The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-18
RELEGIoN AND THE scHooLs.

1t may be very long time hence; but
sooner or later it will come ~ pass that
the American people must seriously con
slider the policy of introducing religion
into their public schools Gov Lind, in
his address before the Minnesota Sunday
School association, on Thursday evening,
touched a sensitive spot in the body CT
our educational system when he declared
that we were altoge Their too delicate On
the subject Of religion in the schools
The current newspaper reports do not
enable those who were rot in attendance
on the occasion to reach clear comprc-
hension of just the attitude assumed -
the governor on this subject. But there
is enough apparent in those reports TO
make it plain that, like most thoughtful
students of the American public school
system and its influence on the. moral and
intellectual caliber of our people. the gov
ernor finds occasion for serious thought
in the exclusion of all religious training
from our schools.
Our present position with reference to
religious subjects in the schools is the
spirit of sectarianism with which certain
religious divisions regarded certain ethers
up to within q decade or two. There was
then apparently no common ground on
which the members of one church could
meet the members of any other in con-
nection with religious teachings in the
schools. The reading of the Bible did not
represent such a ground, and was gen
orally discontinued because in it's nature
the practice was regarded by one re-
l!gious denomination 2t least as violative
Of the rights of those pupils of the pub,
lie schools who belonged to it's fold
In recent years a great deal of this
rancorous spirit has passed away; and re-
ligious toleTat finds expression in the
most encouraging manner day after day
among all classes and conditions of the
people. The vulgar idea that one or
other of the Christian denominations was
intent on destroying state education has
in great measure passed into the limbo of
the ignorance and prejudice of the past
The problem of the schools, SC far as it
relates 10 the churches, is now not how
TO preserve them against the onsets of one
or more Of the denominations, but how TO
direct the education which American
youth receives in them so as to furnish
even the groundwork of a knowledge of
the Christian religion, without acting in
derOgation of the rights OF the members
Of any religious denomination.
Ii Is not necessary here to go into &
consideration OF the Influence which the
absence of all religious training or ir-
struction frcm our public schools is hav-
ing on the thought of our day, or in the
shaping OF the character of The young.
That is a very comprehensive subject in
itself and IS being considered by many
of the best minds OF the country as in
volving the most serious consequences on
the social and political institutions of the
country. For the present religiously dis
posed persons may We'll take account of
the tendency in popular thought in this
beneIf which no doubt lies at the bottom
| of the suggestive remarks Of one of oul
leading public characters. wEo within
short time has sat in a Minnesota court
room TO vindicate himself against tie
blackguardism which would impute to
him hostility toward the teac hings of tbs
Christian faith