Half a Loaf Is Better Than No Bread. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2665, 12 April 1905, Page 80

Half a Loaf Is Better Than No Bread. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — There is going on at present a great amount of discuss! an on the subject of Bible residing in schools, and the objections seem to cc based on the truthfulness or otherwise of th-j Biblioai writings — contradictions as to date, of Creation, universality of the Flood, longevity of ancient characters, 'the possibility • of such stories as the fall of Jericho, the entombment of Jonah, etc. The plea of the oppositionists seenis to be, " Shut it out as a reading book, for it is not all true." Why so many objections merely on the score of ainreliability ? Are all the stories in the reading books put into our, children's hands .founded on fact? Do we demur over extracts ffrom works of fiction simply because they are not true? We hear a great deal about the moral teaching to be gained by the tone , of those reading books, but nobody objects i>ecause the stories that teach these moral lessons are not taken from life — are, indeed, in. many cases mere fables. "Why not put the Bible on the same footing? Introduce it feimply as a reading book, leaving its religious J aspect quite alone, thus putting an end to nil controversy. Say nothing of its truthfulness or otherwise; let its stories and histories be read as other books are read; let children read of the life and doctrines of Jesus Christ as they would read of the life and doctrines or sayings of Mahomet or Luther or any other . great reformer, were they written of in their j JoookS. Do away with chapters and verses, , and let the reading matter, arranged as in | other books, stand on its own merits. Its . •language is allowed to be forcible, original, and good in style, its tone moral, and with a. .tendency to purify and elevate the minds and characters of our young people. Let them eat the words of the Bible into their memories t during their school days. Their after effects | imust depend on the use they make of them; I fcut if they do them no good, they cannot possibly do them any harm. For years and generations the youths of Britain, of the best and most cultured society, , and from whom most of the great and coble |

men of the past have arisen — the public schools and University men — have been educated on the fiction and fables of classical history. Were the works of Homer objected to because mere myths? Is not every cultured maa expected to know all about these fabled histories? Were they excluded from the schools because many of the incidents related were utterly impossible, and their heroes — whose great actions boys loved to read of and were expected to emulate — never existed? True, that while reading these books boys were learning the language, but had the school authorities objected to the fabulous style the language could have been taught without them. Will not the histories of the Bible, allowing them to be mere myths, do as much for boys as these classical myths? Are not the characters of the Bible as well worth their admiration as those of the "Iliad" or "Odyssey" ? Let the religious view of the question be ignored, so that the teachers will not be required to give instruction in religion or hear^or answer any discussion — simply give a reading lesson, and the Bible as a good and moral book be added to the list of school books. — I am, etc., April 4, 1905. A. Crofton".