St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-07
The Unfairness Of Bible Read
ing in the Public Schools
Illustrated. l.os
A sNon-Sectarian" Book That
Has Created Three Hum
dred SectS.
DR.. BurriIl and Others Invited
to Reply in an Argument
alive Way. a


and synopsis of the argument made
before the supreme court of Wisconsin
in behalf of the Catholics. The paper
read at the ministers meeting of last
Monday by Rev. George K. Merrill
must have been quite interesting, and
he apparently dealt with the question in
a broad spirit, as he admitted that
he could not see how the supreme
court justices of Wisconsin could, under
the circumstances, do other than they
had done. From the tenor of his re-
marks he does not appear to be afflicted
with the rabies Romano" like some of
his clerical brethren. as DR.. BurreIl. the
''haif IriSlIman," who indulged i'll a
Presbyterian ''goak," as ArtemuS Ward
would write it. The famous Edgerton
Bible case had been pending in the
cOurtr of Wisconsin for over three years
before it came up for final argument Ill
the supreme court at Madison.
The Catholic tax payers at Edgerton
had objected to the reading of King
James version of the Bible in their dis
trict school during school hours, and as
the board of education paid no atten-
ton to their protest they sought to oD-
TAIL pei ildilCllG dlnob ITO
reading from the circuit court of Rock
county. Judge Bennett gave all ad-
verse decision to the petitioners who
then appealed to the supreme
court where the injunction prayed for
was granted. The question argued was
whether Bible reading in the public
schools was ''sectarian Instruction."
the constitution of the state prohibiting
all SectarianiSm in the public schools.
1t was admitted by the respondents that
the reading of the Bible occurred as
school exercise within school hours, and
by the authority of the board. The dis
trict board also admitted THAT Catholics
and the Catholic church take offenSe at
this version of the Bible as
religious and denominational
book, which they believe detri-
mental to their faith and apt
to breed religious error among their
children. Their conscience will not
allow them to read it or listen to it,
The board, in their answer. also said:
James version of the Bible is regarded
by the petitioners as contrary to their
rights of conscience" The attorney
for the Catholics said: "The said board
deny the correctness of Catholic teach
ing i'll this respect. and aiIege that
every person has the right to read the
Bible and interpret it for himself,
thereby setting up the teaching
of the Protestant conscience. and virta-
ally asking the court to say that the
Catholic conscience is wrong and the
Protestant conscience is right; that the
Catholic population needs guardian
for it's conscience, aud that there is re-
IigiouS freedom for Catholics here. pro-
vided they do rot trespaSs beyond Jail
limits determined by the Protestant
conscience" Again he said: Il queS-
ton whether the
VERY LIBERAL AND GENEROUS
offer of the Edgerton school board to
permit such Catholic children as OBJ
stinately and impiously refuse to listen
to Bible reading to leave the room
when that part Of the school programme
is reached, might not be employed dur
ing the severe winter weather as very
efficient method of inflieting physical
torment. These recusant papistS, wait
ing outside the unSectarian common
school until the religious exercise was
ended, might then and there have their
ears clipped by the biting atmosphere in
a way that might forcibly remind
them of the time when QuakerS were
somewhat similarly treated in colonial
New England under the spirit of laws
and Institutions that the respondents
believe should sway the polity of this
modern American commonwealth"
Again he said: Catholics may say
that the Protestant Bible has, in their
view, many errors of translation; that
these mistranslationS are made design
eddy against many Catholic doctrines,
so as to raise in the mind of the
inn ion fhQf Cafh-
Olic teachings are not Scriptural; that
the Protestant Bible, furthermore, omitS
some seventy chapters of the inspired
canon; that when Catholics can obtain
the correct translation and the whole
Bible, their church cannot, as a religious
guide, advise them to receive mutt
lated and prejudicial version any more
than it can advise them to accpet creed
with some of its essential portions
omitted and the meaning of other
portions affected by warped render
ing; that the Catholics, having Bible
of their own, which they are taught to
revere and study, and having a church
which interprets it for them. it is neither
in accord with their faith nor prudent
for them to take book printed and cir
culated by another religious OrganiZa-
ton, and printed and circulated to be
uSGu Ill Liz IUtCStdut way tliob WultC
the Protestant and Catholic Bibles may
as the Protestant and Cath
Ollie creeds have much i'll common
their points of difference are not the
less marked than the points OF differ
enee between the two creeds, and these
points of difference go inseparably
with the respective versions, but the
Protestant principle of private judg-
ment too, determining the use of the
Protestant Bible and the Catholic doc
trine of the church as the interpreteriof
the Bible, being preliminary to the right
use of the Bible by Catholics" The at
torney for the appellants continued:
Il assume that it is KS
NO LACK OF LOYALTY. fV5
to Professionalism that has actuated men
like Henry Ward Beecher. Bishop Pot
ter. DR.. Patton. DR.. Crosby, DR.. Spear,
and journals like the Independent and
Bible reading during school hours
against the protests of an unwilling
minority. I assume, too, that it is no
disrespect for religion that moves
the entire secular press of the country
to share in similar view. This is
the spirit of the age in which we
live. 1t is emphatically the spirit of the
laws that we are interpreting. The
purpose of the common schools, as set
forth IN the statutes, is instruction in
certain specified secular studies. 1t
does not assume to give religious in
struction. If religious instruction were
a purpose in public education, it
would, indeed, be poorly sub
served by Bible reading. Relig-
ious perversion there may be. but
valuable religious training, never. Bible
reading in the public school is relic
of bibIiolatry.. conformity to mere
tom. Learned commentators have pom
dered over the meaning of Biblical pas
sages, and given years to illuminate the
text with explanations of words,
phrases and metaphors. But here is
the teacher singing off these deep
texts of theology, which she scarcely