| Show THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS this city ban a school which 1 ift lo in every le tei peet admirable end in which of all creeds and parilea take the greatest grea et pride not tim th least feature of the system to is the fact that thai teachers are ar ejected Ole atod without regard to their 10 90 or of pa views view the presume u aton is ie that a candidate for employ ment as aa a teacher will not be asked whether or of not he be or she be believes in the bible or belongs belonga to any creed or political party all this thin Is pursuant to law the statute forbids religious issues or doctrinal instruction to be introduced in the ablio schools ao bools and citizens almost it if not quite unanimously agree that this rule ought to be observed probably in no large city in the union are the peculiarities of the people in respect reaped to religion so GO sharply defined as aa in this here are found everal beveral of the most widely diverging systems of religious thought each of which has baa a considerable number cumber oi of representatives they embrace agnostics of varying types from the wild mild unbeliever in to the pronounced opponent of christianity the advocates of christian science devout toe believers lievers in the pope of rome borne and equally devout members of various protestant while the preponderating element ot of our population accepts the doctrines of the church of josue christ of latter latte rn saints inevitably there Is in in a community made up of snub component parts more or less jealousy respecting in st ruction in the public schools relative to religious subjects and this jealousy la is reasonably certain to be a roused aroused whenever the law la is violated which prohibits such eboh instruction without undertaking to say how generally ane law Is observed or how bow frequently it Is violated we will take occasion to refer to an instance which is in reported as having occurred last friday tin in which it our information la Is correct both its letter and spirit were flagrantly departed from A lady teacher in the sixth grade ot of one of the is doubtless well qualified educationally for the position she holds but whose religious training from our car standpoint nas has been very much neglected undertook to address her bar class on bible topics she told the children that we abe bible was a book parts parta oi of which it would bo be proper tor for them to believe but other portions of which they need not receive as true she told them that they need not believe that the flab fish swallowed jonah or that any miracle occurred to enable the children or of israel to so cross the red bed sea she said that very likely a unusual ebb tide caused the waters to recede so as an to enable the people to walk over sta etc how this bis teacher came to make features if the he bible the subject of suon such an address la in not explained her doing so was a violation of law and of the wishes of the class ot of people whose children comprise a large majority of the pupils in abe school and in the class she ribs was addressing most of the children she was talking to bad been taught by their parents and sabbath school and other religious luus teachers that the fish did wallow jonah in a sense an aa literal as that in which the christ was waa crucil loo the miracle of jonah beinar a fore shadowing of the death burial and resurrection of him who had power to lay down his life and take it up again in other words to break the baud of oath and prepare a way by which all men could be redeemed those children also bad been taught that hat the god of israeli israel in order to lm press his almighty power upon all nations and future generations of maisa and an a an example of his hie maying mercy did to la a manner sod and by the exercise exer clee of a P power e r that baa its ita bootee it in him and him tim only cause the waters of the red bed sea to ta part and to form a wall on either ade side of a path along which the children of israel walked to the land of promise and redemption and that their enemies eo emlee in an attempt to pursue them along the same path were swale lowed up and destroyed the parents of those children entertain the most moat vital objections object iona to the sowing bowing of the abe seeds of unbelief la in the ha minds of their little ones onea respecting either the statements or the promises of holy writ when the former are disbelieved the latter cannot be relied railed upon and so BO the support sod and solace of a christian life are both wept away faith is ie power unbelief Is ie weakness weak nUy and that instructor of humanity no matter in what capacity who seeks seek to replace faith with unbelief seeks to rob the race of its strength and to ii its if enemy the NEWS neither asks aake nor ezpeleta that teachers in the publio public schools will ID inculcate in the minds ot of their pupils a belief in the bible it la a no part ither either of their duty or privilege to do such a thing oo on she other hand we wa must emphatically object to abe plant lug ing in the minds of the pupils of ef the public school obo ola by the special efforts of their teachers tea of the he seeds abeda of doubt to la things which must be believed by the tha children if they are to be properly equipped for the battle of ef life |
