BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11741, 19 September 1902, Page 7

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

To the Editor. js]x, —The figures of "A Discerner oi Facts" are unreliable, beca.ursa u.^o-d oil imperfect data. He takes no account o; savage wars, in which victors exi-c.ni- n-.ivci the vanquished, of cannalabism, human sacrifice and famine, and pestilence, monastiedsittj celibacy, polygandry, polygamy, infanticide and the ioss of human life in its early stages; yet all^ these factors affect the result; though we' have not sufficient data to enabie us to judge how far they do sot. We knew, however, that these things prevailed far more in the past than in the present, and that therefore their results were the more far-reaching. We know that whole race®, of men have utterly disappeared.. - and that -of others only a small! percentage nemain. There are not a quarter as. many Maoris as there were 60-years ago; and even before the introductiooi of firearms, and the wars that ensued thereon caused great destruction, while a native tradition says- that a J strange pestilence, about 150 years ago, . killed fully nine-tenths of the then population ; and this is borne out by the great number of ancient pas and kumara-pits all. over the country. In some countries, too, unnatural means are taken to check the increase j and that, as in France, the population is actually decreasing. On the other hand, Professor Huxljey showed clearly that the old Sumerian Deluge story, of which that in the Bible is an absurdly exaggerated version, must have been penned fully 16,000 years ago, and the Rev. A. H. Sayce's figures would extend this period to some 50,000 years. We have no reliable data at which man developed from the ape; but the veteran geologist, Mr Prestwich, several years ago drew attention to the fact that geological strata., of the same aga* as those in which the bones of the ancient authropoid dryopithans occur, contain large numbers of rude stone implements!, indicating that the creature had so far advanced in intelligence as to fabricate such implements; while human bones only occur in far more recent strata.- We have also the bones now of a still more highly-humanised ape, connecting us with the gorilla and orangatahg, so that we cannot tell when man assumed the present form. There is really nothing in the Bible contrary to science; on the contrary, as the late Archbishop Benson said, "Modern science is a new light from the Holy Ghost, which enables us to interpret the Gospel of Christ more intelligently." It is the false teaching, which for 1500 years, has been masquerading as Christianity, to which science isfatal'; and the great danger of allowing Biblical notes prepared by the clergy, to be introduced into our State schools is that they would be based on this false teaching. For example, probably the "Ten Commandments" would be put in the Reader; but would they be prepared by the absurd fable of "their having been promulgated by God at Mount Sinai, written by Him on two tables of stone, and. given to the mythical Moses; or would the truth be toM that the whole of them had been in force in Babylonia for thousands of years before the alleged promulgation, and, with the exception- of the fourth one, about the Sabbath, of which there are conflicting versions in the Bible itself, in Egypt also I for thousands of years previously ; that in fact they were natural growths of advancing civilisation and social order. Mr Aitken proposes to rest the whole case on the truth or falsehood of the'P \ yirrection story, but does he'not kno-7 fLr ' it has "been given up by ministers ol his own denominaitioa, which I understand) is Presbyterian. He asserts that it is better attested than any other fact in ancient history. As a matter of fact, there is not a particeof real evidence, to support it; only a lot of conflicting narratives. All that he could prove is that the story was . believed in the second and third centuries, •which would not prove its truth, as even then it was explainel in different ways. In the Contemporary Review for June of this year there is an article on Modern Pro tesfcantism in France, from which it a/p pears that Culvinistic ministers there tab the view, that religion ought not to be Ibased on so doubtful and disputable a sbtory; and only about a year ago, at a /conference of Presibyterian clergy of various sects in Scotland, some of them said that "the 'confession of faith vas. becoming too great a strain on their consciences," and named the virgin's birth. Resurrection, and Ascension, as the great stumbling Hocks. Would tlxa clergy, who are advocating the movement, bo willing to rest the case on this point I fancy not. It seems to me that people are being asked to vote in the dark; that unless the selected passages and explanations are put before us, many who vote for the change may find then* votes interpreted to the approval of things of which they had no intention, and of which they disapprove. We want information on this point to enable us to vote intelligently. What* do scvool teachers say about the proposal? All to whom I havp spoken disapprove of it. and yefc are professing Christians and regard the Book with reverence.-—I am, etc., OLD SETTLER.