Objections urged by the Free Church Presbytery of Glasgow
against the Educational Movement--Equally suited to bear against
the Scheme of Educational Grants--Great superiority of
Territorial over Denominational Endowment--The Scottish People
sound as a whole, but some of the Scottish Sects very
unsound--State of the Free Church Educational Scheme.
'Whereas attempts are now being made to reform the parish schools of
Scotland, on the principle of altogether excluding religion from
national recognition as an element in the national system of
education, and leaving it solely to private parties to determine in
each locality whether any or what religious instruction will be
introduced into the parochial schools,--it is humbly overtured to the
Venerable the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, to
declare that this Church can be no party to any plan of education
based on the negation of religion in the general, or of the national
faith in particular,' etc.
Such is the gist of that 'Overture on Education' which was carried
some three weeks ago by a majority of the Free Church Presbytery of
Glasgow. It has the merit of being a clear enunciation of meaning; of
being also at least as well fitted to express the views of the
Established as of the Free Church courts in Glasgow and elsewhere, and
a great deal better suited to serve as a cloak to their policy; and,
further, by a very slight adaptation, it could be made to bear as
directly against State _grants_ given for educational purposes, if
dissociated from the religious certificate, as against State
_endowments_ given for the same purpose, when dissociated from
statutory religious requirement. It is the religious certificate--most
anomalously demanded of denominations diametrically opposed to each
other in their beliefs, and subversive of each other in their
teachings--that constitutes in the affair of educational grants the
recognition of religion on the part of the State. Educational grants
dissociated from the religious certificate are educational grants
dissociated from the State recognition of religion. The fact that the
certificates demanded should be of so anomalous a character, is simply
a reflection of the all-important fact that the British people are
broken up into antagonistic Churches and hostile denominations, and
that the British Government is representative. And that men such as
those members and office-bearers of our Church who hold the middle
position between that occupied by Mr. Gibson of Glasgow on the one
hand, and Dr. Begg of Edinburgh on the other, should see no other way
of availing themselves of the educational grants, with a good
conscience, than by getting rid of the religious recognition, only
serves to show that they are quite as sensible as their opponents in
the liberal section of the enormous difficulty of the case, and can
bethink themselves of no better mode of unlocking it. For it will not
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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