THE DECALOGUE IN NATIONAL SCHOOLS. Do THE EDITOR OF THE
" EPECTATOR."] SIR,—I enclose an extract from the Church of Ireland Gazette of June 13th, containing a reply from the Bishop of Clogher to the paragraph quoted on p. 13 of your issue of July 5th.— SIR,—Among the Notes of the Week in your last issue a paragraph appears, under the above heading, reflecting in severe terms on the action of the National Board—and especially on the Church of Ireland Commissioners, in reference to the wording of the decalogue as allowed to be hung on the walls of National Schools during the hours of secular instruction—which is described as an inexcusable tampering with the decalogue to suit the suscepti- bilities of the Roman Catholic Church. Had this charge been made in a letter in your paper I should not have troubled to notice it, but I regret to find it among the statements for which the Gazette must itself be held responsible. Allow me, therefore, in defence of myself and my fellow Commissioners, to give in a few words the history of the decalogue whose terms are complained of. The document in question was drawn up about seventy-five years ago—in the year 1837—as being a literal translation of the Hebrew of Exodus xx. The translation was made by a learned Presbyterian minister, Dr. Carlile, and was approved by the then Archbishops of Dublin—Church of Ireland (Dr. Whately) and Roman Catholic (Dr. Murray)—and has ever since then, unaltered in its terms, been allowed to be hung on the walls of National Schools. As far as I am aware, during all these years no objection has been made to this document, and it is rather late in the day now to express disapproval of it, and to hold the present Commissioners responsible for its issue. As regards the complaint that the Commissioners "have refused to allow a correct copy of the Commandments to be displayed in Protestant Schools" (I presume the "correct" copy referred to is that con- tained in our Church Catechism, which is, of course, allowed to be used during the time of religions instruction), it is obvious that no denominational form of the decalogue can he allowed in any National Board Schools during secular instruction, as pupils of both denominations, Roman Catholic and Protestant, can attend all or any of the schools under the National Board ; and if the decalogue according to our Church were so allowed, that according to the Church of Rome should also be allowed in all schools, even those under Protestant management.—Yours, &c., Bishopscourt, Clones, Co. Monaghan. MAURICE CLOGHER.
Previous page
