The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1913. THE BIBLEIN-SCHOOLS MOVEMENT

New Zealand Tablet, 18 December 1913, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1913. THE BIBLEIN-SCHOOLS MOVEMENT

fcfeGߧtt£ FTER visibly languishing for the last two or three months the Bible-in-schools moveJvi\w men k has received a slight—very slight—■ access of vitality during the last few days. QftjlAonrjrt Sunday last was set aside as Bible-in-Schools Sunday, and special sermons were J&jfexif preached on the subject in a number of §jp' *\ . the churches; and on Friday the question was discussed at considerable length and with considerable animation at the Presbyterian General Assembly in session at Christchurch. The Sunday deliverances— far as they have come under our observation. -—may be dismissed with scant notice. Nothing in. any way fresh or striking was said; and the sermons received—as they deservedlittle prominence in the press. One Dunedin daily was cruel enough to merely mention the fact — a brief localthat sermons had been delivered; and in the other Dunedin paper the total space devoted to the whole of the Dunedin discourses hardly exceeded half a column.

The discussion at the Presbyterian General Assembly was interesting as evidencing a strong undercurrent of opposition to the Bible in Schools League's scheme. At last year's meeting of the Assembly not a voice was raised in opposition to the scheme, and the resolution pledging the Church to support it was carried, according to Wellington press reports, ' unanimously.' At this year's discussion two hostile amendments were moved; and though one of these was withdrawn, and the other rejected by a very large majority, the opposition was such as to show that some of the strongest o men in the Presbyterian Church are out of sympathy with the League's proposals. There are not three greater names in the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand to-day than those of Professor Hewitson, the Rev. A. Cameron, and the Rev. Dr. Erwin. Professor Hewitson is the distinguished Master of Knox College ; Mr. Cameron, last year's Moderator of Assembly, is a member of the Otago University Council and has a New Zealand reputation as an educationist; and Dr. Erwin, the scholarly author of several theological works, is universally esteemed amongst his brethren alike for his high Christian character and for the ripe years of service which he has given to his Church. All three opposed the scheme sponsored by the Bible in State Schools League —the grounds of objection being chiefly that it was the duty of the Church and not of the State to administer religious instruction, that the introduction of denominationalism (in the form of ministerial right of entry) was contrary to the policy of the Presbyterian Church, and that it was impossible for the teachers to teach the Bible without at the same time teaching religion. The venerable Dr. Erwin was particularly outspoken. It had been said,' says the Lyttelton Times (December 13) report of his address, ' that they were solid on the subject. He would show them that this was not so. . . They were beingdragged at the cart-tail by the Anglican Church, and they were getting the support of the Anglican Church as the price of the right of entry. They were using the Presbyterian Church as a catspaw to get what they wanted from the State. He objected that the Church should bring pressure to bear on the State. Regarding the teachers they were being asked an impossibility. They were asking the teachers to teach the Bible without giving religious instruction. It could not be done.' The debate, which was at times of an impassioned and almost heated character, extended over six hours; and although the dissidents were in the end out-voted by ten to one yet they witnessed a good confession, and made it abundantly clear that the opposition to the League's proposals within the Presbyterian body is very far from being a negligible quantity. *

Even more marked is the division on this question within the ranks of the Methodist denomination—which body is also claimed by Bible-in-schools advocates as being wholly on the League’s side. On this point the following facts, given in a local in the Dunedin Evening Star of Monday last, are sufficiently conclusive : ‘ Yesterday, Bible in State Schools Sunday, 10 out of the 12 Methodist pulpits in the city and suburbs were silent on the question. Of the two preachers who referred to the subject (Revs. P. W. Fairclough and J. T. Pinfold), the latter gave a general support, while the former adversely criticised the League’s proposal re sectarian teaching, while supporting simple Bible teaching. The silence of so many can only have one interpretation, as in the Methodist Times the president of the conference particularly requested all who could conscientiously do so to preach in support of the League. Not one Dunedin Methodist vestry responded to the appeal to lift a retiring collection towards the League’s funds. When this is compared to the enthusiastic support given by the same churches to Prohibition and anti-gambling crusades, the claim of the League that it has the support of the Methodist Church must be taken at a discount in Dunedin at least. The last Methodist Conference supported the League, but the vote was not unanimous, and a spirited protest was made by the minority against

the proposal to teach sectarian tenets under the auspices of the State. At the Methodist Synod held recently at Milton a resolution supporting the League platform was vigorously opposed, on the same grounds, and as time would not permit of a full discussion the resolution was withdrawn. Last year the Dunedin Methodist Ministers' Association decided against the League's proposal for sectarian teaching, while supporting unsectarian teaching in the schools, and this would seem to represent the true attitude of the great majority of Methodists, though many support the League because they have been given to understand that they must either support the whole of its proposals or shut the Bible out of the State schools.' *. Again and again it has been urged by League advocates in justification of the demand for a referendum that the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and members of the Salvation Army unitedly number 74 per cent, of the population; that the authorities of these four denominations have more or less officially endorsed the League's platform; and that therefore 74 per cent, of the voters are in favor of the League's proposals. The argument is on the face of .it disingenuous and inconclusive: in the face of the evidence above set forth it becomes positively absurd.