that the referendum would riot be 1 Very long in coming. CANON GAB,LAND'S ViEWS. The last speaker was Cftnbtt Garland/ the league orgahisef, who" remarked that the resolution by the Women's League would give a lead to the whole of the Dominion and would show, for the first time, the strength of the league. The speaker refuted the suggestion that the teachers' conference at New Plymouth, which had passed a resolution against the Bible in schools, represented the majority of the teachers of the Dominion. Every delegate to that conference had been supplied with copies of Bishop Cleary's ahd Professor Mackenzie's pamphlets opposing the movement, but no statement from the other side had been placed before them On behalf of the very large number of teachers whose voice was v seldom heard he appealed for a saner and better teaching, as advocated by the upholders Of the Bible in schools. As fir as .the recent deputation was concerned, he would point out that as a league they had nevei* directly or indirectly approached Mr. Mafcsey with ahy request, and consequently it was premature for their opponents to deputationise the Premier declaiming the Bible in schools. All they were going to ask him, when the time damej was to allow the people to voice their opinion on the matter through the medium of the referendum. The motion Wan then put to the meeting and carried without a dissentient vote. At the Molesworth-street Methodist Church on Sunday evening, the Rev. G. (i. Cook made reference to the Bible in schools, and to the deputation to the Premier. He protested strongly, as a minister of the Methodist Church, against the statement made by Mr. Atkinson, and endorsed by Mr. Caughley, that "the forces working for the Bible-ln-schools movement wei'e a mixture of religious bigotry and political cant." Such A wholesale libel on the churches and the Salvation Army should have beec duavwwed b% the other tgwteyit

if they had a due regard for truth. The Methodist Church had made careful independent enquiry as to the working of the Australian system, before committing itself to the platform of th& league. The movement was ehdorsed by every Methodist conference in Australasia, and he knew, from personal experience, that this was justified by the fair and smooth working of the system advocated. This Was a moral qUes« tion, not to be flung into the whirlpool of party politics, or settled by a handful of politicians, ecclesiastics, or secularists", but by the unhampered Vote of the people, especially the parents of the children.