A Practical Test

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 40, 6 October 1904, Page 4

A Practical Test

The logical resiults of the State attempting t o teach religion are well illustrated in the following incident which occurred not many years ago in one of the public schools of New South Wales. The teacher selected as a Bible stA*dy for her class the leeoad concerning Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The g,oltl, silver, brass, and iron of tiie gjeat image were explained by the teacher to represent the succeeding kings of the Babylonian ermpire. One little girl m the class dissented from the application, and when asked the reason, repttienl ' that tjtie toad beeli taught by hex Sablbatih-sphool teacher that the different parts of the image represented the fdur kingdoms of Babylon, Modo-Persia, Grecia, and Homo.' The teach.ee, not feeliTig inclined to admit of swpenor knowledge in the child, demanded that she slhould say it as she said it, on pain of punishment. This tine little girl refused to do, and the cane was applied accordingly. The child accented the situation arid uhe punishment with heroic fortitude, and a faitfo unchanged. When relating the occurrence afterwards, she said : ' I knew that my Sabbath lesson was right.' This case well illustrates the futility and error of attempting to give religious instruction in 'State schools. In it are contained, im miniature form, all tine elements of a Church Establishment and religious persecution. If tihis teacher had a right to teach religion in this school, she had a right to require her pupils to accept hor views on it, or to receive punishment for the it refusial. No one could object to her punishing a child for refusing to repeat a problem in arithmetic, or to say that the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales together form Great Britain. The error was in attempting to give, in a State institution, instruction respecting, a religious subject— t<he question of tJhe fulfilment of divine prophecy. (To be concluded.)