On Monday was published a letter from Mr. Chamberlain addressed
to a correspondent in connection with the Education Bill. Mr. Chamberlain states that though he sympathises to some extent with the objection of the Nonconformists to the Act of 1902, he feels that the present Bill is in every respect much worse, and that it transfers the grievance in an exaggerated form from the shoulders of the Dissenters to those of every other sect in the country. "I hold," he says, "as I have always done, that there are only two just ways of settling this question." One, he proceeds to say, is secularism plus the giving of modified facilities to all denominations. The other is that the State shall provide religious education for all according to the wishes that may be expressed by the parents of the children. Of these two alternatives he greatly prefers the first, and believes that ultimately it is in this direction that a final settlement must be looked for. We need hardly say that we object to the modified form of secularism thus advocated by Mr. Chamberlain. For our- selves, we attach the greatest importance to the State making it part of its duty to give religious education to all children attending its schools, provided that the conscientious objec- tions of the parents are safeguarded. The recognition of this duty on the part of the State is one to which we attach immense importance. We are not to be reckoned among those who are afraid of "the naked Gospel."
Previous page
