The Bible in Public Schools by Law
THERE is a great demand, at the present time, for the Bible in the public schools. Many good people are behind the movement. They see the godlessness of the age, the growing depravity and irreverence among children and youth, and they are anxious to do something to help stay the overwhelming tide of infidelity. One of the helps to this end, they think, is the Bible in the public schools. A generation ago there were not the wide-spread signs of degeneracy which we see now, and the Bible was read in the schools, they argue. It will therefore have the same results if read now. Let us say that we believe the Bible to be the Book of books, that it is worthy of reading at all times, under all legitimate circumstances. It is the precious guide that God has given us from this world of sin to the better world. It is that which is able to change the heart of men, and mold them after the divine image; but to all its blessed precepts men must respond willingly and heartily. But listen. There are some things that may be said on the other side. 1. A generation ago, fathers and mothers generally were much more religious than now; the Bible was revered in the home, read at family prayers, believed to be true. This was a mighty influence for good, and its evanishment can never be offset by a few verses read from the Bible in public school. 2. The Bible is not believed or regarded now as it was then. When it was read at home, or in the family circle, it was regarded as the word of God. Now the “higher critics” have, in the eyes of many, taken away its sacredness, and it is no more than a common book, or, worse still, a mass of myths. What particular power would it have upon the children at school, if disregarded at home? 3. Many, very many of the teachers in the public schools have partaken of the spirit of “higher criticism,” are believers in evolution rather than in the creative power of God, and have little regard for the creative Book—the Bible. Of what moral worth is such a teacher’s reading of the Bible, when his whole influence is against it? 4. There may be Roman Catholics in the school, who object to the reading of the Protestant versions; there may be Jews, who object to the reading of the New Testament. The teacher may be a Catholic, who may feel bound to read the Douay Version and the authorized glosses of the church as prescribed by that church, to which Protestants would greatly object. There may be infidels who do not believe in the reading of any religious book whatsoever. Such conditions would be bound to breed trouble and neighborhood wars, instead of bringing peace. 5. Any one or all of these classes may object to being compelled to support public schools by taxation in order to teach some religion in which they do not believe. Would it be justice to demand that any one should help to support a religion contrary to his belief?9All the great principles in the foundation of the American government are against this. Therefore, to teach the Bible in the public schools, contrary to such protest, is not only unjust, but it would stir up ill feelings which a mere perfunctory reading of the Scriptures would not cure. 6. The history of other countries where the Bible has been read in the school by law, clearly shows that they are not better morally, that communities are not better, that no better class of children is developed, than in lands where such things are not in operation. All these efforts to effect by civil laws, by mechanical means, will ever disappoint. They will never take the place of what parents and religious teachers themselves ought to do. 7. The training of the child in moral, religious, and godly life, rests, first of all, with the parents. Secondly, it rests with the religious teachers, the pastors, the superintendents in the Sabbath-schools, the Sabbath-school teachers. With these three classes the great burden of soul must rest, and it is soul-burden for souls that lifts men and brings them to the Lord Jesus. All these efforts to cure by mechanical means, or by legal means, will fail. They will be disappointing to the last extremity. And we want this understood as not against the Bible, but against that curtailing of human freedom, a freedom for which the Bible itself pleads. Exalt the Word, but do not exalt it through civil law.