State Religious Teaching in England
By L. A. S.
It is quite instructive to note the effort which is being made in England to solve the problem of imparting religious education in the public schools. Under the Balfour administration the problem had been solved to the satisfaction of the established church party and the Roman Catholics, by giving them control over the religious teaching at the expense of the nonconformists. A popular political revolt has put an end to this regime, and now the effort is being made to find a way to do justice to all parties, and yet retain the feature of religious teaching in the government schools. A recent London dispatch speaks of the difficulties which the new proposed measure encounters. It says:— The education bill, the main measure on the Liberal program for the present session, was introduced in the House of Commons to-day by Mr. Birrell, president of the board of education. The difficulty in completely satisfying any single religious group, and the impossibility of framing a measure acceptable to all political parties, speedily became apparent as Mr. Birrell unfolded his effort to arrange a compromise. He recognized his difficulties by a reference to the “icy blasts of sectarian tenets” which prevented progress and peace. Mr. Birrell, having wound up the debate by declaring that the measure was an honest attempt to deal with a difficult problem, the bill was formally passed on first reading. Sir William Anson, Liberal, representing Oxford University, declared that the bill was not based on a broad principle which made a settlement of the religious difficulty possible. James Ramsay McDonald, Labor and Socialist, speaking in behalf of the Labor party, supported the bill, but said he would oppose any attempt to teach “the skeleton of religion” as proposed in the bill.