ARE WE BECOMING PAGANS?

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13637, 16 April 1908, Page 8

ARE WE BECOMING PAGANS?

AN AUCKLAND CLERGYMAN'S VIEWS. A CANDID .CRITIC OF TiiE CLERGY. At St. Mark's Church, Remuera, 1 last Sunday night, the Rev. Wm. Beatty, vicar, preached an outspoken I sermon on the subject of Bishop Ncligan's recent utterances at Home with : regard to the lack of Bible teaching i among the young people of New Zea1 land. We take the following report oi [ the address from the New Zealand Herald. ; Mr Beatty commenced by remarking that there was a great stii at present 1 about the question of religious an«i secular education. It had been stated 1 that owing to the want of religious instruction in schools many people m ' New Zealand were already, or were becoming, pagans. It was asserted that ' the introduction of religious instruc- : tion into the public schools would re- , medy this deplorable condition of things. "Now, for my own part," said the preacher, "I believe firmly that an education that is deficient in the knowledge of God is essentially defective. I accept heartily the prineiplo that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and that to know how to make right use of learning is as important as to acquire learning. 1 cannot accept the theory that human nature is constructed, so to speak, \u water-tight compartments, and that the intellect, the will, the conscience, th>' affections, the emotions, can be educated and developed altogether separately. At the same time there are certain facts I cannot ignore. F«r one thing, I am quite convinced that the main responsibility for the exclusion of religious teaching from the imblkschools of the Dominion lies at the door of religious people in general, and oi' ministers of religion in particular. It is a matter of history that endowments for educational purposes were missed or perverted by different religious bodies, and that grants of money were secured by dishonest means. It is a matter oi experience that religious divisions, and the ill-will, jealousy, suspicion and contempt which flow with them, hinder any general agreement in the direction of a safe and efficient method for providing religious instruction in the pul>lic schools. And it is well known that ministers of religion in general make no attempt to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded under the present Education Act for Scriptural teaching outside school hours, but prefer to decluim v in the press, in the pulpit, or on the platform, against the defects of the law; to exaggerate evils, and depreciate -,the benefits of the. existing system.' * In my judgment, tlie agitation for the introduction of- the Bible into the schools is largely insincere and artificial, and has little solid, earnesf- conviction behind it." "There is very little evidence," continued Mr Beatty, "that ministers oi' religion themselves know the Bible, reverence it, seek to understand it or obey it. If they did, they would see and confess the evils of religious divisions. And they would set themselves to repent of their own sins, and amend their own faults, instead of attacking others. For the Bible, all through, bears witness that the spiritual and moral condition of a nation depends upon the spiritual and moral condition of religious teachers and professors ; that the sins of the priest aro the chief causes of the sins of the people; that judgment must begin from the house of God." He went on to remark that if what was called secular education was seriously defective, it did not follow that what was called religious education " must necessarily be good and wholesome. That depended entirely upon the nature of the religion. There was, as there always had been, religious teaching that was false, superstitious, irrational; which enfeebled the mind and perverted the conscience ; wliich bred hypocrisy, dishonesty, cowardice, slavishness in humanity, and contempt of others. "For my own part," declared Mr Beatty, "I say deliberately that I would rather send a child to a school where he received no religious teaching at all — but where, by precept, example, and influence, ho was trained to be truthful, honest, obedient, brave, unselfish, and publicspirited — than send him to a seminary where his mind was filled with religious trivialities, where the principles of abject submission to human authority were inculcated j and where he waa oncouraged to consider himself possessed of exclusive spiritual privileges, anrl to hate or despise those who held a different belief, or practised different rites of worship." A child might be taught at home to love God, thns supplying some of the deficient rt?s of secular education. But no parent could reasonably hope to correct the subtle and profoundly demoralising influences of bad religious teaching. ! "No child need grow up a pagan, even if he does not learn the. Bible a1 sr-nool," the preacher said. "But if J had to choose between the two I would rather be an honest, kindly, useful, manly pagan, than a crooked, shuffling, treacherous, cruel Pharisee. So far as myi experience goes most parents in New Zealand desire their children to receive a religious training. . . . . . In public schools, and in private . schools, Biblo, clas:>os, conducted by \ Christian ministers, aro freely attend- < ed by children of all denominations. And no right-minded man would take < advantage of the opportunity to draw children from tho faith of their fntli- • era to win proselytes to his own body, j Tbo religious difficulty," he concluded, "which originally called into existence. ' and still maintains, the system of secular education is mainly due to the want ' of confidence between ministers of the various Christian bodies, and the wani of confidence on the part of the public in ministers generally. Tf the people • are becoming pagans, it v; bishops and cler^v who are doing most to ma Ice and to keep them pagans."

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