BIBLE IN SCHOOLS BILL

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1934, Page 4

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS BILL

DETERMINATION TO SUCCEED T ITTLE HOPE OF PASSING HOUSE. OPINION OF MR. H. HOLLAND. “I have"not much hope for the passage of the Bible in Schools Bill through the House,” said Mr. H. Holland, M.P., Christchurch North, at the 90th. anniversary service at the Fitzroy Methodist Church yesterday. . He said he did not give the Bill in its present form any hope of getting past the Legislative Council. For more than 50 years the Bible had been banished from State schools, said Mr. Holland. There was not a walk in life in which the Bible could not help. Everyone from the. King to the humblest of his subjects admitted the value of the Bible. Each day Parliament commenced its deliberations with most beautiful prayers. In the court witnesses were required to swear by a Bible that, in many cases, they never read. The first word of the National Anthem was God. The Bible was extolled on one hand and was banished from the schools on the other. The Bible was read in high schools, technical colleges and other secondary school institutions by 26,000 senior pupils, and not one word of condemnation was heard. Yet 200,000 primary school children were prevented from enriching themselves with a knowledge of the Bible.. On what justification could they be stopped? asked Mr. Holland. He was a better man to-day as a result of his early instruction of the Bible’s teachings. Those interested intended keeping on until they did get the Bible firmly established in the State schools.