THE question of religious instruction in the schools has always occupied a prominent place in the scheme of Scottish education. When the schools were managed by the Church, and our modern educationists should not forget that for centuries when the Church of Scotland made provision for the education of the children in Scotland, religious education formed an important part of the curriculum. Then came the 1872 Act with its “use and wont” formula and the Conscience Clause that allowed children of Jews, Roman Catholics, etc., to withdraw from such instruction if they desired. This state of things continued until 1918 when the notorious Education (Scotland) Act did away with the old order of things. In this Act provision was made for the religious teaching of the children of the transferred voluntary schools (Roman Catholic and Episcopalian) in their own faith. Such instruction was not optional, for Protestant Education Authorities were under obligation to see that such instruction must be given. But for the great bulk of Scottish children it was left with Authorities to say whether “use or wont” would be continued. Such was the Act engineered through Parliament by a Scotsman (Mr Robert Munro, now Lord Alness), and the son of a pre-Union Free Church minister. At first sight it seems almost incredible that such a thing was possible. But the Bill was passed through Parliament when the minds of the people were overwhelmed with the War, and the few protests made were brushed aside. Owing to the requirements of the Scottish Education Department the school time is crowded with all sorts of subjects, some useful, others indifferently so, and some utterly useless, so that teachers with the very best intention find it increasingly difficult to get even a half-period a day in their time-table for giving religious instruction. This is specially the case in the secondary schools. “Use and Wont” is all right where there are teachers interested in the subject, and while we gratefully acknowledge that Scotland still possesses many such teachers there are others who, owing to their own religious beliefs, or rather want of them, would rather see religion outside the door of every school in Scotland. These exponents of the newer education are strong in advocating the training of the mind and the muscles, but hold that the soul should be severely left alone. It is the kind of godless education which the Duke of Wellington sententiously characterised as capable of turning out clever devils. Though the Scottish people have drifted down the religious stream they have not yet come to that sad pass when there is a loud cry for a godless education of the children, and may that day never come in a land whose educational system recognised religious instruction as a vital factor in the education of the young.
When the Government’s proposed Local Government Bill was announced the matter of making some provision in the bill, as far as religious instruction in the schools was concerned, was brought before the Scottish Secretary. In a long letter to Dr White, Convener of the Church and Nation Committee, Sir John Gilmour makes it very plain that the new Bill makes no provision for mandatory religious teaching in the schools except for Roman Catholics and Episcopalians. The reasons advanced by the Scottish Secretary for ignoring the claims of the great body of Scottish Protestants would in equity deny to Roman Catholics and Episcopalians the privileged position they have in the 1918 Act, and which they are likely to retain in the new Act unless there is a change made when the Bill is passing through Parliament. To meet the claims of the Churches in Scotland guaranteeing that religious instruction be given in the schools all that the Bill provides for is that in the clause which says: “in all cases at least one person conversant with the custom which has prevailed in the public schools of Scotland of giving instruction in religion to children whose parents do not object to the instruction so given.” When the matter came up at the General Assemblies of the Established and United Free Assemblies in November there was a lack of firmness in dealing with the subject which was virtually playing into the Scottish Secretary’s hands. Dr W. Mackintosh Mackay, Convener of the Joint Committee on Religious Instruction in Non-Transferred Schools, said he did not think that the Government had acted as fairly in regard to the matter of co-option to the Protestant Churches of Scotland as they had done to the Roman Catholics. It was most unfair that the Government should give this privilege to the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches and refuse it to the Presbyterian Churches. They did not see why the great Presbyterian Churches of Scotland should not have two co-opted members and the other denominations one. Yet like Dr White he goes no further than asking for the “safeguarding” of the present position. As a matter of the barest justice, if Roman Catholics and Episcopalians must have mandatory religious instruction, we ask on what ground is this denied to the great bulk of Scottish Protestants? Dr Mackintosh Mackay informed the Assembly that there was an invincible objection on the part of the Educational Institute of Scotland to mandatory legislation. If so, why is the Institute not agitating for the abolition of clause 18 of the 1918 Act which confers special privileges on Roman Catholics and Episcopalians? Now is the time for the Scottish people to demand their rights. If the Bill passes through, as it is drafted, the position so far as religious instruction is concerned is worse for the Scottish schools (except the Roman Catholic and Episcopalian) than it was in the 1918 Act, which sold the pass to the enemy. Lady Frances Balfour, in a letter to the “Morning Post,” says: “The fiery cross is out, and the Highland host will know why special facilities are granted to Papists and Episcopalians, while Presbyterian Scotland is left out in the cold. The elections are at hand, and betrayed Scotland is preparing to vote.” We advise our readers who have a vote to get into touch with their M.P. at once. At its last meeting the Northern Presbytery sent a protest against clause 18 of the Scottish Education Act of 1918 to the Scottish Secretary, and asked that provision be made in the new Bill for mandatory religious teaching in the national schools.