The Old Bible-in-schools

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 15, 11 April 1907, Page 9

The Old Bible-in-schools

Werenfels, a Protestant theologian, was the author of the famous Latin distich which says of the Bible :—: — ' Hie liber est in quo quaerit sua dogmata quisque';. Invenit et pariter dogmata quisque sua.' The well-packed Latin of this historic saying finds diluted expression in the following English versified translation :—: —

' Within one Book each seeks to read The tenets of his private creed. An*i, strange to tell, each reads so well, The selfsame words all doctrines spell.' It is not in the nature of things that a Book which so many hundreds of conflicting religious bodies regard as their creed-document could be taught in State schools without sectarian bias. Even with the best intentions, teachers could not well avoid coloring even their ' literary, historical, and ethical explanations ' with their own beliefs or "unbelief. The Royal Coro>missioner's Report on Religious Instruction in Victoria contains abundant evidence of the 'flagrant manner in which the religious rights of minorities may be violated with impunity .during, Scripture instruction. And this in the very teeth of an Act of Parliament and under the mock ' protection ' o£ the very - conscience clause that was offered as a magnanimous concession to Catholic and Jewish susceptibilities, in New Zealand. The results of introducing the Protestant version of the Bible into the public- schools of the "United States were described as follows in the course of an editorial article in the ' Biblical World ' (a Protestant magazine), in its issue of October, lihjz :—: — 1 Protestant' teachers taught the Bible in a way that antagenised the Roman Catholics ; and teachers of the several Protestant denomimatiJons interpreted the Bible to the children from their own point of But the public money, which is raised by general' taxation for the -support of "Che common schools comes from mien of widely diftering" ecclesiastical creeds and connections, and cannot therefore be used for the dissemination of sectarian tenets'.

This Moid of history has an unpleasant trick of repteajtinja itself. Tbe^success of the movement -for clap- / ping the white '' choker '■ on our 'State teachers *wciuld .speedily have resulted in- the utilisation of our public schools ' for the dissemination of sectarian"- tenets -' and the teaching of •'the Bible in a way,, that would antagonise very many besides ■' Rojiman Catholics.' That political movement put , up its handsomest performance when it drews its last breath. And little, if any, crape has been worn to its memory. '