" ON RELIGIOUS GROUNDS."
[TO TUB EDITOR OF THE "SPEOTITOR.1
SIR,—May I be allowed to draw the attention of your readers to the new statute of this University with reference to the Divinity examinations, and its administration in the case of the schools now being held? When the schools were held in June last, the statute had not been finally passed, and those who wished to avoid the examinations in divinity could do so by means of a written de- claration of their objection, without stating any religious grounds. During the Long Vacation the present statute was published, making it necessary to object on religious grounds to such exami- nation. Now, at the commencement of this term there was a somewhat widely spread opinion that the words in question might be left out, and that no notice would be taken of such omission. This hope has been shown in the present schools to be a fond one,. the declarations in which the obnoxious words were omitted having: been rejected by the authorities. Thus, it is now again necessary for all but members of the Established Church to make a declara- tion of religious belief in order to qualify for taking a degree, a. state of things, as all your readers know, the exact opposite of the manifest intention of the University Tests Act. Surely a small clique of clerical authorities in the University will not always be- suffered to act thus, in the teeth of the expressed will of the English people, as embodied in a piece of special Parliamentary legislation..
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