VICTORY FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
[From our correspondent at Washington, D. C.] THE opposition has won in the fight in Washington, over the somewhat formidable movement engineered by the Rev. Randolph H. McKim for the introduction of certain specific religious instruction into the curriculum of the public schools in the District of Columbia. By a unanimous vote of the members present the district board of education, at its regular weekly meeting on the evening of May 10, declined to accede to the petition and recommendation of the church conference, and issues the following official statement of its decision: “The Board of Education has carefully considered the petitions asking for the introduction of a course of religious and moral instruction as a part of the curriculum of our district schools. This matter has been considered solely from the standpoint of the welfare and best interest of our school system as a whole. In view of the earnest protests that have been presented to us, many of them from large representative religious bodies, and undoubtedly inspired by conscientious motives, and in view of the unfortunate rancor that the matter has already aroused, as is evidenced by the public and private expressions that have been brought to the notice of the board, we feel constrained to decline the adoption of the course suggested. “In so doing we appreciate the motives that have impelled the movers to take the action they have, but believe the conditions existing, if fully understood, would impress them with the propriety, and indeed, necessity, of our decision. We do not deem it desirable to enter into any argument as to the many reasons, other than above, which imbued this action, for we trust that our people will believe that the board have at first the welfare of the youth committed to our care, and that the elevation of our wards, morally as well as intellectually, is our first aim. “The discussion in the public press and from our pulpits has given rise to the impression that there is nothing done in our schools in the line of moral teaching, and that our exercises are without religious tone. That, of course, results from the fact that but few of our people have the opportunity of visiting these schools and of familiarizing themselves with their methods. We believe we go as far in the direction suggested as any school system in this country, and we have studiously pursued this course in the face of repeated and earnest objections from representative bodies and individual Protestants. “That the public may be fully advised, we quote from the following rules, in force since the creation of the present board and for many years previous: RULE 46. Each teacher shall practice such discipline in his school as would be exercised by a kind and judicious parent in the family—always firm and vigilant, yet prudent. He should endeavor to inculcate truthfulness, self-control, temperance, frugality, industry, obedience to parents, reverence for the aged, forbearance toward the weak, respect for the rights of others, politeness to all, kindness to animals, desire for knowledge and obedience to the laws of God; but no teacher shall exercise any sectarian influence in the school. RULE 47. The opening exercises in every school shall consist of the reading by the teacher, without note or comment, of a portion of the Bible, repeating the Lord’s Prayer, and appropriate singing. “We assert, to the honor and credit of a faithful and efficient body of teachers, that they have carried out the full letter and spirit of our requirements; that they have, by their individual integrity and good example, moulded the characters of their pupils and have sent forth from our schools the best type of representative American youth.” [The president of the board, being unable to attend on account of sickness, sent in a statement favoring the suggestions of the committee of fifteen.]