The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-01-21
Bible Reading in the Public
ia' Institutions Under Discussion
~ Last Evening
Views Were Expressed BY the
70 Preachers and. Laymen
Following Dinner
From tuesdays Daily.

more effective instruction of the
@ tdDoys and girls along religious lines
fought to be evolved and put into
4 practice appeared to be the unanl-
!, nous opinion of those who attended
q, the supper held last evening by the
al Presbyterian brotherhood in the base
ment of the Presbyterian church.
"a The unique school system at Gary,
ioInd. :, was under discussion, and while
+ many features of that system were
described, the feature of affordlng the
children opportunity for religious in
-ostruction was what aroused by far the
r., greatest interest.
s.g The whole Gary school system was
outlined by Benjamin Taylor, who
nj made the opening address. Among
other features Mr.. Taylor praised
1.-The plan that was in vogue at Gary,
p, lind, for giving the children OF the
public schools religious instruction.
qThis plan is to let the children who
wish to attend some parochial school
p Bible class or class of religious in
struction off fer q certain part OF
sYeach school day. The pupil was not
obliged to take any religious in
struction, but if he did wish to, the
school furnished him with a certain
amount of time each day. Mr.. Taylor
declared it was absolutely puerile Tor
81 anybody to argue that any particular
denomination could take any more
advantage of this system than any
other denomination. All the churches
could avail themselves of it. A num-
Der of churches could get together
and cooperate in furnishing re-
ligious instruction to the children.
81 F. J. Sperry, the local superinten-
dent of schools, remarked that Will
-. liam Writ, the school superintendent
at Gary, has side stepped the QueS-
ton of religious instruction, and
passed it over TO the churches.
Mr.. Sperry said he did not know but
that was where the religious in
q. strUction belonged. Any church could
a,organize for that sort of instruction
of the children each day.
70. One Possible Danger.
- The superintendent remarked that
the one danger that there might be
s in such a plan was the possibility Of
g its increasing sectarianism. The
religious instruction that the various
e.. churches would give was liable to be
e strictly sectarian. What he would
r. like to see done would be what was
done at Greeley, Colorado, where
II Jewish rabbis, Catholic priests and
, Protestant ministers all got together
Hand agreed on q course of Bible in
r. struction for all the school children.
S. Mr.. Sperry said he believed a
of wv
q work out a satisfactory settlement of
p all the friction that had lately eX-
listed over the whole question. But"
die declared, cit will not take the
place of what we have been fighting
for. l believe that had it's place and
nothing else of the sort will fill it's
place. l am very sorry to see that go,
but perhaps this would be the wisest
:. way to dispose of very difficult
question and one that has caused us
great deal of trouble"
ne Regretted the Discontinuance
a. OF course what the superintendent
J regretted was the necessity of dis
continuing the reading of the Bible
:. in the public schools.
Soy, DR.. j "A Hancock thought it
~
y whole problem to the ministers club.
hr Logan Rose made plea for CO.
3 Operation, declaring that co-opera-
.,tion was vital to the welfare of the
Estate. He said the people of America
were happily freer from class con-
SciOusnss than any other nation He
bespoke of the literary study of the
Bible that was carried on at the state
university, and said it was a great
+ success and very popular
81 Theodore Williams expressed the
opinion that such religious instruc-
! ton as there had been in the public
eschools amounted to very little. He
p favored the pastors of the various
a denominations getting together and
?, outlining a course of Bible study that
would do for all of the school CHI
=, dren.
4, Rev. T. R. Paden said he did not
a think there was any doubt that the
various churches could make ar
d rangements to take advantage of any
sof the time of the school children
idthat the board. might see fit to grant.
He said the school children might be
. given that time with the definite
: understanding that it was to be used
for religious instruction or it would
Inot be granted at all. He dwelt at
some length on the spiritual effect
of religious study and said the teach
ers would notice it's results in an in
creased respect and improved gener-
al conduct on the part of the pupils.
r One Great Difficulty.
= Mr.. Sperry was inclined to think
that there would be more difficulty
working such a plan here with the
mixed population, than at Gary with
its almost entirely Slavic people.
]. R. Brandrup said he thought it
would be good idea to set aside
hour each day to religious instruc-
ton, but he asked what would be
done about those who did not belong
to any church.
= Mr.. Sperry replied that those
pupils would be kept in the public
schools at other work during that
q time.
a. Professor NJ w. Deputy thought
that if the parents could be gotten to
:. take an interest in the edueZtion of
children along religious lines,