It is an old controversy; but we suppose nearly all those for whom we write are of the second party, men who would gladly see every Christian able to read the Bible and to base his religious life upon it. We stand for the open Bible; we believe that the Christian Church in every country will progress and develop strongly if it is based on a widespread knowledge of Holy Writ, and we are prepared to believe that a capacity to read the Bible is a sure sign of health in any Christian Church.
The test of literacy commonly adopted in our missions is the capacity to read the Holy Gospels: we accept that gladly and confidently. Furthermore, the influence of the Christian Church in the country will largely depend upon the extent to which the Christians are better able to read and understand literary expression than their heathen neighbours. We want then to know the literacy of the Christian community as compared with the literacy of the non-Christian population from which it springs, and, if possible, a little more than that--what proportion of the Christians have had a sufficient education to enable them not only to satisfy the very slight demands of a literary test, but to have some wider knowledge with which to improve their own position and to enlighten others. The table which results is as follows:-- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Non-Chris-|Propor- |Total |Propor- |Proportion | Remarks and tian |tion of |Christian |tion of |of Christians | Conclusions. Popula- |Liter- |Consti- |Liter- |of Higher | tion.
|ates.
|tuency.