SCHOOLS AND THE BIBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 63, 16 March 1933, Page 7

SCHOOLS AND THE BIBLE

(To the Editor.)

Sir;—At-the outset of this letter, let me say. that I am. and have ever been an advocate for placing the Bible on the list of school readers that may be used in the public schools if approved by the Mmister if Education' and the school committees as special and general' representatives of the peoijle in the Dominion. -But the present attempt of the Churches to point the teaching of the Christian religion into the public schools, calls for the most careful watchfulness on the part ot parents arid the people of the Dominion generally. For more than 50 years this country has had the great blessing of treedom from religious troubles in connection with Biblical instruction' in public ■schools. Now there has come a league of .the_sects. In the old days there was alienation among the sects. It was the constant bickering among the religious c£% } hat caused in 1877 the leaving out of Bible reading or Bible instruction during a definite portion o£ each school day. Five hours of continuous secular instruction have been, since the passing of the EducStion Act, the people's demand tor' tlieir children, and certainly the results have shpwn the wisdom of the Bowen Act in this direction. The law however, was'so generous in its interpretation that it has been left'to aboard of Education or to a school committee to give permission on the application of a minister or-an association of ministers to arrange for the giving of religious instruction- in-a school so -long' '^ „the five Spurs of continuous secular ins-ffuction were'not broken into. That x plan in certain districts, has worked very' well, and it is still open to ministers of religion to undertake this form of Bible instruction in the public schools. But the Anglicans are not satisfied. with the existing c'on- | ditions, and an alliance has been formed with former opponents and there is now a demand for an amendment" of th_e Education Act to enable the admittance, into the public schools of ministers of the different churches. Heaven alone knows with what result, for once admit ministers as. a- right under the Act to give ■ religious instruction during school hours and the noble education edifice that has been built up with such signal success tails to the ground! The people of this country do not realise the seriousness of the position that this, claim of the churches1 presents. The cry went forth when, the secular scheme of instruction for the schools was adopted that juvenile crime would increase, but' the reverse has taken place. In no other country where the teaching of the Bible is carried on in the public school is juvenile crime as low. as. it is in New Zealand. What is the reason? As one has taught and passed through the various phases of Bible teaching at Home and in New Zealand, I unhesitatingly say that the instruction carried on daily in* every school has a strongly religious bias. Society is based on a.morality that is the outcome of all past religions, and nothing has occurred to show that the training as carried on in the public schools by an efficient body of trained men and women calls/ for1 aid of ministers of religion. The teaching in the schools may be stigmatised as secular and ungodly, but it is moral nevertheless, and being moral is it religious or irreligious? A man's daily life is a moral one, apart from denomination or sect, and is purely religious as it conforms to the great laws that regulate society in relation to conduct. Nations are differentiated as the outcome of their religion, andHhe morality of- each is based on the religion professed. For ministers to claim intrusion into the public schools during the time set aside for secular teaching is a claim that if made by laymen to ministers to allow intrusion in the religious, services by a short secular talk would, I fear, be flouted as impudent and improper. But why? The parents of our. poorer children should guard as sacred what has been theirs for so many years in this country. The method _that is being adopted to introduce an amendment to the Education Act to enable ministers of religion to visit the public schools during school hours and give special Biblical instruction is the most retrograde step that has come up for discussion since the Education Act was passed in 1877. Again let me ask parents to beware of the danger that is looming ahead by this league of thje sects. The late Sir Robert Stout, K.C.M.G.,' when Chief Justice recognised the danger, and cautioned his fellows against the insidious methods of the churches, and he "being dead yet speaks."—l am, etc., H. HILL. Taupo, March 5, 1933.