THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1931, Page 8

THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

ADVOCACY AT ELTHAM CHURCH. BISHOP'S LEAD FOLLOWED. The Rev. C. W. Whitacre, vicar of Eltham, following the lead of Archbishop Averill, on Sunday morning dwelt briefly but sympathetically on the subject of religious teaching in schools. It is intended to bring before Parliament a bill to establish religious teaching as a daily subject in ‘ the State primary schools.

Making clear the attitude of the Church of England, lie expressed it in the form of answers to questions commonly asked. For instance, to the question, Ought teaching to be entirely secular? he replied that it certainly should not be. First, because religious knowledge was a subject of the highest importance, and to cut it out was to give a deficient and one-sided education. Secondly, it was most unfair to those 'Christian parents who wanted, their children to be taught their religion properly. Thirdly, to cut it out "was to leave a bad psychological impression,

both on the child himself and on the public—the impression that religion was a thing of no account. There are those who asked, “Why not leave religious teaching to the Sunday school?” In reply, Mr. Whitacre said he was a great believer in voluntary work, and no doubt Sunday schools had done and were doing a great work. But they could not be expected to do in one day what could be done in five by trained, experienced teachers, in connection with the whole school life and the general plan of education. They would never be satisfied if any other subject were to be treated in this fashion. Again it was said, “Why not leave religious teaching in the hands of the parents?” It might be sad to acknowledge the facts, but experience did not justify the solidity or wisdom of that argument. It was not done in the majority of cases. They could not place religious teaching on a basis so slender and so arbitrary. There was only one sure way of seeing that the young were taught religion and that was by religious teaching taking its place among other subjects in the daily life of the school. Others said, “Wouldn’t it be better not to teach religion at all in school, but to let children choose for themselves

when they grew up?” It would not be better, eaid Mr. Whitacre. In the first place they would choose for themselves when they grew up in any case, whether allowed or not. A staie of blank ignorance about religion was not the best position to be in in order to make a good choice. And, he pointed out, this was not the method they adopted in any otner subject. There were some who raised the objection, “But don’t you give the young a ‘bias’ to their minds by teaching them religion in a school?” The answer was, “Of course we do.” That is what you send them to school for. If you don’t send a boy to school you give him a ‘bias’ in favour of ignorance.”

“The Church is bound to condemn secular education because it holds religious knowledge to be of vital import to the child’s and to the nation’s welfare,” said Mr. Whitacre. “If you leave religion out of the curriculum you teach him that it does not matter. The Bible in schools policy is not the ideal. The Church of England stands for a definite body of doctrinal teaching which is enshrined in the three creeds of Apostolic and historic Christianity. Hence its ideal is not only the Bible but also the definite teaching on the Word and sacraments as contained in the Catechism amt Book of Common Prayer. For obvious reasons this is impossible in the primary schools. Therefore we gladly accept the Bible in schools policy at any rate as a foundation for the Sunday schools to build a definite structure thereon afterwards. And we regard it as of momentous importance to the nation’s future that by such a step the blot of secularism may be wiped off the escutcheon of this country.”

THURSDAY HOCKEY TEAMS. The following are the Eltham hockey teams selected to take part in the Thursday competitions to-day:— Men’s (senior) versus Waitara, at Eltham. —A. Gray, L. Page, B. Irwin, Lambie, Stanners, Donnelly, Manning, Nairn, W. Gower, Knuckey, Cooper, Bennett, Horner. Men’s junior A team v. Stratford High School B at Stratford :■ —Baldock, Whittington, Glentworth, Parker, Taylor, Jones, J. Gower, Cowell, C. Walker, Gyde. Men’s junior B versus Stratford High School A, at Stratford: —Scown, Cullen, Laird, Murray, O’Neill, Burt, Ewens, Cross, Lee, Treweek, Marx. Eltham ladies (Rewas) to meet Stratford Old Girls at Stratford: —I Thomas, R, Townsend, P. Clare, I. Potts, B. Walker, A. Foote, B. Campbell, M. Taylor, R. Reakes, L. Potts and R. Potts. Emergencies: A. Slater, G. Bigham. KING'S THEATRE. PLOT FOR “DYNAMITE,” More and more the happenings of the day as printed in the newspapers of the world are becoming the source of big motion picture plots. Where once the classics, the current plays and the current novels formed the supply for picture producers, to-day a story on which a fortune will be spent is grabbed off the front page of a daily newspaper. A pertinent example is “Dynamite,” Cecil B. De Mille’s first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talking picture, written by Jeanie MacPherson. “Dynamite” was suggested by two newspaper clippings. The first was a wired press dispatch, reprinted in a Los Angeles paper, which told of the marriage of a woman to Salvatore Merra, a condemned murderer, two hours before he was hanged for murder. The hanging took place at the State prison, New Jersey. The second clipping related the case of a woman who bought another woman’s husband by paying, a large sum in advance alimony. It is on these two clippings that Cecil B. De Mille based the plot of the remarkably superior picture in which Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford and Julia Faye are the principals.