SCHOOL BIBLE LESSONS
OBJECTION TO SCHEME . & • . PETITION SENT TO PARLIAMENT. THE NELSON SYSTEM PREFERRED. (By Wire—-Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Last Night. Opposition to the Religious Instruction in Public Schools Enabling Bill is expressed in a petition presented to Parliament to-day on behalf of the Professors Kirk, Gould and Macken, and Messrs. A. R. Atkinson, J. R. Salt, F. L. Combs, W. J. McEldowney, A. E. Campbell and H. A. Parkinson. The petitioners submit that the Bill is an attempt to destroy the seCulai'ity of the State school system, and that to pass it Would be to abandon the attitude Of neutrality which the state has hitherto adopted to religious isusee, to expose the'teachers to .serious risks, and to inflict a grave injustice upon denominations and individuals unable to share In the religious observances or religious instruction proposed by the Bill. It is contended that the passing of the Bill would embarrass and perhaps destroy iihe Nelson system, under which thousands of children -.re now voluntarily receiving genuinely religious instruction from competent religious teachers without pressure or responsibility of any kind on the part Of the State, and that instead of removing these facilities it should be the aim of the legislature to give them the widest possible extension. The petitioners ask that the Bill be not passed, that the free, compulsory and secular character of the present system be strictly maintained, and that they be heard in opposition to the Bill.
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Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1931, Page 7
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240SCHOOL BIBLE LESSONS Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1931, Page 7
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