ANDOVER-HARVARD A MONTHLY MAGAZINEOLOGICAL LIBRARY Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of science, and the By DR. PAUL CARUS Pocket Edition. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.00; flexible leather, $1.50 This edition is a photographic reproduction of the edition de luxe which was printed in Leipsic in 1913 and ready for shipment in time to be caught by the embargo Great Britain put on all articles exported from Germany. Luckily two copies of the above edition escaped, and these were used to make the photographic reproduction of this latest edition. While the Buddhist Bible could not in any way be considered a contraband of war yet the publishers were forced to hold back many hundred orders for the book on account of orders in council of Great Britain. When the book was first published His Majesty, the King of Siam, sent the following communication through his private secretary: "Dear Sir: I am commanded by His Most Gracious Majesty, the King of Siam, to acknowledge, with many thanks, the receipt of your letter and the book, The Gospel of Buddha, which he esteems very much; and he expresses his sincerest thanks for the very hard and difficult task of compilation you have considerately undertaken in the interest of our religion. I avail myself of this favorable opportunity to wish the book every success." His Royal Highness, Prince Chandradat Chudhadharn, official delegate of Siamese Buddhism to the Chicago Parliament of Religions, writes: "As regards the contents of the book, and as far as I could see, it is one of the best Buddhist Scriptures ever published. Those who wish to know the life of Buddha and the spirit of his Dharma may be recommended to read this work which is so ably edited that it comprises almost all knowledge of Buddhism itself." The book has been introduced as a reader in private Buddhist schools of Ceylon. Mrs. Marie H. Higgins, Principal of the Musaeus School and Orphanage for Buddhist Girls, Cinnamon Gardens, Ceylon, writes as follows: "It is the best work I have read on Buddhism. This opinion is endorsed by all who read it here. I propose to make it a text-book of study for my girls." THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 122 S. MICHIGAN AVENUE CHICAGO ILLINOIS A MONTHLY MAGAZINE Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea. VOL. XXXII (No. 5) MAY, 1918 Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Company, 1918 NO. 744 THE SECULAR OBJECTION TO RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. THE BY THE HON. JUSTIN HENRY SHAW. Trial Justice, Municipal Criminal Court, Kittery, Maine. HE Open Court for February, 1918, finds some considerable space for two interesting articles which rather unexpectedly continue the historic attempt to meddle with the public schools by a union of the religious cults if it were possible that such a union might be accomplished. The first is under the quite familiar title of "Bible-Reading and Religious Instruction in the Public Schools; from the Catholic Point of View," which is entirely an anonymous statement only of the Catholic position. The other, probably intended as a sort of concurrent contradiction and of immediate balance, is a Protestant plan of momentum, and entitled, "Religious Education in the Public Schools," by Mr. C. E. Sparks. One cannot say that either of these articles is of intimate consequence on these questions. These religionists come to us even in the same number of this magazine, with the customary different meanings to their religions; differences of authority, differences in what they please to call their text-book; independent and separate interpretations; and obviously with a religious quarrel among themselves that cannot possibly be concealed. It is plainly admitted by the Catholic and emphasized by the Protestant. They necessarily present themselves under the motive of morality, because one must. approve of morality, although neither seems to know just the meaning of the term; but they appear together with a theological, sectarian disturbance which is not a new one, and ask to have a hand in the public schools. Of course they will not be more generally permitted to do so, and I shall perhaps hastily attempt to tell them |