Bible-in-schools, R.I.P.

New Zealand Tablet, 15 November 1906, Page 9

Bible- in -schools, R.I. P.

The 'overwhelming, majorities 'of the Bible-in-schools ; ..leaders -.have' at length : vanis'hed-,;"tiieir .bounding 'hopes are shattered, and their— rose-colored curtains are" now drawn around the corpse- of the movement, for the~sectarianisins of, our public . schools.,- On, last Friday^ the Rev. Dr. Gibb laid 'Before the, Assembly' of the New Zea-~ land Presbyterian Church at Dunedin a ; report from the - Bible-in-schools Committee announcing ' tliei demise of the movement. The report said .in part. :-?,. " ' '-The hopes- entertained a year ago that the -general election would advance the cause of Bible-in-schools Jay bringing a Plebiscite Bill within measurable distance - were,; unhappily falsified. by the-/eyent.-- Very few of the members ;of the new Parliament Yavor' any form of Bible v. teaching- in the nationak.s"chools,'-and only some thirty of them promised to support a "special referendum of the question to the electors. In the face- of these things, the executive of, the Referendum League could only conclude that the time' was', inopportune for the eoh'tinu- , v ance of wthe campaign- which they had been -strenuously conducting up' to the date of the. election. Very regretfully they- resolved to- discontinue the services of the - agent, and to desist for 'the present" "from the various other 1 activities^ in which, they had been engaged. . , There is no good in blinking the fact that the cause of the Bible-in-schools,. regarded botli from the standpoint of"' parliamentary approval and popular sympathy,, shows - noT a_ few _ symptoms -of decadence when comparison is made --between the. state of matters existing to-day "and that which obtained three years ago '„ • . ■« " And so on. Even • the strenuous and roseate-viewed Dr.- Gibb — who bore the movement ; on his-'f shoulders — admits 'if not a defeat, at least' a-^serious 'reverse.' ' The members of Parliament,' added- lie,' « knew quite, well what the position -was, and-hadj decided to -' do •- nothing in the matter,' And the.-\'Bevl"'R. J. Porter averred .that ' they were -now further from having "the Bible . restored than they were -five years ago.' The Bible-in-schools 'movement, like Macdotiagh's cadaverous ;Irish waiter, was ' dead long ago,' only -it 'had '"not energy enough to close its eyes.' This; .charitable office ; has now been performed for _it. We cannot" say that we. regret its _ demise. It may, perhaps, .lead to the formulating of some scheme of settlement of-- the school difficulty in which fair ~and equal treatment will ■-. be \ meted out—to Oatholics, Jews. , and Pro'^'stant dissidents,. If .it does, "the League .will not have died, in vain.