J. C. Ryle Quotes
A Bible reading laity is a nation's surest defence against error.
Ryle, J. C. Practical Religion. William Hunt and Company, 1878, p. 122.
With the exception of a few theocracies, the power to set standards of education is claimed by virtually every government in the world. Some national governments have traditionally delegated some or much of the power to state, regional or local governments. The United States has been one of the rare exceptions. The words “education” or “schools” never even appear once in the U. S. Constitution. Therefore, in the U. S. the power belongs with the state governments. (Recently with “No Child Left Behind” the U. S. Federal government has been involved in educational standards setting.) This quotation is used by many as a classic example of a practice of many right wing fundamentalist Christians and Jews who extrapolate from the Bible to determine which legislation God wants or opposes. Most Christian and Jewish clerics and theologians however reject this notion and have a more modern view of the role of God in the democratic political process. Both the United States and Canada have very small minorities who hold the Stockwell Day position. On difference however is that in the United States, such extreme fundamentalists rarely enter or succeed in politics.
One of the “crises” created by the American Revolution was the cutoff of imported Bibles. The ministers petitioned Congress for a subsidized printing of the Bible. The petition was referred to a committee which included John Adams. The committee recommended against the subsidized printing idea, but did recommend that 20,000 English language Protestant Bibles be imported from Holland. However, just as the recommendation was made, the Continental Congress had to flee Philadelphia to escape the oncoming British. When Congress finally met again, the Bible issue got lost among other important problems resulting in an American Bible shortage which the young nation survived. It was not until 1782 that the first Bibles were printed in America.
John Charles Ryle was an English evangelical Anglican bishop. He was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.
