FOR RELIGION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 2 June 1923, Page 8

FOR RELIGION.

To the Editor of the “Timaru Herald.” Sir, —May I, on behalf of the Ministers’ Association, be allowed to use your columns to make an appeal to the people of Timaru? Our leaders and a large majority of the people of this Dominion are agreed .as to the value of religious teaching as part of a child’s education. Unfortunately we have not yet found any way of introducing it into the ordinary school curriculum, that is satisfactory to all parties; consequently the bulk of the work is falling on the Sunday schools, which, though unsatisfactory as a substitute for daily religious teaching in the dayschools, are none the less doing good work, and the Dominion owes much to the thousands of men and women who, Sunday by Sunday, give their services for the instruction of t(iß children. During recent years much has been done to make the Sunday-schools more efficient, but still there is room for improvement, and the Churches represented by all the members of the Ministers’ Association are seeking first of all to find out how far the Sunday-school is meeting the needs of the people. For this purpose a house to house canvass has been arranged, and householders are asked to fill in a card stating what denomination they, belong to, and whether or no their children attend Sunday-school. Of course no attempt will be made to proselytise, the canvassers receiving the information without comment. Also, it is obvious no one is compelled to give information, if they do not wish to do so, yet at the same time we hope that the canvassers will receive every assistance in tlieir voluntary labour, and that our efforts to extend the usefulness of the Sunday-school will receive the sympathy of the public.—l am, etc., J. A. JULIUS.