Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-08
BIBLE READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS WOULD BREED
INTOLERANCE, SAYS THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT
AGAINST THE LAW, DECLARES
JUDGE H. C. DILLON
ACTION OF METHODIST CLERGY
PROMPTLY OPPOSED
Even Expurgation to Eliminate Doc
trine Declared TO Be Pavement
of Way for Long Argu-
ment

~ HALL a volume of compilations or
excerpts from the Bible be pre-
~ pared for reading in the public
schools, and read there?
DR.. Charles e. Locke and the other
Methodist ministers in Los Angeles and
vicinity say: by all means, yes!"
Mark Keppel, county superintendent
of schools, says no." and gives various
reasons.
Judge II. c. Dillon gave an even
more decided negative yesterday, add
ing:
ANYTHING of the kind under the con-
stitution of this state. The judicial
opinion rendered in the Whittier high
school case, in which suit was brought
by Capt. A. e. Lynch of Whittier
charging violation of the constitution
in allowing the Y. M. C. A. to hold
meetings in the high school, his con-
tention was upheld
Recent Case Recalled
eyes, 1 acted as counsel for the
plaintiff in that case.
81 am satisfied that the reading of
the Bible, expurgated or uneXpurgated
in the public schools of this state
could not be done, legally, without the
passage of a constitutional amend
ment," continued Judge Dillon.
GAS for the preparation of such q
volume as is suggested, l consider that
practically impossible also though of
course not on legal grounds. Hxpur-
cation is pretty sure to reflect the IDEAS
of the expurgators, rather than to
eliminate features to which other per-
sons might object.
"It would mean simply the promul-
cation of a new kind of Bible re-
ligion. 1 do not think a commission
such as is suggested could agree on
the matter. If any result could be
obtained, it certainly would be in
conflict with the constitution of the
state"
Mr.. Keppel said: I'm willing to see
any attempt made to advance the
cause of morality and righteousness.
provided the effort does not seem like
ly to bring about greater evil than
IL promises to overcome.
General Agreement Doubted
1.-THE great difficulty of the whole
matter lies in the wide difference in
peoples ideas in regard to religion.
1 cannot conceive of general agree
ment even on the single proposition
of a personal God.
"In times past many persons have
been burned at the stake for their re-
ligfOuS beliefs, because or their OppO-
sition to the beliefs which others held
The moral tone of the race in those
days was far below that of the present
time. When we begin to agitate the
question of reading the Bible in our
free public schools we are in grave
danger of entering the old field of re-
ligious intolerance.
"The wrongs growing out of re-
ligious intolerance were intolerable.
The exclusion of the Bible from our
public schools is not too great a price
to pay for religious liberation.
personally, / insist upon the right
to select the version of the Bible
prefer, and the form of religion and
manner of worship which best satisfy
my own conscience. I am willing to
acceded that right to any other person
I would not wish the Bible, or extracts
from the Bible, to be taught to a child
of mine by a teacher who disbelieved
what she was teaching. If we put the
Bible, or an edited edition of the Bible,
in the public schools the next logical
step would be to require the employ
ment of teachers who believe in the
Bible, thus bringing a religious test
into education, opening the way for
all the old intolerance.
81 realize that the moral conditions
are not what they might be, but I be-
lieve they are better today than they
ever have been before. I'm afraid we
should risk more than we could pos
sibly hope to gain by attempting to
force the Bible into the public schools" ."