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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 19 THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOL. For some months the question of whether or no the Bible should be read aloud daily in the public schools has been agitated in Atlanta. The question has been debated and discussed freely and when the Board of Education decided during the past year against the reading, the matter seemed to be settled. Recently, however, the city executive committee de cided it was something the voters should pass on and it was so ordered. We do not undertake to say anything about it. If we did the professional Catholic baiters in Georgia would at once begin to distort our views and raise the cry of “Rome interferes.” But as it is a matter in which the Association has an interest and one that concerns at least the Catholics of Atlanta most of whom are members of the Association, we present herewith the views of three editors. Only three are given because these are all we have seen. They should be read carefully. (From The Journal of Labor, June 25th.) Bible in Public Schools. The Journal of Labor approaches this question with some delicacy, but firmly and with no apologies. We are informed that the question of making the reading of the Bible a part of the daily exercises in the public schools of Atlanta was submitted to the city' executive committee and the committee ordered the proposition placed on the official ballot to be voted in the coming city election. That the city executive committee has gone dan gerously beyond its functions seems clear. It is sup posed that the functions of the executive committee is to deal entirely with the political affairs of Atlanta. To meddle with the affairs of a department of the city government, a department that is supposed and should be entirely removed from politics, is entirely foreign to the duties of the executive committee. For what reason they arrogated to themselves the duty to settle the question of reading the Bible in the public schools, a very delicate one, and a question that is entirely foreign to what they were elected to deal with, and one, too, that has been settled by the proper constituted authorities, is beyond our vision. The Board of Education, the duly and legally au thorized officials to look after and care for the public school interests, settled this vexed question some time ago, and the people thought the matter disposed of. Now it is understood we are to vote on the ques tion. The editor of this paper has no religious pref erence and trusts God for freedom from prejudice agaist any religious sect of whatever kind. If the Board of Education felt incompetent to deal with the question and the city council was not sure of its ground, the latter body could request the execu tive committee to make it a matter of election and submit the question to the people. The request should come from the authorities above mentioned. The Board of Education in refusing to allow the reading of the Bible to be made a part of the daily exercises in the public schools, acted wisely. The public school system is essentially non-sectarian; it is one of the very few democratic institutions in America. The student body is composed of all classes and races; the children of taxpayers and citizens. What ever books are to be used in the schools should be selected by the Board of Education, and none other. Above all the schools, the public schools, are non sectarian and should remain so. It is not a question of religion with this paper; the Bible can be read on every street corner, if some de sire; but objection is raised against its being read in the public schools. We would object were we in Jerusalem if the Jew Bible were read in the public schools; we would ob ject if in Spain against the Catholic Bible being read in the public school. The public school is the greatest institution in the world—and it is great because it is democratic and non-sectarian. (From The Macon Telegraph, June 6th.) The Bible in the School. Unfortunately the Bible has been projected into Atlanta politics, to unnecessarily add to the post-war unrest. The city executive committee of Atlanta has submitted the question of whether or not the Bible shall be read in the public schools to be settled at the primary elections, which will be held July 26th. Perhaps never before has the Bible occupied a similar place in a political campaign or been made an issue in a popular election. The error of the com mittee in bringing such about is a grievous and dan gerous one. Apart from the question of whether Bible reading in a public school is right or wrong, is the important fact that Protestants in Atlanta are far in majority of Catholics, and that the vote of the Jews and other creeds would also be negligible as against that of the first named sect. Should the decision of the election be that the Bible be adopted as part of the school curriculum, the question then arises, what Bible is to be used— the Protestant Bible, the Catholic version or only the Old Testament which alone is accepted by the Jewish people? Are the voters of Atlanta willing that a Catholic Bible be settled upon, or would the Jews offer no objection to sending their children to schools where the New Testament is read to the classes? The church and state must be kept separate in America. Many of our first settlers the French Huguenots, Puritans and Scotch dissenters came to our shores in search of religious freedom. No such un-American idea should therefore be allowed to creep into the politics of Georgians, to whom the pro posal of the Atlanta committee can be nothing less than offensive. The home and the church are the place for re ligious training. Bible reading in schools means ques tions asked and an indiscriminate answering of them