ALLEGED ILLEGAL BIBLE LESSONS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 143, 18 June 1923, Page 8

ALLEGED ILLEGAL BIBLE LESSONS

TO THE F.DITOK. Sir, —Something like a hoax has been played upon you with regard to a letter alleged to be written to me by Mr. John Caughley, and published in'your issue 01 this -evening. I have not received such a letter. It is erroneous in its statements and it is marked by a mannerism that lias moved to indignation more than one public body. It may be asked if Mr. Caughley by such an "attitude is presenting to the pupils of the schools such a standard of courtesy as we should expect from a Director of Education.

As regards the Bible lessons in Karori School, Mr. Caughley really carries a heavier burden of responsibility with regard to the spiritual needs of the children than I do. The Wellington Presbytery four years ago laid upon the Kelburn Presbyterian Church Session the duty of ministering to the spiritual needs of Karori Presbyterians, and Mr. John Caughley is the most prominent member of that Session. For: four years that Session has done nothing and Karori Presbyterians, young and old, are sheep without a shepherd. I only agreed to give the lessons because the Kelburn Session shirked its duty, and my pleasure in giving the Bible lessons has been marred by the feeling that I was encouraging such shirking. It was with reluctance that I agreed to join in this attempt to give Bible lessons, -but I have such a sincere respect for the two ministers in the district who have shown much Christian kindness to the neglected Presbyterians of the district that I will not abandon them if they wish to. carry on the work. I close by noting a curious inconsistency in our educational system. In a high" school, a visiting minister of religion may give a Bible lesson in schools, and the teaching staff may do so also. In a Maori school the same liberty obtains. In the primary schools, according to Mr.' Caughley, there is. no such liberty. The iron gate of secularism shuts out these things. In school hours, as one lias said, "God and Hip law are as contraband as pipe opium." There is one good feature in Mr. Caughley's secular doctrine. It was never_ carried. From 1877 to our day the teaching in our schools has been* shot through with moral and religious lessons and the time has come when the word "secular" in our Act should be defined so as to save it from the connotation of theoretical atheism read into it by our present Director of Education.— I am, etc.,

ROBERT WOOD.

16th June.

_ [111 reply to inquiries as to the assertions in the„ above letter, the Director of Education states that the letter, a copy of which appeared in the "Evening Post" on Saturday, was posted to the Rev. R. Wood on the same day, and that none of ..-the. statements . iip it are erroneous. Apart from the first paragraph of Mr. Wood's present letter, his remarks, states the Director, have little or no . bearing on the question he originally raised. The plain facts are that the Nelson system, , which 1-is; within the law, provides adequate opportunities for giving the kind of Bible lessons that Mr. Wood evidently desires to conduct. In many of the schools of Wellington this legal Nelson system is. satisfactorily carried out, adds Mr. Caughley. It is difficult, therefore, to : see. why Mr. Wood, with tiie full knowledge, that the method he is following is illegal, declares his intention, of following it rather than adopt the legitimate method.—Ed.]