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Bible Banned In Cincinnati In 1869

…religious instruction, and the reading of religious books, including the Holy Bible, are prohibited in the Common Schools of Cincinnati…

The plaintiffs, who bring this action on their own behalf, and on behalf of many others, say that they and those on whose behalf they sue, are citizens and tax-payers of the city of Cincinnati. That on the 1st day of November, A. D. I869, the Board of Education of said city, at a regular meeting thereof, then held, passed the following resolutions by the vote of a majority of the members, to-wit: by the votes of W. J. O'Neil, J. H. Brunsman, J. W. B. Kelly, Edgar M. Johnson, Benjamin J. Ricking, D. J. Mulliley, Henry W. Poor, Joseph P. Carbery, F. Macke, H. P. Seibel, C. F. Bruckner, Stephen Wagner, Joseph Kramer, F. W. Rauch, Thomas Vickers, A. Theurkauf, John Sweeney, George D. Temple, John P. Story, Samuel A. Miller, Herman Eckel, J. 1f. Wisnewski, defendants, and members of said board: "Resolved, That religious instruction, and the reading of religious books, including the Holy Bible, are prohibited in the Common Schools of Cincinnati, it being the true object and intent of this rule to allow the children of the parents of all sects and opinions, in matters of faith and worship, to enjoy alike the benefit of the Common School fund. "Resolved, That so much of the regulations on the course of study and text books in the Intermediate and District Schools (page 213, Annual Report), as reads as follows:'The opening exercises in every department shall commence by reading a portion of the Bible by or under the direction of the teacher, and appropriate singing by the pupils,' be repealed." Plaintiffs state that the entire rule quoted from is in the words following: The opening exercises in every department shall commence by reading a portion of the Bible by or under the direction of the teacher, and appropriate singing by the pupils. The pupils of the Common Schools may read such version of the sacred scriptures as their parents or guardians may prefer, provided that such preference of any version, except the one now in use, be communicated by the parents and guardians to the principal teachers, and that no notes or Marginal readings be allowed in the schools, or comments made by the teachers on the text of any version that is or may be introduced." Plaintiffs say that the rule last above quoted was adopted by the Board of Education' of the city of Cincinnati, said board then being known as the Board of Trustees and Visitors of Common Schools, in the year I852, and has ever since that time been in full force Petition


---The Bible in the Public Schools: Arguments in the case of John D. Minor et al. Versus the Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati [et al.], Superior court of Cincinnati; with the Oinions and Decision of the Court. Author: Minor, John D. (1870)

Whammer Jammer wrote:Bible Banned In Cincinnati In 1869

…religious instruction, and the reading of religious books, including the Holy Bible, are prohibited in the Common Schools of Cincinnati…

The plaintiffs, who bring this action on their own behalf, and on behalf of many others, say that they and those on whose behalf they sue, are citizens and tax-payers of the city of Cincinnati. ...---The Bible in the Public Schools: Arguments in the case of John D. Minor et al. Versus the Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati [et al.], Superior court of Cincinnati; with the Oinions and Decision of the Court. Author: Minor, John D. (1870)

DOUG
This looks like part of a brief for a case. I don't see anything showing that it became law.

Doug - it's a bit windy (definitely like a legal brief), but the second sentence (somewhere around the 4th clause) says they passed it. Of couse the post doesn't indicate whether that decision was recended under the Gospel of W.

Barbara Fitzpatrick wrote:Doug - it's a bit windy (definitely like a legal brief), but the second sentence (somewhere around the 4th clause) says they passed it. Of couse the post doesn't indicate whether that decision was recended under the Gospel of W.

DOUG
I found an article on it. This was part of an anti-Catholic campaign to keep Catholicism from youngsters. It was certainly not a secular agenda in 1869!

Here.

In August 1869, the Cincinnati Board of Education had just exiled the Bible from schools because it put Catholic children at a disadvantage. After all, the Roman Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible differ not only in text, but in the number of books included.

...Most American public schools, including Cincinnati's, had been founded by ministers and their wives who started Protestant churches at the same time, the professor explains. "From the very beginning, the country's entire public school system was imbued with Protestant ethics."

Of course, having a Protestant slant on education raises more questions than whether your Bible contains the books of Tobit and Judith. "If you're using textbooks, you either have a textbook that thinks the reformation is the most wonderful thing that ever happened, which is the Protestant version, or you have the Catholic version, which doesn't think it was such a great idea after all," she says. "Which one do you want to go for? If you're using Christian literature, are you going to use St. Augustine or Martin Luther?"

The 1869 Board of Education went for the cost-effective solution to quiet the Catholics. It threw out the Bible.

Thousands of irate people, including men with names like Shillito and Covington -- the "choicest of our citizens," according to the Daily Times newspaper -- sued the board. In November, the local Superior Court ruled in their favor, agreeing the board had overstepped its authority.

The board, of course, appealed. In 1872, the Ohio Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision, saying it was within the school board's discretion to ban the Bible. "Government is an organization for particular purposes," wrote Justice John Welch. "It is not almighty, and we are not to look to it for everything.

"The great bulk of human affairs ... is left by any free government to ... individual action. Religion is eminently one of those interests, lying outside the true and legitimate province of government."

...In reality, the Bible may have been stricken from the curriculum, but God wasn't. Her most recent research leads her to believe that while the appeal process was underway, local educators found ways to incorporate religion into the schools without the Bible.

As late as 1887, the school day still contained "sacred song," "the literature of Christendom" and "faithful and fearless Christian teachers," according to a speech that Cincinnati superintendent E.E. White gave to the National Education Association that year. He concludes that "the only way to teach children to revere both the school and society is by teaching them about God," Przybyszewski says...

And the Church of England (Piskies) have a "book" in their bible (I forget which one) that isn't in either the RC or the Fundie version. RCs don't have nearly the problem with the Reformation itself as protestants think they do. They had there own internal "housecleaning" at the same time - and a few saints on the calendar were canonized for having done it. What they don't like is the way it's presented. Of course, to listen to the fundies, the RCs are still doing what Martin Luther split the church over (they're not, in case you're interested). So much for the "one true" anything.