' RELIGION AND THE SCHOOLS
SIR,—Mr. P. A. Shaw calls for an agreed syllabus of Christian doctrine and teaching in both provided and non-provided schools. He speaks of the possibility of an early attainment of this after two thousand years of Christianity. It is not so easy as he thinks. A learned Dean once said to me that there are two religions in the Church of England, the religion of the clergy and the religion of the laity. That is profoundly true. When we hear of agreement between the denominations (often including even the Roman Catholics) to press the Board of Education for an agreed syllabus, containing dogmatic teaching by dogmatically trained teachers, the demand is made by clergy not by laity. When the clergy speak of agreement between denominations, they are in fact speaking of the clergy and ministers almost solely.
In just the same way the clergy use in a double sense the word "Christian" as Lord Elton is wont to do. To a layman the word " Christian " means, and is welcomed as meaning, ethics at its highest. The clergy, consciously and unconsciously, exploit this welcome, but what they mean by Christianity and what they press the Board for is dogmatic Christianity. Most laity know this perfectly well and are not impressed.
Take a case in point. Thirty-two years ago one of the greatest living men, great intellectually and great as a lover of mankind, Albert Schweitzer, published his Quest of the Historical lesus, in which he went far to bring about an entirely new understanding of Jesus Christ. He was a devoted follower of Jesus, but he was not orthodox, and because of this his desire to offer his life as a medical missionary, was met with rebuffs by orthodox clergy, though at last he gained his desire, and for a generation has given up his brilliant career to help the negroes - in French Congo. But no clergyman will ever discuss in church Schweitzer's thesis, and will hardly ever refer to it in print. I believe the clergy are afraid to do so. They have a -deep distrust foil- new thought ; they stand in the old ways. They have lost the well-read and studious laity because in place of thought they offer mere sentiment. They have lost the kindly but unread man because he is frankly bored with a liturgy and a sermon which is generally shallow repetition. An "agreed syllabus" offers little more than dry bones. Man seeks for
Previous page
