Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1869-11-18
The Bible ana the Schools.

/ 1S @A1AS 49, NA@S @SA1NARf
The small faction in the Board OF
Education who, with the Reman
Catholics, passed the resolution ex.
eluding the Bible from the public
sthU6ls; are, Notwithstanding their
professions, the most bitter 81 e;ta-
rians anywhere TO be found, and
the most narrUW- minded bigols
within the limits OF Cincinnati.- -
They do not believe in the Bible Bf
the moral code of the. Bible; and
they are Bible haters. Besides,
they are intolefHht toward those
who differ with them. they hold
lip tb tldiculs eygry mai's fHllgi6n.
They set down as faHatics or hypo-
critics every person who believes In
the Christian religion, and they
scbff at the ministers Of the EburtL.
Their aitti is not to build up but I'd
tear down, and they will not con-
cider their mission fulfilled until
thdrches are abolished ministers
6fthe Gospel cease TO exist, and un.
| til children are edutated to belieyE
thcte is nd being superior " man
Yet these people call themselves
liberal, and oppose tile reddig Of.
the Bible because, as they Allcge, it
tiUlltes the right Of consUiHnce. -
Well, every man s consclente is to
be respected and legally Mr.. Wick
ers has as much fight to preach ra
tionallsHi as MI. Mayo has to
preach Christianity; but no t1ore.
The rights Of consciehEe which the
infdels claim for themselves they
must not deny to others. The con
sciente 0f a Christian Is quite as
sacred and as much to lie respected
as the cunseience Of all intidel UrI
any other man.
Now let us see his #ofks. A
portion of ohr titisens-a majority
object to the reading 5f the billie
in the public schools. The School
Board iii slider to guard the stru
pies of this class, adopted d fhle
that UPON the request OF . parent
any child should he excused from
reading the Bible, or should be per
tt1itted t5 fead any one of the sever
al Versions. This rule was adopted
in 1912, aid has been in icrce from
that time to tliis. this was Ger.
tainly liberal.
Un tile other hand; the majority !
of our citizens are favorable to the
reading Of the Bible in the public !
schools. The people who favor
this rule are not confined TO church
members. The great body Of the
American people respect the Bible
and desire that their children shhll
be made acquainted with its teach
ings. In opposition to this senti-
ment, the gantlet1en who claim to-
be liberal aboRG all bther men; step
forward and say, without regard to
the conscientious sEruples of those
who faver the Bible and III opbdsi-
ton to tile wishes Of their own
constituents and against the pro
test OF ten thousdnd people, the
Bible shall not be fead iii the
schools at all; that NO rcligiBus
books shall be readi and that sing, |
ing shall be dispensed with. This |
means that the text books shall be
revisedi so fat as they contain any
reference to religion, and there are
no singing books Which do not COM
tain verses of a religious (not seq
tarian) character The School |
Board, in 1912, Unanimously agreGd |
that no pupil should be required to
read the Bible if his parents object
ed to It. In 1859 the accidental
majority in the Board of Educntion |
say that iffotr- fifths of the parents |
of children attending the public
scIiobls desire extracts from the
Bible to be read, as an opening ex-
ercise, it shall not be done; because
one fifth object to it. In othef
words, this minority say the t1fa10r-
ity haTe no rights which the mi
nority are bound To respect; yet
this small fraction Elairti to be pre-
eminently liberali talk about the
rights Of mat, and dwell at length
upon the saEredness Of t6usGien-
tious scruples.
the Roman catholics are OPP
posed to the public schools Bible
5r no Bible, and wotild wipe them
cut to- morrow if they had the pow
er; not begadse they are sectarian
schools, Or non.sectarian schools,
Bible of anti Biblei but because
they are not controlled by the Rd-
man Catholic Church. This sect
has no feeling iii Common will the
hifdels; so far as regards religion,
but they use the latter to help them
to enter a wedge that aims to weak
en- and ultimately destroy the svs
tefh Of free and u6l1-sectatian
schools. Neither have the infdels
any feeling in cOmmoti with the
Roman Catholics as regards reifg-
ion, bit they utfite with the latter
TO exclude from tie public schools
the moral teachings Of the Bible.
Thus these two parties, operating
from 4 different standpoint; and
with different objects in view, unite
In an effort TO strike down the Bi-
Bic without regard to the E6nscien-
tious convictions Of the majority Of
the people who use the public
schools
This Is exactly the sitHation with
referc1ec to this question, and it Is
easy to see who are illiberal and