| Show RELIGION AS A PART OF EDUCATION WE have before us ua an article from the new york school journal on the subject of religious teaching leaching in sch schools the topic is discussed from a purely educational standpoint and 16 therefore unbiased one portion of it affords an am example of the failure of an attempt in england to give religious lessons through the instrumentality of clergymen jo to children after school hours the principal reasons given as the cause for the system proving ineffective is that the children are tired instruction to is unsatisfactory a new man mail comes in to take the place of the regular teacher etc an effort of a similar character was ma made debere here but collapsed alsed through causes that were explained in a report made at the late conference of this stake the journal states that it is a vexed quer question tion whether a child can be trained up ethically and become upright honest and successful without religious instruction it exclaims file Is the admitted increase of crime among young men due to the increase of church indifference if so then church instruction must be insisted upon in all our schools 12 As if in partial awer to this interrogatory the arviet says flays th old ola theologians believed that clero to Is no aible way of making children good but by making them religious ligi ous now here is a very important question we must have in all our schools moral grit and tone if we have nothing else the lale lae mr head master of the famous Upping bain school was a pronounced religious man and gave his pupils unmistakably church church diet there is no question but that his work was eminently successful especially was he able to turn out a large number of upright god fearing young men who became distinguished in various walks of life another such a man as mr was thomas arnold no man in in england had bad more I 1 pronounced views on religious questions t than a he we could furnish numbers of examples of the benefits of religious i at ruction as a part of education through the instrumentality of denominational or church schools in this territory but we differ from the journal in its view as to the possibility of the introduction of training of this character into the public schools anywhere in this republic it is not practicable nor would it be just under our form of government the ina practicability impracticability of it is almost self evident all classes of citizens are entitled to the use of the public schools and if it should be decided that religion should be tau taught bt there therein inthe the question of 1 I which religion would at once smash the proposition to say nothing of those who are in no way religious and whose rights in the premises are entitled to as much respect as those of any other class in he face of these obstacles the journal holds that the introduction of religious instruction into the public schools is hi possible os sible providing that it be clear that that it is necessary it illustrates its position in this way nothing is impossible that is is necessary kar this is a fundamental principle if it were necessary to tunnel the rock rocky y mountains it would be done A canal from the atlantic to the he pacific is a necessity somebody will build it even though the panama scheme is a failure if church teaching is necessary for the salvation of the world then church teaching must be enforced in all our schools the comparison is not appropriate the difference in overcoming physical obstacles so as to tunnel the rocky bocky mountains and excavating a pase passageway through the institutions of a free government is very ery v great the one Is ie a mere feat of engineering skill by which the mountains are not materially changed the other would require the whole governmental structure to be alte altered ired by a revolutionary recess that would re aemile a seismic disturbance diet while we believe religious instruction to be an essential part of the training of a child to enable him to develop symmetry sym symmetrically metri cally that martof his education m must be imparted outside of the public schools any strong attempt to have it otherwise in this country would cause an agitation here compared with which the disturbance in germany over the kaisers keisers Kai sers pet educational measure would be as a fly speck to a mountain the necessity for religious instruction has passed into a conviction with us no man can be vicious end and a christian at the same time and a sense of religious responsibility has a direct Im influence fluence upon the con duct of the individual preserving him from the commission of acts for which he believes he will be held account able before a divine tribunal this of course to la the more mere moral ra 1 act of the nth ren religious question there e are rs connected with it that thai are of equal importance |
