The Hastings Standard Published Daily. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1896. RELIGION IN STATE SCHOOLS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 13, 11 May 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

MONDAY, MAY 11, 1896. RELIGION IN STATE SCHOOLS.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

On the ovc of a general election it is natural that those advocating special theories should bring their ideas before the public, in order to bring the subjects within the sphere of what is termed practical politics. The question of religious instruction in State schools has lain dormant for three years, and is now revived by its advocates ; and their screeching upon every opportunity gives to the subject an importance which we hope is temporary. This same question received the serious attention of its supporters prior to the last general election, and we must expect to hear of it again at the general election which three years hence will be again upon us. The supporters of religions instruction in State schools conveniently overlook the fact that under the existing Act reasonable facilities are afforded for instructing the young in religion. -After school hours it is within the power of any minister of the Gospel to attend the school and give the children religious instruction.

It is purely a matter of arrangement between the parsons and the pupils. For some reason due advantage has not been taken of the privilege by the ministers,and if we were asked to give a reason we should bo tempted to say that there exists a want of inclination, a want of genuine earnestness on the part of the parsons for the work. If this be not so, it is surprising that so few ministers have seen fit to give the work a trial. There is something to be said also for the children. They, too, from choice, and from parental dictation, are not disposed to add an extra half-hour a day to their time of schooling ; and thus, from disinclination on both sides, religious instruction in our schools is the exception rather than the rule.

If ministers were prompted by any real wish to give the young folks the benefits of religious teaching, we feel sure that a conscientious and painstaking parson would, if he set about the work in a proper spirit, bo able to accomplish his ends. In seeking to make religion in schools semi-compul-sory, the parsons practically admit that under the privileges now granted them they are unable to, even if willing, to secure the attendance of the scholars for religious teaching.

The admission amounts to this: that the average paiviou cannot give to the subject the attractiveness that will draw the young people to them. It is this same fault that is gradually emptying the churches. Clergymen fail to realise that in these days of widening education, of swarming hooks, of the daily perusal of newspapers, the preacher lias to face an audience not now as of old, hound to him as their only channel of intellectual stimulus. The best of thought, ancient and modern, is so easy of access to the multitude that the pulpit must increa.se the standard of its attractiveness or endure the dull resistance of a growing indifference on the one hand, or the sharp hostility of a pert criticism 011 the other. We do not for a single moment believe that the vapourings of the Bible-m-schools' advocates will have any effect.'in the electors. The present system, which has stood the test fairly well, will continue, and the screaming of the clerical party brings out with splendid clearness the excellence of the system.